Since I’m going to have talking animals in my new story, I thought I’d ask you guys about your talking animals. These must not be humanoid (like a half-human or humanoid reptile alien) and not have human body parts (like a minotaur or mermaid) in anyway, but they can be dinosaurs if you want.
How are they able to talk? Natural? Magic? Some mad scientist experiment? Learned miraculously? An abnormal phenomenon?
What is their level of speech? Could I have an intelligent conversation with them?
How “animal” are they? Do they still walk around on all fours, or are they like Tom & Jerry, standing on two legs most of the time? Their front paws are hands?
Do they wear clothes? Carry weapons? Wear glasses? Use canes? Etc.
Are they self-aware? Do they know they are talking animals? Or do they not consider themselves as animals at all?
And like Qualeshia does, Bonus:
Introduce one of your favorite talking animals from your own story AND/OR from a book or movie you love.
Mine’s probably Aslan from Narnia. Who doesn’t like that kind old lion? Or Pantalaimon! Although…is he an animal? Debatable.
Okay so I have one. Crowtens. They’re a hybrid bird but they take after crows and ravens. They’re exceptionally large birds that are almost always solid black. They are usually given to the children of royalty but they can be owned by anyone.
They fly mail around and deliver packages bc wild Crowtens exist and they are known for not only attacking travelers and caravans, but are known for stealing animals and attacking the owned Crowtens and stealing their mail. Owned Crowtens are easily singled out since they have rings around their legs.
They can speak in very broken English like parrots and crows and ravens can. They’re incredibly smart by nature. While a full on conversation might be a little one sided it would still be fun as they have large personality and can learn to make short sentences if practiced enough.
Crowtens hop around, mostly.
They have little rings around their leg. Royals use purple ones to signify they are royal birds. Any non royal bird using purple rings will have their feathers cut (which will grow back in time) so they can’t fly and will be held in a bird facility until their owner comes to get them. If six months pass without their owner coming they are given to a Crowten kingdom where birds are bred and live wonderful lives in a giant natural park (since they live up to 90 years and don’t rehome well).
They see themselves as animals but have huge personalities and are usually given to young children. They live with them their whole lives. They are self aware and can choose not to be someone’s bird. They love being partnered with someone and they usually have mirroring personalities.
My main character’s bird is Mordecai. He sleeps in a hanging nest by a window so he can see outside. His favorite treat is thick sliced haggot (bacon).
Leouch, his owner, sends a lot of love letters to his boyfriend and Mordecai is so over it. He thinks the letters are heavy and smell like perfume and it’s annoying.
Mordecai is also a very solo person. He’s scared of ghosts bc he can’t see them and Leouch attracts a lot of them. He’s also a messy eater.
I only have one story with talking animals, and that’s my middlegrade novel, Marvela Mystic. My main characters are a little black kitten named Marvela and her rat BFF, Curious.
Most animals in this story’s universe can communicate with each other. However, invertebrates and (maybe?) fish cannot. But regular humans can’t understand them. Only witches understand animals and can talk with them. This ability is just a natural side effect of possessing magic.
Most animals are very eloquent, much like most humans! If you were a witch, then sure you’d be able to converse with a creature as easily as you would a human. But, like humans, they’re personalities vary so your mileage may vary.
I try to keep my animals in this story pretty animalistic. For the most part, they behave like regular animals in real life. They all walk on all fours, Marvela will frequently groom herself like a cat would. She hisses, purrs, arches her back at threats, twitches her whiskers in annoyance, and pounces at tiny creatures. She relies more on her sense of smell than a typical human protagonist would.
But I feel that making them too completely “animal” would make them hard for readers to empathize with, so my critters do express emotions like humans would; they laugh and smile (even the birds smile lol) and shed tears and such.
Nope, no clothes. No weapons beyond their own claws, teeth, and magic if they possess any (a lot of my animal characters are witches’ familiars and possess scant traces of magical powers).
Curious does run an online blog though, so … ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Yup! All my animal characters would pass the mirror test. They know they’re animals and that they all have different needs and instincts based on their species.
I have animal characters in my other series, but they don’t talk and are just… regular animals lol and they behave and walk around as regular animals do. Nugget the corgi, for example, is just a normal non-talking (ghost) corgi. :3
I know this one is kinda weird, but I have a cat called Whiskers who basically is the smartest cat because his owner got him specially adapted gloves and he can write words, but he can’t spell amazingly. He tries to talk, though. So does Murray, the attention-seeking cat. He communicates through emotions and actions, mostly and not words.
I have a group of dinosaurs that got isekaied to a fantasy world. I want it to be a parody of Cresent City or something, because Sarah J Maas needs to be lampooned already.
Each dino deserves their own posts but we have got a classic line-up: T Rex, Deinoycus, Triceratops, Pteranodon, and Brachiosaurus. They know that they are archosaurs, and proud of it, too! Eventually they learn some magical powers.
The problem is that I could never figure out the main conflict or the ending.
Oooh. Cool question.
There’s a story idea I’ve been sitting on because I need to finish my current projects first.
It’s about a guy who can talk to animals, so let’s play.
…
How are they able to talk?
