Emily Dickinson said that “dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.” But sometimes as authors we find ourselves wanting to tell the stories of dogs. This month, to celebrate the “dog days” of summer, let’s discuss how to create, describe, and handle anthropomorphic characters of all sorts.
Anthropowhat?
Anthropomorphism. It’s the act of attributing human qualities to nonhuman things. For the sake of all our sanities, I’m going to be talking about animal anthropomorphics (ahem. no yiffing.) here, but let’s not forget that anthropomorphism as a literary device includes anything imbued with a “personality” – even the North Wind.
So let’s say you find yourself wanting to write a story with a talking animal. Maybe you’re intrigued by the idea. Maybe you want to write about your dog’s day while you’re at work, from the dog’s point of view. Or maybe you’ve been assigned anthropomorphic stories as a genre in a writing exercise. However you got to the notion, there’s at least as many ways to write a “talking animal” story as there are stories to tell. Let’s look at a few types of stories with anthropomorphic characters. Remember, any time I say “animals” you could theoretically insert “colors” or “principles of nature.”
animals acting as animals
A classic example of animals acting as animals is Watership Down. (For those of you not already scarred for life by your parents thinking talking bunnies are for kids and giving you the book when you were seven, go read it now.) Although the rabbits have a developed society and communicate with each other, it’s a rabbit society. The warrens function as warrens. They don’t wear clothes or have kings. The problems they solve, they address as rabbits do, or at least in ways that are behaviorally probable.
talking animals
One of the first questions most writers ask themselves when setting up a scene involving anthropomorphics is, can these characters interact with humans? How? Will they be able to communicate? Do they understand human language? And can they speak back? Enter the Talking Animal. Whether it’s a witch’s familiar, Dug the Dog or the Cowardly Lion (in the book, guys, he’s a lion. Just a lion. A lion-shaped lion.) the Talking Animal bridges the gap between humans and anthropomorphics. A talking animal may think of itself as a person or it may have more animalistic thought processes. It may be able to talk to all people, or only to one. Playing with these tensions is a way to keep the talking animal trope fresh.
animals acting as humans
From Dogs Playing Poker to Disney’s Robin Hood, we do love our animals acting as humans. Whether it’s simply engaging in human activities or dressing up in human costumes, these stories are firmly in the realm of fantasy. Contrast, if you like, Redwall and Watership Down. Where the animals in Redwall wear clothing, live in houses, and are improbably proportioned in relation to each other, the animals in Watership Down live in burrows and cats eat rabbits. One important thing to note: usually animals behaving as humans doesn’t mean animals talking to humans. These animals live in a world of their own, usually uninhabited by humans.
aliens that look like animals
Whether you’re talking about Heinlein’s bugs in Starship Troopers or CJ Cherryh’s Kif, one easy way to insert an animal character that can talk to humans is to make it a member of an alien race. It’s a plausible way to mix human and “animal” characters in a story without a communications barrier.
Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list of the types of anthropomorphic animals that appear in literature. Werewolves, the mice in the Tailor of Gloucester, a dozen or so Disney movies… that’s the short list that springs to mind without trying. And of course there’s our favorite space otter, Mr. Stamper. Why not see what you can come up with?
I really do appreciate the shoutout to Mr. Stamper. This month is just made for him. 🙂