Chris Verstraete - Pets and People

Chris hosts Sianach the Stag and Cusith the Hound from Scotch Broom. I thought she'd like some unusual animals. But can a magical being be considered "only" an animal?

* * * Here's Chris Verstraete * * *

Pets and People By Christine Verstraete

I have a confession... I love dog movies and dog books, and well, dogs.

It's the people who are often less interesting.

Take the preview I recently saw of Diane Keaton's new movie, Darling Companion. First glimpse of the male character - and he lost the dog! Well!

It's not just dogs, it's horses and baby animals and... Love them all.

Saw War Horse. Made me sad.

I read all the horse books as a kid and later, actually for a while had a crazy Appaloosa named War Chief, along with his happy-go-lucky buddy named Apple. Heaven.

Put an animal in the book or story and you better have strong, and at least remotely interesting people if they expect to make any kind of impression.

For me, the two friends in my kid's mystery,Searching for a Starry Night are strong enough, what with their quirks and tiffs, but having a canine friend adds another dimension. And the dog has a way of "digging up" clues as well. How can you beat that?

Giving the dog a personality and having him interact with his human companions was what made writing the book fun. And even though I had a dog make only a brief appearance in my proposed book about a girl who's part zombie, the dog does make an impression - especially on her since she's afraid of him and wonders if she'll smell different. ha!

Since I enjoy collecting and writing about hobbies, many of the authors appearing on my blog this month will also include something on their hobbies. Dogs also seem to make an appearance in my own collections. I create miniature rooms and houses, and yes, just about every one has a dog. Well, one project - The Dogcatcher's House - has many more. See the project links on my miniatures page.

My point? You mean other than just talking about dogs? ha! It's that writers, and readers, want to care about a book or movie's characters. Giving them a pet, or making them interact with an animal, is one good way to do that.








Where to find Christine Verstraete 
http://www.cverstraete.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/christine.verstraete 
MSII Print: http://tinyurl.com/4ockdh2 
Searching for a Starry Night: #1 Kindle for minis eBook! 
Blog: http://candidcanine.blogspot.com