He’s special? I guess it’s like magic but it’s not a common thing. Makes him look crazy because only he can understand them.
What is their level of speech? Could I have an intelligent conversation with them?
If you were special too. They speak in complete English though they have their quirks based on what type of animal they are. Like, a bunny would talk in quick, short sentences while a cow would go on a long and slow rant.
How “animal” are they?
Normal animals walking and behaving like animals.
Do they wear clothes? Carry weapons? Wear glasses? Use canes? Etc.
Nope.
Are they self-aware?
They know they’re animals and that the rest of stupid humans don’t understand them.
Bonus.
Favorite animals? I guess a lot of animated movies come to mind like Zootopia or Madagascar.
I liked how in Ratatouille the rats were behaving like rats, running like rats, etc.
I think I prefer animals that are more real and not humanoid. Even with werewolves, I prefer if they turn into actual wolves and act like wolves. Wolves are awesome. That kind is the only werewolf story I’ve written.
In my current project, I have two animals, a pet snail and a pet rat but they don’t talk.
1). The Aporica. A large Deer-like creature, with vast antlers of pure crystalized energy. A Forest Spirit/Creator. Talks because it was once one of the three who created the world in which my tale exists. Alongside the other two, Essingvaux and Cirunithis. Essingvaux a Dragon form (Four Limbed and Winged unlike a Wyvern), and Cirunithis an Aquatic form Shrimp-like facial features, with thick leathery skin, and armoured plating shell upon it’s flanks.
2). Grey Bears. While they do not speak, they understand the words of Men. Odedra of Acoss was one who could converse with them, and they forged an alliance in the years before Acoss fell to the Drakes of Undermount.
3). The Death Owls. Huge, larger than the great Grey Bears. Mighty they once were, and held sway in the northern Mountains of Kell. They have always been one who could talk. Raven Black their plumage is, with shimmering white adorning their faces in the form of a skull. They are peaceful of nature, but during the time of the Sorcerers, they fell dark of mind. It was during this age that they were given the name of Death Owls, and they took it as an honour.
The Drakes of Undermount. The Herders taught them the words of Men and Elves. Brought knowledge to their waring ways, and in time commanded them. That was until the uprising, where they pledged to destroy every last Drake Herder. This pledge has lasted over four thousand years, and they are yet to fulfil it…
I have plans for another race of animals, but I’m not sure which to choose…
As for an animal I loved in a film that talked, and walked like an animal… It has to be Ulric Burnason from The Golden Compass. Though it might have been because Ian McKellen supplied his voice and character…
Well, I guess most talking animals are more like anthropomorphic humans, just overlaying an alien mentality on them, so they use speech.
But I’ve really on dealt with the difficultly of speech on werewolves, specifically, so… let’s see:
A scary thing happened:
Nathan buried his muzzle against my neck–he had never wolfed out this far on me before. The animalistic panting was a surreal staccatto against my ear.
“We leave now.” His voice was guttural, slurred. I don’t think he ever spoke from a maw before.
Oooh. I forgot about Lodolites! These are little mushroom creatures from the sky island Fungiland where mushroom grow tall like trees.
How are they able to talk?
Natural.
What is their level of speech? Could I have an intelligent conversation with them?
Probably not. They communicate in hums. My character Spinel is able to communicate with them because she’s a little different herself (she’s a little flying demon and she speaks only in vowels).
How “animal” are they?
They walk on two feet, have hands and faces but they also have a body that’s covered in tentacles and mushroom-shaped heads so not really human-like.
Do they wear clothes? Carry weapons? Wear glasses? Use canes? Etc.
Nope.
Are they self-aware?
Self-aware, yes. Do they think of themselves as animals? No. They’re a sentient species that rule their domain - as much as small creatures can.
I have Thumbleshroom’s in my children’s stories. I love the idea of these little characters using spores to make mischief by sedating or enchanting people for fun. They never seem to tire of it…
Yes!
Lodolites do something similar. They appear to have put Spinel into coma and try to walk away with her.
Their intentions are questionable and never explained.
I think it’s even worse if you never find out what they planned to do with her.
For the Minecraft fanfiction, domesticated animals (dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, mules, llamas, parrots) can communicate with humans.
From being with humans for so long, the first ones learned to talk, and then they started teaching the young ones to talk.
Despite being with humans for so long, they don’t have the best speech. A basic example would be a dog saying “I dog, used to be wolf.”
All the animals (except the parrots) still walk on all fours, the parrots fly and when they need to, hop.
Unless you count things such as collars clothing, then no, they wear none.
Whether they consider themselves animals depends. The dogs and cats completely know, even realizing they come from wolves and ocelots. The horses, donkeys, mules, and llamas know but prefer to act like they don’t. The parrots completely don’t realize they’re animals, even going so far as to trying to trade with the villagers.
Bonus: Can I be biased and say it’s George, a cat I made based on one of my own cats? He’s a tuxedo with yellow eyes and an orange collar (in the story a player dyed it that color) and he loves to bask in the sunlight.
Or Pantalaimon! Although…is he an animal? Debatable.
They speak in complete English though they have their quirks based on what type of animal they are. Like, a bunny would talk in quick, short sentences while a cow would go on a long and slow rant.