Be Nice Or I'll Kill You Off #mfrwauthor

The topic is family, friends, and pets I've written into my books. So how does the title fit in?

My first thought when I saw the topic for week 16 of the challenge was a t-shirt I saw in a writer's forum. Be Nice Or I'll Write You Out Of My Book. Well, to be written out, you have to be written in. The shirt was especially appropriate for those who write in the mystery genre.

I have never written pets as such into one of my novels. Any animals, even if they provided companionship were working animals, not a pet in the traditional sense. The horses are all magical equines and the pony of my childhood was just a tall Shetland with an attitude. He couldn't run for hours nor fly. (Although he could buck high enough to send his rider flying.) The closest animal in one of my books to a real one was Faoth, the shepherd's dog in "Magic and Steel," one of the novellas in the collection First Change: Legends From The Eyrie. Faoth is a composite of two collies from my youth, Bumps, and Salt and Pepper. Although they vary in coloring from Faoth, the real dogs did perform functions around the farm. Although not formally trained, their instincts were sufficient that they herded both animal and human on command.

Then there are the people. One of my first works featured a relative. She was a child at the time which made writing the tale difficult. It was a romance, so how to handle the reality that was in my mind to the fictional woman. Since then five generations have inspired a character. Some by a variant of their name, others by how they lived their lives.

So that's the post. If you want to see actual names, you need to buy one of the Dragshi Chronicles and look at the acknowledgements. Be sure to visit the other authors at the bottom of the post. 

~till next time, Helen