Name that tune (Guitar Hero creator Activision challenges players to an online scavenger hunt to identify all 85 bands represented on the fifth installment game. Plus, the "Where The Wild Things Are" video game seeks another publisher) (MediaPost,... Read the rest of this post
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By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 5/29/2009
Blog: Ypulse (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Twilight, Jessica Simpson, Archie, current tv, new moon, Ypulse Essentials, guitar hero, spelling bee, Axe, Truth campaign, activision, IAB, New Moon trailer, Sunkist, Young People's Handbook, Add a tag
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 10/22/2008
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: romance writers, Janet Evanovich, Stanley Coren, writing about animals, pets in plot, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, Romance Times Review, Stephanie Plum series, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, Add a tag
By: Marley Gibson,
on 2/5/2007
Blog: Books, Boys, Buzz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: jessica simpson, jlo, celebrity gossip, marc anthony, john mayer, Add a tag
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By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 5/29/2009
Blog: Ypulse (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Twilight, Jessica Simpson, Archie, current tv, new moon, Ypulse Essentials, guitar hero, spelling bee, Axe, Truth campaign, activision, IAB, New Moon trailer, Sunkist, Young People's Handbook, Add a tag
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 10/22/2008
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: romance writers, Janet Evanovich, Stanley Coren, writing about animals, pets in plot, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, Romance Times Review, Stephanie Plum series, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, Add a tag
KATHRYNN DENNIS is the author of Dark Rider and Shadow Rider. The Romance Times Reviews recently awarded Shadow Rider 4 Stars! and writes: "The color, vibrancy, and excitement of the Middle Ages allows Dennis to create a memorable tale of two people whose destiny is tied to a mystical colt. Dennis tells her story with passion, drama, and a love of animals that will enthrall readers."
Horses take center stage in her stories. I asked her if pets are a hinderance or a help to plotting? (naturally!)
Pets and animals have a lot to contribute to plot—I’m not talking about Old Yeller, or Black Beauty, where the animal is the plot, but rather books where the animal plays a role, though not so prominantly. Animals can be developed as stand alone characters that take action and thus move the plot in a particular direction, or they can add a layer of character to their owner’s personality. How, exactly, do they do that, you ask? The literature is rich with information on the human-animal bond and why people choose the pets they do. It’s called pet-owner profiling. Pets and animals in the story help the reader get into the head of the human characters. There are good studies which suggest pets are an extension of their owners—in looks and in behavior. People tend to chose pets that look like them, much like they choose a human life-partner. Take a look at Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, and Jake Gyllenhaal with their dogs. It’s hard to miss the physical similarities. Pet owners also tend to choose pets with personality traits like their own. Turns out you can learn a lot about a person’s character just by knowing what kind of pet they own. Here’s what the seminal research by Kidd and Kidd (1980) tells us about pet-owner personality traits:
• Cat lovers are high in autonomy and low in dominance and nurturing.
• Dog-loving men are high in dominance and aggression. Dog-loving women are high in dominance, too, but low in aggression.
• Horse lovers in general are assertive, introspective, and self-concerned, but limited in cooperativeness, nurturing, and warm human relationships. Male horse-lovers are aggressive, dominant, and less expressive in general. Female horse-lovers avoided aggression and are easy going.
• Turtle lovers are hard-working, reliable, goal-oriented, and see the world as lawful.
• Snake lovers are unconventional, informal, novelty seeking, and unpredictable.
• Bird lovers are contented, courteous, expressive, social, and altruistic.
Pet owners in general are considered to be more nurturing and low in autonomy, no matter what kind of pet they own. I’ve noticed dog and cat-loving characters enrich a fair number of romance novels (for an early example, think of Georgette Heyer’s Ulysses in Arabella) and the personality of a male horse-owner certainly has the makings of a historical romance hero—think cowboys, knights, and men who were rich enough to fox hunt. Dominant men. Aggressive, alpha males who had trouble expressing themselves (until they met the heroine, of course).
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I keep thinking about Rex, the hamster in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. Rex embodies the character of a bounty-hunting woman who keeps a hamster for a pet. She’s high in autonomy and not especially nurturing. Neither is Rex. Both make me laugh.
I’ve not seen many romances where a character owns a nontraditional pet (fish, lizards, or pocket pets like Rex), but I’m sure they are out there.
There are also some interesting reads on the pathological condition known as pet hoarding. Profiles of hoarders suggest the condition is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder and affected people usually come from chaotic, unstable homes. Just google pet hoarding and you’ll turn up a fair number of psych reviews on the topic.
If you’d like to dig deeper into pet-owner profiling, check out Why We Love the Dogs We Do: How to Find the Dog That Matches Your Personality by Stanley Coren (Simon and Schuster; ISBN 978-0684855028). There are some interesting chapters in there about dogs (breeds) for introverts and extroverts, dominant people, not-so-dominant people, trusting, or controlling people, and an in-depth examination of the dogs owned by various leaders and famous personalities--what their dog-ownership reveals about their non-public personality.
If you understand your character, the character will drive the plot. Not the other way around (a pitfall for writers). So pets can enrich the plot, especially if they are used as character enhancers. They are only a hindrance if they serve no purpose. I love an author who can weave a pet into a plotline or incorporate a pet or an animal to enlighten my understanding of the owner’s character. As a reader, can you recall pets that helped move a story along, or helped you better understand the character of their owner?
I’ll give a free copy of SHADOW RIDER to a randomly chosen commenter!
Thank you, Martha, for inviting me to blog!
