Some of my favorite secondary characters aren’t people at all – they’re critters. I have a couple who is owned by a cat who adores one of them and hates the other. Half the cast of one of my hetero books are four-legged. Horses, cats, dogs—I love bringing them into my books.
I’m one of those people who will take an animal’s judgment of a person at face value. If a dog is wary of someone, I probably will be too. If a cat thinks you’re worthy of acknowledgment, you’re probably okay. If an otherwise friendly horse is immediately hostile toward you, I won’t necessarily show you the door, but it’s certainly a red flag. Looking back, I honestly wonder how many of my boyfriends realized I wasn’t just showing them my horse—her opinion of them mattered! (No joke—she loved everyone, but hated one of my boyfriends…who turned out to be a jerk.)
[Read more…] about Animals as Characters by Marie Sexton and L.A. Witt