Embrace Quirky: 5 Benefits of Using Animal Point-of-View Characters

Today’s post is by book coach Erin Radniecki.

Warning: I’m going to use the A-word in this post. That’s right, I’m talking about anthropomorphism. While some in the writing world consider fiction featuring animal characters to be suitable only for young readers, there are many benefits to giving creatures a voice in your novel.

Why might you consider using an anthropomorphic character in your novel? What could an animal character bring to your story that a human character could not? From perspective, to takeaway lessons, to connecting with your ideal reader, using animal characters in fiction can work for novels of all age categories.

1. Reader connection

Be forewarned, if you write fiction involving animal characters, especially fiction for adult readers, people will likely refer to your story as “quirky.” If you’re the type of person who embraces the unique and uncommon, then this may be a comfortable place for you and your book to live.

Being labeled with the term quirky—which has connotations of being different, but not bad—comes with some benefits. Leaning into the quirky moniker means that your writing likely has developed an authentic, unexpected voice. Readers who are easily bored by what is considered conventional, expected, or “the norm” will be drawn to your writing, as will those who are drawn to unconventional protagonists.

Bottom line: If you take quirky as a compliment, consider an anthropomorphic character!

2. Perspective

There’s a reason that being a fly on the wall is a commonly used idiom. It perfectly describes what many of us wish for—to be able to observe without being observed. In terms of fiction, adopting an animal point of view allows writers to incorporate an inaccessible perspective for their readers.

Whether it’s a literal fly, a pet, or a wild animal, giving non-human characters a voice allows them to be the eyes and ears in spaces that may be unavailable to human characters. It also frees these characters from responsibilities that human characters might have.

For example, a human character who witnesses a potentially dangerous situation would be obligated to intervene, and if they don’t, it would require exploration of their motivation on the part of the author.

But an animal character likely won’t have the ability to intervene, and can report on the scene without the responsibility of stepping in. Of course, creative intervention by animal characters is also a fun and unexpected avenue to explore!

You may be thinking, why not just use an omniscient narrator? That option would remove the problem of an inaccessible perspective altogether. It’s true that an omniscient narrator may provide the ultimate freedom for the writer, but that freedom can come at a price. If your narrator does know everything, why don’t they tell everything? If you are inhabiting the minds of various characters, revealing their thoughts and internal dialogue throughout the novel, but conveniently choose not to in a key scene, you risk losing the reader’s trust.

An anthropomorphic narrator can reasonably have access to some places, while still being understandably excluded from others. And as the writer you can have fun playing with that balance of inclusion and exclusion.

3. Takeaway message

All species are connected.
Everyone is part of a community.
Nature has lessons to teach us.

Whatever takeaway message you want to infuse in your novel, there is likely a parallel in nature. All books are making an argument for or against something, and anthropomorphic characters can provide you with a direct connection between point and illustration.

They can be especially helpful when you are offering the reader a comparison between two options:  Do you prefer A or B? Do you want to live in a world like X or like Y?

Juxtaposing animal and human viewpoints can highlight the world as it is, and also the world you want readers to imagine is possible.

4. Understanding

I’ve heard anthropomorphism disparaged for being overly sentimental and a harmful simplification of animal behavior. I’m sure there are instances where that judgment is accurate. But there is another side to anthropomorphism, captured in anthropologist S. E. Guthrie’s familiarity thesis, and that is the observation that when we anthropomorphize we are trying to understand something by comparing it to what we know best: ourselves.

So the urge to anthropomorphize does not come from a desire to make a topic cute and easily digestible, but rather to better understand something that is outside of our own experience.

When a writer uses animal characters in their fiction, it tells me one very important thing about them: They have humility. Someone who believes that humans have it all figured out is not going to hand the microphone to a non-human creature. A writer willing to make that gesture is seeking to understand something. What better way to learn about our animal cousins than by stepping into their paws?

5. Curiosity

To write from the perspective of a species other than your own requires you to lead with curiosity. I believe writers are already predisposed to curiosity, needing to be observant recorders of the details that make their writing come to life. Embodying a creature as authentically and thoroughly as possible means leaning in to that tendency to observe.

Following your curiosity begins with observing, for example, several crows causing an uproar and swooping around a tree. But it continues with pausing to look closer and uncover the deeper meaning of what is happening. With greater scrutiny of those crows we might notice a hawk perched in the tree, and consider that perhaps the crows have a nest nearby.

When you lead with curiosity in your writing, you take your ability to observe and deduce, and share it with your readers. In a sense you’re training them to lean into their own curiosity, and that can have far reaching benefits.

It’s a commonly referenced point that fiction builds empathy in readers. It does this by allowing a reader to occupy someone else’s perspective, thereby giving them a deeper understanding of their neighbor. Shouldn’t the same opportunity be afforded to non-human neighbors? By stepping back and observing our own species through the eyes of another, something new just might be revealed to us.

Erin Radniecki

Erin Radniecki is a nature enthusiast and Author Accelerator certified book coach based in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. She helps nature-passionate people write fiction that makes readers care about the natural world. Learn more about Erin’s work at writewithnature.com.