Author Robert Repino Explains Why Writing Animal Characters Is So Tricky

Repino ’s newfangled novel Mort(e ) was io9 ’s leger club selection this calendar month , and he hold on in to answer a few of our questions , including one on how to pen from an animal ’s point of view . In his novel , cats and hound train human - point intelligence , but , explains Repino , that does n’t mean that their behaviors and desire will needs mirror our own :

For all of the “ pre - Change ” conniption , I really wanted to punctuate the impulses that developed in the animals through phylogeny and , in the case of the pets and livestock , breeding . Those who grew up around world often feel a savage veneration to them that they do n’t even understand . Moreover , they ca n’t fully comprehend the humans ’ earth , so that coincidental sense of wonder and alienation had to be there at all time . Plus , write from an animal POV really forced me to emphasize senses other than just sight . Having them respond to aroma , or to distant sounds that only they can hear , I hoped would allow us to get into that mentality more well . There are quite a few books that discuss this — I recall reading Timbuktu by Paul Auster , in which a dog is the narrator .

you could read Repino ’s full interviewright here , or check out the first look at the book ’s newfangled construct art above .

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