For more about Kathrynn Dennis, please visit for a plot interview where we asked Kathrynn about her writing process, with an emphasis on plot.
(NOTE: I had the great honor of working with Kathryn on her book's early development.)
16 Comments on Pets in Plots: Help or Hindrance?, last added: 10/25/2008
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By: Marley Gibson,
on 2/5/2007
Blog: Books, Boys, Buzz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: jessica simpson, jlo, celebrity gossip, marc anthony, john mayer, Add a tag
Well, I do! Can't get enough of it. I watch Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight and E! News just to get the tiniest bit of fodder on the rich and famous. US Weekly is like an addictive substance and People always catches my attention at the store.
So, imagine my voyeuristic surprise when the sales team at my office came back from an intensive week-long meeting in Miami and had plenty of celebrity poop to pass along. Naturally, I have to pass it along to you!
At the exact time Jessica Simpson and John Mayer have been avoiding the tabloid headlines linking them together...my buddies saw with their very own eyes Jessica and John kanoodling by the pool at the Four Seasons in Miami. They said Jessica was looking very hot and the hotel management was having to approve of who could come into the pool area because they were obviously getting attention. One of the sales guys had to go out to the pool area to find his boss and they wouldn't let him in because he was staying at the Mandarin and not the Four Seasons and had no proof of "legitimately" being there. Don't you love it?
Then, another one of the sales guys who was staying at the Mandarin said he couldn't sleep because the suite underneath his was pumping all night with this one Spanish song playing over and over and over again. The balcony underneath him was full of people partying and singing. The sales guy called the hotel to complain and they said it was pretty much too bad. So, at 3:00 a.m., the sales guy went out onto his balcony and hung over it to see who it was. He figured if the hotel wasn't going to do anything about it, it must be someone pretty important. Lo and behold, the music playing over and over was JLo's new Spanish single and it was hers and Marc Anthony's party. He said JLo looked very plain without being "made up," but they were having a great time. He noticed Marc Anthony standing in the corner of the balcony talking to some other people and overhead...(this is classic!)
Marc Anthony: "You know, staying together is the new breaking up."
Isn't that the best line you've ever heard?!
Man, how I would have loved to have gone to the sales meeting in Miami. Had JLo and Marc Anthony kept me awake at 3:00 a.m., I would have gone downstairs, knocked on the door and said, "If you're going to keep me awake, at least let me join you."
Have you every run into a celebrity or witnessed them out of their habitat? Anything juicy or fun? Pitch in and post your story!
Marley = )
Sorority Rush Begins - Spring 2008!
Puffin Books
11 Comments on Don't you love celebrity gossip?, last added: 2/6/2007
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Read My Dog Skip by Willie Morris years ago. Still stays with me.
Thanks for the tip, Anonymous! I am collecting books that fit this topic...My Dog Skip sounds like it's perfect!
Bula, William's guard dog, in Christine Dodd's Candle in the Window is instrumental in several of the plot turns in the romance. Love that big, goofy dog...
Love this post! I'm going to pay much closer attention to pets-in-stories from now on.
I'd be interested in hearing how animals can be instrumental in plot.
Charlie in The Daily Coyote, a memoir by Shreve Stockon due out 12/2 will be the defining animal in stories for years to come both in terms of driving the plot and revealing more deeply the main character -- Shreve.
Touted as the next Eat, Pray, Love, only so much better...
If you haven't visited her blog, do! You'll be glad you did!
http://www.dailycoyote.net/
Congratulations, Kathryn--
I'm curious why cat-owners aren't broken down into male/female traits.
I agree about the uses of animals in stories--great for plot. I do get a bit irritated when the animal seems to have no story reason for being.
Your book sounds wonderful, btw!
Thought provoking topic. Had to really think about it for a while before I could come up with any animals that were not the "stars" of the story.
The first that came to mind were from movies. The fluffy, fancy cat in "While You Were Sleeping" fit perfectly with the owner we met later in the story. And Brinkley in "You Got Mail" said a lot about Tom Hanks character.
I tend to read mostly mystery and suspense and don't notice too many animals there, as secondary characters. Robert Parker's "Spencer" and "Jesse Stone" books have dogs that reveal their softer side.
The funny thing is that anything I write has animals, usually horses, in it. But, as I said before I don't notice many in the books I read. Perhaps, they tend to be a distraction in mysteries?
Good luck with "Shadow Rider."
Jade, the animals (horses) in both of my books, Dark Rider and Shadow Rider--were instrumental to the plot. In the 13th century they were so vital for those in power. Horses=army. Without them, kingdoms were lost. ;-) The horses, and who controls them and how, makes them instrumental to the story.
Hi Becky, I didn't see much on female vs male cat owners, there may not be distinguishing charateristics...interestingly, one would think from Cop TV shows that cat hoarders are always female---the data suggests otherwise...male and female's hoard, but both tend to be at least 40 years or older. Again, they don't seem to differ in details regarding their personalities.
Great examples, KathyW! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Martha, I haven't read Candle in the Window...but I HAVE to now!
Thanks for the rec! ;-)
I don't have a pet in my plot, but the dogs in my life have certainly made me a better person.
Yes, writetolive, I am a veterinarian by day, and I totally agree, animals, make me a better person, too! Thanks for commenting!
I keep forgetting you're a vet, Kathrynn. No wonder you and your use of horses in your stories are so sensitive. Plus, I know you have a horse of your own, too.
I also base any dogs on my own best friend - a boxer called Lennon
Hi Martha,
Just stopped in to read your fabulous blog. Have a Happy Halloween. :)
Dorlana