Dinosaurs in my novel

[JohnKPatterson]

I'm trying to take the advice of some people who have critiqued my book, which features dinosaurs as part of the animal kingdom. They want the animals to be an integral part of the book (but in the early drafts they are fixtures that stand out), and I'm not sure how to do it. Any advice?

Here's the situation: it's a far future Earth, where magic has replaced advanced technology (think Renaissance-level). Earth had been declining, dying, and succumbing to war. Then these supernatural creatures called Founders give it a total makeover -- new continents, new plants and animals, etc. And that includes dinosaurs being brought back to life (on a side note, it's because a child asked the supernatural creatures to put dinos in this new world, but that's NOT important to the overall narrative). Thousands of years later, they are part of the ecosystem and taken for granted, like horses or snakes or elephants. And I have some good ideas for integrating them into the storyline, thematic importance, and fleshing out the world I'm building.

The problem is that because they're dinosaurs, some people might find it jarring and think I stuck them in for the "cool" factor. Actually, they're there to help make the world a bit more original. There are dragons, as well, but just having dragons would be cliche, and just dinos would look too much like Jim Gurney's Dinotopia (great book, by the way). So, I'm trying to give the dinosaurs a good reason to be there and actually fulfill their original purpose of giving the world a fresher flavor, and not look like a fanboy shoving everything and the kitchen sink into his niche novel.

If anyone had thoughts or advice, I would deeply appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

[Chilari]

Do a little research into the latest revelations regarding dinosaurs, like that they all had feathers in some form or another. Don't just assume Jurassic Park had things right. Work out which dinos would hunt what animals and other dinos to extinction, how they'd work within the ecosystem in terms of over-hunting is concerned, etc.

Oh and give them abbreviated or logical names. We don't call the honey bee apis mellifera in normal conversation, and if it makes sense that the characters in your novel don't understand the origins of the latin naming system, then even using something like "T. Rex" might not work, but if they've got the name over thousands of years of changing language and lost knowledge, something like "tirek" might be a logical name for your characters ot call it. For other dinos, if they bear a resemblance to other animals like rhinos, your characters might just call them after that, or a modified version of that. That's what happened with the hippopotamus, which is Greek for "river horse". And they don't even look like horses.

[T.Allen.Smith]

You might even consider modifying them so they can adapt & thrive in this new, modern world. The divine beings that reform this world would surely make every creature capable of surviving. New adaptions on an old archetype (the standard dinosaurs) might be refreshing and hopefully somewhat original. I can't think of any works like that....

[TWErvin2]

First, if you've not read works by Robert T. Bakker, about dinosaurs, it might be very helpful in providing insight.

The Dinosaur Heresies and Raptor Red.
The first is nonfiction and provides a lot on dinosuars and their lifestlyes, eating, metabolism, etc.
The second is a novel about one year in a Utah Raptor's life.

I can speak from personal experience, to a certain extent, as my second novel in my post apacalyptic fantasy series has a few scenes with one type of dinosaur (Deinonychus). They were simply part of the ecosystem developed in that part of the world through which the protagonist was traveling. And it did cause him some grief. And my novels have dragons as well. If I can do it, you can too.

If there is a trick, I'd say it's to have to seem natural, which can be difficult--them being pretty big and nasty compared to a human. The large ones would be the apex preditor or the herbivore pretty much everything gets out of the way of. So, I am not sure they could be 'background' but they could fit. There would need to be enough habitat, enough food and such. And a reason they haven't wiped out the rest of the fauna, including humans.

With mine, the centaurs who share the habitat with the Deinonychus packs have a toxin they use on their spears at atlatl darts. That sort of balanced the scales. The centaurs had llamas a bit larger than horses for food, and wool and clothing, they protected from the deinochuys. But there were huge boars and other creatures for the dinos to hunt and eat.

Hope that helps and good luck moving forward.

Terry

[Jabrosky]

I love having dinosaurs in my fantasy worlds. They generally populate the tropical jungles and savannas and often coexist with humans and other primates. The humans may either hunt them for food, herd them the way Maasai herd cattle, or even ride them into battle.

[Loupgarou]

On the feathers thing there's an idea that large dinosaurs didn't have them (except perhaps vestigial crest-like things), while smaller ones would have, like Deinonychus's. I don't remember why though.

I don't think it'll feel thrown in if this is a world of remade from an old one. It kinda makes sense that bits from all ages of Earth would be there. Just make sure that people who read the story understand that aspect and it'll feel fine.

[JohnKPatterson]

Thanks very much for the advice, everyone! I do appreciate it.

I have loved and studied dinosaurs off and on for my whole life, and I love Bakker's Heresies book (Raptor Red is on my to-do list). I think the dinos in the book have a pretty solid realism so far, and I'm trying to develop new species -- limited at best, though, since they were brought back seventeen thousand years ago. Not a great deal of time for natural selection to work its magic.

As far as I know, the real species (Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, etc.) will hold onto their classical names, because the characters are able to speak English. There's a whole other explanation for why that's happening 17,000 years from now, but that's best saved for another post.

In truth, plenty of dinosaurs are known to have scales. Many or all of the smaller theropods had feathers, and Psittacosaurus had what looked like porcupine quills, but T-rex, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Carnotaurus, Edmontosaurus, and a ton of others have skin imprints that show beady scales, like on a Gila monster. They were varied when it came to body covering and ornamentation, just like mammals today.

Thank you again for the advice. I do appreciate it, and I'll do my very best to keep pressing ahead. Take care!