• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

Animal Fiction Advice

Jerry

Minstrel
My WIP is a dark, animal character driven story, and while I have it mapped out for the most part, scenes scattered and loose chapters hanging... I am seeking any form of advice on working through it. I am a fan of animal fantasy works such as Animal Farm and Watership Down and my story falls close to the character levels there. The Warrior series and more like that are good, but they are more for young one's, but it does help a bit. I'm seeking any words of advice in proceeding any further as I feel some things work and most not. The animals speak, some just in their head, and though it works in so many other such novels, it feels foreign to me for them to be using 'human language' as in what they would call themselves as opposed to the human given animal names, or act, or settings, etc., things like that. I tried it just as a narrated piece but I felt it needed more. The story is told from an animal's perspective, and is an allegory on the human condition set in the deep wilderness. Humans are around but very rare to the story. Strictly from the animal's pov. It's basically a mystery-thriller with animals acting as animals do in their natural habitat while trying to solve a mystery and avoid being killed. I like what I'm doing and want to continue but can use any bit of advice and wisdom on proceeding as I feel stuck in the muck of it all. Suggestions? Advice? Novels? I guess, just anything and everything you could offer or throw at me would be most appreciative. Odd request, I know... but I really need a spark of creativity badly. Many thanks writer friends.
 
I don't come across many books in this vein but, The Bees by Laline Paull is one I would highly recommend.

It incorporates enough of the natural order of a bee hive, their actions, hierarchy etc to feel as if it is another world And it's not that I knew a lot about bees when I read it, but it immersed me into the world of a hive with no human characters whatsoever. I was left thinking that the author had to have spent a fair amount of time learning about bee society structure, order and behaviors and then worked to anthropomorphize it into believable human-like expressions and actions. It's a book with few middle ground opinions — readers either hate it or adore it — but I absolutely loved it and thought it to be one of the best and hardest to put down books I read that year (2014).

Then there is a short story, also centered on bees and wasps, that was in Clarksworld magazine and can still be read or listened to on line.

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu

Here's the link:

Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy

It incorporates human characters a bit more and is another fine example of making the animal/insect world into an in depth fantasy land all of it's on. :)

I hope they help!
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams is an epic fantasy with cats... Tad’s first novel as I recall, and a whole lot of fun. It might be good inspiration... or not.
 

Ned Marcus

Maester
I'm interested in your story, but I don't often read animal fantasy. I did enjoy Duncton Wood when I read it years ago. And Wind in the Willows (one of the first books I ever read).
 

Jerry

Minstrel
I don't come across many books in this vein but, The Bees by Laline Paull is one I would highly recommend.

It incorporates enough of the natural order of a bee hive, their actions, hierarchy etc to feel as if it is another world And it's not that I knew a lot about bees when I read it, but it immersed me into the world of a hive with no human characters whatsoever. I was left thinking that the author had to have spent a fair amount of time learning about bee society structure, order and behaviors and then worked to anthropomorphize it into believable human-like expressions and actions. It's a book with few middle ground opinions — readers either hate it or adore it — but I absolutely loved it and thought it to be one of the best and hardest to put down books I read that year (2014).

Then there is a short story, also centered on bees and wasps, that was in Clarksworld magazine and can still be read or listened to on line.

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu

Here's the link:

Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy

It incorporates human characters a bit more and is another fine example of making the animal/insect world into an in depth fantasy land all of it's on. :)

I hope they help!

Thank you. Just started reading The Bees with your recommendation. Read (and listened to which I love to do) The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees and it was just fantastic. Absolutely loved it! Really what I was aiming for. Thanks again. It's a great site.
 

Jerry

Minstrel
I'm interested in your story, but I don't often read animal fantasy. I did enjoy Duncton Wood when I read it years ago. And Wind in the Willows (one of the first books I ever read).

Yes... I love Wind in the Willows... but not heard of Duncton Wood. Thank you. I looked it up, read some and downloaded it to my Kindle. Seems right up my alley. Appreciate it!
 

Jerry

Minstrel
Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams is an epic fantasy with cats... Tad’s first novel as I recall, and a whole lot of fun. It might be good inspiration... or not.

