Hello, friends! After taking a few months off I am excited to be jumping back into the blogging pool. I hope this new month finds you all well and that you are all happily engaged in lots of writing or blogging projects. I'm happy to say that I'm writing fairly regularly again after nearly a year of doing a whole lot of nothing so I hope that will continue.
Today is the day for the July meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group. The group was founded by our Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh. To view list members and this month's co-hosts, visit the IWSG page here.
Each month the IWSG administrators suggest a question to answer in our post for the month. This month's question is:
What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?
This one is an easy one for me to answer! Like me, my protagonists all either have pets or love animals. Danny, the protagonist in my Polar books, has a dog named Sox. Several of the characters in The Ghosts of Aquinnah love animals. And I am currently working on two WIPs and in both stories the protagonists have cats.
I didn't actually do this intentionally when I started writing but it just came naturally. I couldn't help but insert my favorite guys into my stories in various ways!
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| My dog Clancy |
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| My cat Nate |
I am looking forward to reading everyone's posts and with luck making a few new friends as I hop around as well. It's great to be back in the blogosphere.
To my American friends, Happy 4th of July!
I respect that no animals are harmed in your stories. I don't even like them to die naturally. My wife wanted to see Marley and Me when it came out, but when she said the dog dies in the end, I said no way.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the IWSG!
Thanks, Alex! Oh gosh, I am the same - there was no way I was going to see Marley and Me. I cried my eyes out reading the end of the book.
DeleteWelcome back, Julie! So happy to hear the writing is going well again!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love Clancy's froggy friend. :)
Thanks! Sadly the froggy doesn't look very cute anymore as this pic was a few years ago. At least froggy was loved LOL.
DeleteWelcome back! Clancy and Nate are adorable :) I write cats and dogs into my mysteries and while people die left and right, I wouldn't ever kill off one of the furry creatures. It would just seem wrong. Cheers - Ellen
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ellen! And of course I totally agree, it would be wrong for me too. Just couldn't do it.
DeleteWelcome Back, Julie!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love animals in books, mostly because I love animals too!!!!
Happy 4th!
Thanks, Cathy! Happy 4th to you as well. :)
DeleteGlad you're blogging again. That's great that you put pets in your stories. I'm glad that they don't get hurt or killed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Natalie. I am really glad to be back to it.
DeleteI've only added pets to a couple of works-in-progress. I'm surprised that I don't add more cats as pets into my books because I've had cats my entire life. What's funny is that the pets I write are usually dogs. Ssh. Don't tell my cats. lol
ReplyDeleteHaha your cats would be so insulted LOL. :D
DeleteAlways interesting to see another's writer take as a primary feature in their stories. Interesting blog. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diana!
DeleteWelcome back!
ReplyDeleteThe MC of my romance novel has a German shepherd who may or may not have been loosely based upon my own German shepherd. I don't think my cats have ever made it into a story, though.
LOL poor kitties. I love your dog - such a cutie. :)
DeleteWelcome back to blogging, Julie. It is time-consuming so I get the need for an occassional break.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jacqui. Yeah, it was just what I needed I think.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI love cats and beagles but I have never put one in one of my books. I will have to think about that.
Wishing you a great fourth of July.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
Thanks, Pat and same to you! Aww, cats and beagles would be an awesome addition to one of your books. :D
DeleteYay, you're back!!! Missed you. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear it's not just me. We were watching Deadwood the other night and the guy's horse was killed and I was shocked and outraged. My son was like, Mom, the human is about to get scalped!
I think it goes back to my childhood. It's like I knew the actors weren't getting really getting hurt, but I was never really sure about the animals.
Thanks, Elizabeth! LOL I watched Deadwood and I'm sure I had the same reaction as you even though I don't remember a particular scene like that. But yeah, no horse deaths, please.
DeleteI'm like you - don't kill the animals! I can't stand to watch "nature" shows that will have animals hunting. Yes, I know they do this in the wild to survive, but I can't watch it. No, no, no and definitely not in my stories. And yeah, my murder mysteries have folks getting killed - but, darn it, folks just ain't as nice as animals, so I have no problem with that. LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks, IB! What a great name LOL. Right, I feel the same about some folks LOL.
DeleteHi Julie!
ReplyDeleteLove that you use animals in your works! I love all of them as well and I HATE those commercials that show the abuse of animals. I can't watch them... too upsetting.
My protags are usually strong willed/minded, but have hearts of gold that get trampled often. Life kicks them down, but they always get up, perhaps bruised, but they never lose their heart or there sense of humor... like me.
Hey Michael! I can't watch those commercials either. Heartbreaking. It definitely sounds like you are adding parts of yourself to your protags. :)
DeleteThanks for not hurting the animals. Sometimes I'm more attached to them than the human players.
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
I am too! Thanks, Anna.
DeleteAnimals have such wisdom and personality. They observe more than we know.
ReplyDeleteSo true! I feel like we learn more all the time about how intelligent other species are. I love learning about their lives.
DeleteWelome back, Julie! I hope your are re-energized after your break. I have animals in my WIP, as well. And even though I write in the horror genre, there is no killing or maiming of the pets. To me, it's always a cheap shot and a lazy way to get a reader's reaction.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lee! And I'm glad you don't kill the animals either. I know your book will be safe for me to read LOL.
DeleteWelcome back!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to read about animals getting hurt! I hate when that happens, and it's usually so predictable, too.
Thanks, Sara! Yay for another animal protector LOL. I'm glad I'm not alone in this.
