How to Write Stories People Will Love

Question 101: Animal POV

333RKTT asks: Hi. I am writing a story about an animal's POV. I'm not sure how much or how little the animal should know since they aren't humans like us. I feel like my story is boring because we have a lot of interesting things for us to write about such as technology, stores, schools, but animals don't have those things. How do I make my story sound more interesting?

It's true, the only reason a dog might think about cell phones is to wonder why their human is always on it instead of petting the dog. Although we lose a lot of typical things one would write about, the fact the point of view is the animal's is already interesting. It's different. To make the writing interesting, we need to lean into that. Allow me to explain.

How Animals See the World

The trick is to really get into the shoes, or paws, of the animal. Humans don't know what it's like to smell blood from miles away, or hear the noises a mouse makes in the underbrush, or see prey in the dark. They don't experience the fear of certain loud noises or the wariness toward unfamiliar sights and smells. Everything is a lot more instinctual.

This is the novelty factor of the animal POV. Readers like to see what life is like for story characters, so instead of focusing on the mundane aspects of animal life like eating or traveling, get into the mind of the animal. Share not only what they see, hear, and smell, but also how it affects them. What does the stimulus make them want to do? Does the smell scare them? Why?

Another thing to think about is whether the animal is a predator or prey. Life is very different between the two. All animals are wary of danger, but prey animals are even more paranoid. Deer are constantly looking up from grazing to look for predators. They even evolved eyes on the sides of their heads so their field of vision is much greater.

Survival for the predator, on the other hand, is the ability to find food. Food is much easier to find for prey animals, and plants don't run away either. So predators have developed keen hunting senses and instincts. A house cat may not need to hunt, but they still react to certain moving objects with hunting instincts.

Put yourself into the mind of the animal and try to see the world from its point of view. Think about what instincts and senses it has. The majority of decisions they make are for survival, so think about how that affects their actions as well.

The Animal as Narrator

If the animal in your story is living among humans, then it can act as the narrator of the story by relaying what's happening. The interesting thing about an animal narrator is they aren't going to understand everything they see. For example, "The girl pulls a small black rectangle out of her pocket and starts tapping on it, then she holds it to her ear and starts talking."

Think about how familiar the animal is with the human world. Dogs living among people would be familiar with TVs, cell phones, and other technology, but a wolf would not. Animals that are familiar with technology can talk about them by name. "The girl pulls her phone out of her pocket and starts tapping on it."

If you get a chance, read Watership Down. It's a story written entirely from the POV of wild rabbits! They call tractors "hrududus" because that's the noise they make (imagine a motorcycle starting its engine and then idling). I thought it was such a neat story because I never thought about how a rabbit might view our world and technology.