Animals as Main Characters, Sidekicks, or Extras by Jenn McKinlay

Recently, I sat down with Booklist and was asked about the animals in my life (Booklist Reader Interview). And I told them...

"We have Otto the schnauzer with the best self-esteem of anyone I’ve ever known. He is my familiar and follows me everywhere. Yes, even into the bathroom. Next we have our rescue, Annie, the uber-sensitive pit bull mutt who cowers if anyone raises their voice; she does not like conflict. Subsequently, there are no arguments in our house because no one wants to upset the dog. Then we have the escape artist Loretta, our black cat, who has disappeared numerous times only to return days later with a mysterious look on her face, making us all wonder what sort of adventure she had while away. Patsy, Loretta’s sister, is our big-boned feline, who loves her food and everyone else’s food and is the one who is actually in charge of the house. All the pets run away from Patsy when she is in a mood. Lastly, we have Kevin, the fish who won’t die. Ten years ago, we took him in for our neighbor while he painted his living room, but Kevin, who likes to spit rocks, never left. Meanwhile the neighbor has moved away, left the state actually. We are thinking we will have to put Kevin in our will."




I realized when I answered their question that having a life that has gone to the dogs, cats, and fish is probably why I write animals as supporting characters into all of my books. While none of the animals is the main character in their story, they are certainly ever present sidekicks.

For the mysteries, I have a dog named Heathcliff in the library lover’s books, and for the cupcake bakery series, there is a cat named Captain Jack. In my romantic comedy Bluff Point series, it’s all "about a dog", the first book co-starring a rescue named Tulip, and in BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE (coming out tomorrow!!!), the story features a geriatric golden retriever, Saul, a disabled basset hound, Hot Wheels, and a foul mouthed parrot, Ike. And in my upcoming new romantic comedy series, the cats rule the roost, so clearly my fiction is full of what my dad would have called “fur people”. 

Why do I include animals (aside from the fact that I love them, obvy)? Because I think having animals in the stories allows my characters to show vulnerabilities where they might not be able to otherwise. Also, there can be some darn funny scenes when you have a parrot whose catch phrase is, "Oh, for f**k's sake!" And, no, he didn't say fork.

How about you, Reds? Where do animals fit into your stories? And if they don’t, why or why not?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: All of my  my main series characters have pets-wait, do they? Yes, they do. Jane has her cat Coda, and Charlotte has Botox. Jake has a golden retriever, Diva. But! Having a dog became a burden, I have to say, because Jake was always having to go take care of her. So I dropped Diva off at Jake's mom's house, and that, serendipitously, became a story line. (All the animals are rescues, I just realized.)  Which is part of the point, kind of, isn't it? A main character having a pet proves they are kind and loving and responsible and--since the pet loves them back--it reinforces that you are supposed to like the character. (Remember Save TheCat, right? I'm laughing because in The Wrong Girl, Jane actually DOES save a cat, and I worried that was too on the nose.)   And in Say No More,  poor sad victimized  agoraphobia Tosca has a fish, a single goldfish, swimming alone in a glass bowl.  See what I did there? :-) 

I've auctioned off a pet's character's name a couple of times, and the results really dictate what the pet will be. Cooper turned out to be a killer (literally) Irish Setter.  And Rocco, well, I had to make Rocco a puffy little white lapdog. Long story. 

LUCY BURDETTE: all three of the main characters in my mystery series have had cats. Yoda (my elderly feline in residence) would tell you that this is obviously because cats are superior beings. In the Key West mysteries, Hayley arrived in town with her gray tiger Evinrude. I think I recall correctly that realizing he came with a litter box was a defining moment for her ex-boyfriend deciding to throw them out – obviously he was a CAD! You may remember that this cat caused an extensive discussion with my former editor about how to portray his expression on the cover. 

Cats on the cover for Lucy!

JENN: Cats on covers, Lucy. Don't even go there!