DeleteWelcome back to blogging. I also cry if an animal gets hurt or killed in a movie or a book and take what happens to human beings quite matter-of-factly.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Thanks, Janie. That sounds just like me LOL
DeleteI even like Tarantino movies. I'm not bothered by all the blood the human characters shed.
DeleteHi Julie. Welcome back! I wouldn't want to read about sick or dying animals and I don't think I could write that either. Going through that in real life is bad enough. I've never thought about putting a pet into my stories; maybe one day. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debbie! Yeah, it's so heartbreaking to have to say goodbye to pets I would never want to write about it. I just want happy animals in my fictional world.
DeleteYour pets are darling, Julie! I hope you are enjoying your jump back into blogging. I, too, hate to have animals harmed in any story or film. "Charlotte's Web" brings me to tears every time I read it. Wishing you success as you write!
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you, Fundy!!
DeleteHappy 4th! I did the same thing with my first fictional book. I love my dogs and wanted my character to have one too. Love that you do it too. :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, it's good to have you around again!
Elsie
Thanks, Elsie and Happy 4th to you as well! I love that you added a dog to your book too.
DeleteWelcome back to the blogosphere! It's awesome that you're writing up a storm again. Maybe I'll get back to it again, too... one of these days.
ReplyDeleteHuh. I didn't even think about the roles animals play in my books, but you're right. For me, the dogs in my books are based on dogs I've loved, and I wouldn't dream of hurting a hair on their smelly little heads in anything I write about them. In fact, I wouldn't want to hurt the completely made-up cat in "Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade," either... unless you call giving him a reverse Mohawk haircut harmful. HA
Happy 4th!
LOL well I know my cat would consider that haircut harmful. :D :D But I don't LOL. Thanks so much, Susan. I hope you will be writing again soon too.
DeleteI like putting pets and robots in my story.Loved you cat pics. Happy IWSG!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Juneta!!
DeleteThe only reason I haven't put a regularly appearing animal/character in my novels is that I'm afraid to write them and do justice to it. But I'm thinking about it!
ReplyDeleteAww, I hope you will do it sometime, Gwen!
DeleteHi Julie - good to see you around the blogging world again and to read you're up and writing. Our pets will feature in our lives won't they - they're so true to themselves, don't procrastinate, argue, and live life - Clancy and Nate are quite delightful ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHi Hilary! That's exactly how I feel about animals - such a joy. Thanks!
DeleteAw, Clancy and Nate! Cuties. I like to include cats in my stories. That's great we're both writing again. Good to hear from you!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennifer! I love that kitty cats are in your stories, so cute.
DeleteHi Julie, glad to see you're back in the blogging community. We all need time off. I also do not harm animals in my books. People, oh yeah. But not animals.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stephen, I'm happy to be back. And you made me laugh with the "oh yeah." :D
DeleteHey, the people who get murdered in your books probably deserved it. None of the pets or animals do, so that makes sense. Too be honest, whenever I see a cat or dog in a movie or a book, I always worry that something's going to happen to them.
ReplyDeleteI haven't put any pets into my stories yet, but when I do, they'll probably have some sort of secret power to help the MC out.
That's a great idea for a pet in one of your stories. That would be fun! I worry about them too - especially in movies.
DeleteI love your furry friends. I really need to write mine into a story one day.
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks, Diane!
DeleteHooray for the animals staying alive and unharmed! I can't stand to watch all the horses go down in big battle scenes.
ReplyDeleteIt's sweet that the animals made it into your story naturally - like they put themselves there rather than you deciding to do it.
Welcome back to blogging!
Oh I know, I hate battle scenes anyway and can't watch war movies with combat scenes. It's kind of funny but it does seem like they put themselves in like you said! Thanks, Nicki!
DeleteIf love animals you can't harm them, even fictionally! I know I can't read about stories that harm or kill animals, and I had a darned hard time letting a horse die in one of my books. I still hate myself for that, but it fit the story and I was stuck.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're back.
Aww, I can imagine it was hard to write that. Thanks so much, Lee.
DeleteThat's a great question. One of my first thoughts upon reading it is that I give my female characters spunk that I wish I had, and that I have in my imagination, but often hide from others. One of the great things about writing - we get to live our lives through our characters. In my third book, which I'm working on much too slowly, one of the main characters learns how much he loves dogs (who he thought he was afraid of). Fun to see his slow metamorphosis into an animal lover.
ReplyDeleteOh that sounds like a great story for your characters with the dogs. I understand about working too slowly, that is definitely how I feel about my writing now. Thanks!
DeleteWelcome back! So great to see you blogging again. ^_^
ReplyDeleteAnd that's awesome how your characters are animal-lovers! Pets dying in stories always gets to me, too, so I completely understand why you don't want to cross that line in your own!
Thank you, Heather!! <3
DeleteWelcome back, Julie. Like the others, I hate to read a book (or watch a movie) where the dog dies. A friend said that if there's a dog on the cover, it will die in the end. That did it for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diane! Oh geez I never thought of that with a dog on the cover but I guess it's true. Yikes. :(
ReplyDeleteI'm with you about seeing an animal harmed in a story. If I'm really invested in the human...that might be hard too, but the animal...really! My husband and I watched a nature program about field mice and the 'father' was named Oscar (don't remember the mother's name) and we were both so bummed when Oscar got eaten by an owl. I know the circle of life...I was a biology teacher after all...but we still to this day when watching a nature documentary wonder if we're going to see another 'Oscar'. (And Heck! they had even named him!)
ReplyDeleteI’m rather late to this party! But better late than never, right? 😜
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Julie!
I'm looking forward to hearing about the Paris story...