Did you know that this is National Zoo Keeper Week? (neither did I, until I went searching) Every year, the third week in July is set aside to recognize zoo keepers’ roles as educational and wildlife ambassadors.
Animals are fascinating creatures–at least in my opinion. The Lord certainly was creative when he made so many different varieties, don’t you think? The long neck of the giraffe, the quills of a porcupine, the colorful feathers of the peacock. And if it weren’t for zoos, most of us would never see many of these creatures up close.
I find animals inspiring, and I know there are many writers who put animals in their stories – and sometime even allow them to take center stage, so to speak. The first books that come to mind for me are C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia – but that very well could be because I’m reading those books to my kids. But, of course, there are many others.
Animal imagery is popular in writing – even God’s Word tells us to look at the ant to see industriousness, and who can forget Balaam and the talking donkey?
So, take a trip to the local zoo and get some writing inspiration. And don’t forget to thank the zookeepers!
A QUESTION FOR YOU: Do you like to write about animals? Do you use animal descriptions for people? Feel free to include a link to anything you’ve written about or including animals in your comment.
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8 Comments until now.
Animals can bring out a whole different side of your character. I’m looking forward to “working” with some in upcoming mss. =]
The Chronicles of Narnia are fantastic. The way Lewis used the animals and gave them personalities… wow!
LOVE Chronicles of Narnia. What a great example, Patty!
I haven’t really used animals much in my writing, but hope to change that. They certainly have their own personalities.
I have written about what I am familiar with and we have 16 paws running around this house….here is just one link -
http://myincrediblelord.blogspot.com/2011/04/most-amazing-cat-toy.html
Written from an interesting POV too….GRIN
This is SO funny! When I first read the article, I thought, ‘doesn’t apply to me, I don’t ever use animals’. However, as I left the site, several devotions that I’d written using animals came to mind. (Whaaaat? I guess I DO use animals!)
When I went to my devotion site, I discovered that quite a few of my writings do, indeed, focus around some type of animal. Who knew? Three of my favorites are:
“Lift Up Your Monkey Hands”
http://www.rubberontheroad.org/?p=1129
“The Parable of the No Name Lizards”
http://www.rubberontheroad.org/?p=2731
and my most fav of all:
“Is Your Monkey Hot?”
http://www.rubberontheroad.org/?p=2647
I wrote a short children’s picture book called “The Adventure of Floyd the Turtle” about a man who found a baby turtle during hurricane Floyd in 1999 and the adventure they took to get out of the storms past and how the turtle named after the hurricane had to get used to the man’s cat. It was fun to write and I wrote it in the view of the turtle. It is an ebook now on Kindle and Nook…it was a joy to write. Just love animals. Chronicles of Narnia are my favorite movies!!!
I used to read excerpts from this book to my sixth graders. One month I’d assign a research report on animals. My students produced some outstanding reports, notebooks, and displays. They were required to report on the animal’s character traits and what God teaches us through that animal. The Big Book of Animal Devotions: Daily Readings About God’s Amazing Creation
By: William L. Coleman
Leonardo da Vinci said that civilizations define the extent of their humanity, by their treatment towards its most helpless: human embryos and animals.
A beautiful truth.
I am inspired by Connie Vigil’s success in publishing her children’s story on Nook and Kindle. This intrigues me, because I have an animal story I have written, among other children stories that I hope to gather up the confidence to do the same with. Connie, if you read this – do you have any more advice? How challenging is the process of publishing on Nook and Kindle??