LUCY: I too, Hank, have auctioned off pet naming opportunities in this series. So there are now three elderly animals living on the houseboat next to Hayley and Miss Gloria's place--Schnootie the schnauzer, and two older cats, Dinkels and Jack. And I ended up having to give a little dog to Detective Nathan Bransford because of another auction. The winner was a Chihuahua/ Miniature Pinscher mix named Ziggy Stardust. He doesn't make a lot of appearances, but he would say they're always at key moments. 

HALLIE EPHRON: I have no pets in my life but that hasn't kept me from putting them in my books. Phoebe, a key character in NEVER TELL A LIE, is "a dog of indeterminate breed with a fat sausage body, skinny legs, and the black jowls of a bull mastiff.  The dog’s snout was studded with white whiskers and her fur was brown and threadbare in places, like a well-loved plush toy." It wheezes and stutter-steps along, and takes a star turn in saving the life of the main character. 

In THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN, my old woman has a cat named Ivory ("The cat draped itself, languid and boneless in her arms, and purred like a wheezy truck engine.") who helps the the main character figure out what's going on.

Maybe that's what my new manuscript needs, a few pets... or maybe some vermin.   

INGRID THOFT: I never noticed before you asked, Jenn, but I have no pets in my books!  None!  That’s crazy, and I’ll have to rectify that in my WIP.  It’s not a mystery why pets aren’t on my brain:  We don’t have any.  Although both my husband and I had dogs, cats, fish, hamsters, and the occasional lizard as pets growing up, we’ve been without animals throughout our adult lives.  I’m allergic to cats and dogs, and we travel enough to make caring for any fur people a dicey proposition.  My husband does have a beautiful, large saltwater fish tank, which demands his time and attention, although most of the functions can be automated if we travel.  

So, there’s going to be a pet in SUBMERGED, but which pet?  I’m off to look at dog images on the Net!

JENN: Ingrid, this is exciting. It's like you're getting an actual pet. Do keep us posted. I think virtual/fictional pets might be the best sort to have. Did I mention I cleaned up twelve spots of dog vomit this morning. Ugh.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Jenn, one of Duncan and Gemma's new kittens is named Captain Jack and the other is Rose, which is one of my little inside jokes that no one except Doctor Who fans will get. But Duncan's parents also have a border collie named Jack, and a main character in an earlier book was called Jack, AND the book-in-progress has a character named Jack.... So there's another post in there on name repetition, I think...

Deb's Cat

JENN: Debs, I love the name Jack (clearly). I wanted to name one of our hooligans Jack but with the last name Orf...yeah, no.

DEBS: I think my only book without animals was the very first one, A SHARE IN DEATH. In the second book, Duncan adopts his dead neighbor's cat, Sid. In the fifth book, Kit (Duncan's son) finds a little terrier abandoned and shivering behind a Tesco supermarket--hence Tess.  In the eighth book, Gemma adopts a cocker spaniel named Geordie. And in the sixteenth book, Kit and Toby rescue a mother cat and kittens and are allowed to keep two of the kittens, which puts animals in the immediate family now at two dogs and three cats.  There are many more sprinkled throughout the series. I like writing about animals, and it certainly reflects my life, with two dogs and three cats. Hmmm. Are you seeing a pattern here? I hadn't even realized I'd mirrored my own household.... There are certainly dogs in the b-in-p, too, several border collies, an Irish deerhound, and a Jack Russell terrier. Cats may insinuaate themselves, but England is, after all, a very doggy country.

Deb's dogs

My favorite charity naming character was an English Mastiff named Mo who appears in WHERE MEMORIES LIE.  I had a really hard time trying to figure out how to work this big dog into the book, but in the end he almost stole the story.


RHYS BOWEN: I've steered away from pets in most of my books. I heard horror stories from friends who gave their sleuths a pet and every time they didn't feed the cat or walk the dog for twenty pages they got letters telling them how terrible they were. Actually it's never really been a factor because Molly Murphy in the early 1900s could barely afford to feed herself and Lady Georgie doesn't really have a place to call her own. But in the book In Farleigh Field there are a couple of lovely golden retrievers who play a part in the story and in the next Royal Spyness book I'm writing there are some very annoying birds! (whom Hank might recognize).

How about you, Readers? Are you partial to fiction with pets, why or why not? Or do you even notice?