Thank you... It seems Tailchaser's is much like The Warriors series and that's cool too. I enjoy all these perspectives. I ordered that one too. Gonna be busy reading over the holiday. Hoping to catch some inspiration... Thanks again friend!
 
I too was going to recommend Tailchaser's Song - right on point for inventing their own terminology and having humans as just incidental parts of the background, largely irrelevant to the epic plot.

The one thing I didn't like about Tailchaser was that, for me, the so-called surprise ending had been obvious from about page 30.
 

Tholepin

Dreamer
Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea - Brian Jacques's Redwall and many sequels make up a critter-based world at once sweet and terrifying. Worth a look. At first read you'll decide to take an afternoon off and write one yourself, then you'll discover it is akin to writing a good fable.
 

Jerry

Minstrel
Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea - Brian Jacques's Redwall and many sequels make up a critter-based world at once sweet and terrifying. Worth a look. At first read you'll decide to take an afternoon off and write one yourself, then you'll discover it is akin to writing a good fable.

Ah, yes... Thank you for this. I grabbed a copy too. It reminds me of Mouse Guard.
 
Hi,

I think the one piece of advice I would suggest is to get deep into the animals' heads. Who are they? What are they? How do they think? And what do they think about other animals? I think the reason you say you think things feel foreign when they speak is because you haven't got there yet.

Oddly I'm facing a similar situation myself. I completed the first draft of a fantasy book in which I had talking cats. And because one if them is important to the story, but I never wrote anything through her eyes, I'm having trouble making She With The Sharp Claws Who Must Be Adored, come alive. Working through her headspace would help - but it would also give away a lot of the plot. And without that I'm forced to try and make her real and funny through other person's eyes. It makes it tricky when she does things which are somewhere between funny and crazy. I think the point is that they seem funny and crazy to me as a human, but to a cat they're perfectly reasonable - but I'm not writing from the cat's POV. You at least are, but I suspect still not quite going all the way.

Hope that helps.

Cheers, Greg.
 
I would try reading things like Black Beauty, Homeward Bound and A Dog's Way Home. These books get into the heads of animals and how they think. Animals tend to have simpler goals than humans, they are not very ambitious. You feed them, water them, let them out to do their business and exercise them, treat them well and you have a happy animal. Horses don't fantasies about winning the grand national. Dogs don't lust after goals such as winning crufts. They require the basics of life. Of course this is a Fantasy so your animals may be fantasy creatures that adopt more human characteristics.
 

Jerry

Minstrel
Hi,

I think the one piece of advice I would suggest is to get deep into the animals' heads. Who are they? What are they? How do they think? And what do they think about other animals? I think the reason you say you think things feel foreign when they speak is because you haven't got there yet.

Oddly I'm facing a similar situation myself. I completed the first draft of a fantasy book in which I had talking cats. And because one if them is important to the story, but I never wrote anything through her eyes, I'm having trouble making She With The Sharp Claws Who Must Be Adored, come alive. Working through her headspace would help - but it would also give away a lot of the plot. And without that I'm forced to try and make her real and funny through other person's eyes. It makes it tricky when she does things which are somewhere between funny and crazy. I think the point is that they seem funny and crazy to me as a human, but to a cat they're perfectly reasonable - but I'm not writing from the cat's POV. You at least are, but I suspect still not quite going all the way.

Hope that helps.

Cheers, Greg.
It does help. I've progressed thus far. Hope your story is doing well too... Thanks!
 

Jerry

Minstrel
I would try reading things like Black Beauty, Homeward Bound and A Dog's Way Home. These books get into the heads of animals and how they think. Animals tend to have simpler goals than humans, they are not very ambitious. You feed them, water them, let them out to do their business and exercise them, treat them well and you have a happy animal. Horses don't fantasies about winning the grand national. Dogs don't lust after goals such as winning crufts. They require the basics of life. Of course this is a Fantasy so your animals may be fantasy creatures that adopt more human characteristics.

Yeah... These are good selections as well. I've read BB, but not the others. I may stick with more of a narrative piece, I don't know, but still, moving forward. Thank you...
 
Top