Guest Post: Animals in Novels by Linda Hawley & GIVEAWAY! (Giveaway now closed.)

Animals in Novels

I thought I would guest blog about something unexpected: Animals in Novels. It’s easy to write about them, right? You simply describe them and their personality, and leave it at that. Wrong. How do I know? I wrote a dog into my novel, Dreams Unleashed.

When writing in an animal, the author has to decide whether the animal is adding dimension to an existing character’s life, or whether the animal will be a character in the story himself. (I’m not referring to an animated story, where animals act like humans.) For example, in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, she writes in a dog, Bouton, who actually diagnoses patients at the Paris l'Hôpital des Anges, in the year 1744. In this story, Bouton is a multidimensional character himself. Contrasting this, are the dogs in Dean Koontz’ book The Darkest Evening of the Year, where the dogs improve the dimension of the main character, Amy. Even though dogs are part of the subplot of Koontz’ novel, none of them are a multidimensional character themselves.

In the first book of The Prophecies trilogy, Dreams Unleashed, I’ve introduced a dog, Lulu. In the novel, she adds dimensions of kindness, compassion, and loyalty to the protagonist, Ann Torgeson. But as the trilogy continues in the next two books, Lulu will become her own character, as Ann’s unexpected challenges increase. I remember watching the Lassie series on television when I was a kid. I loved watching the heroism, and the close bond between Timmy and Lassie. I never missed a show. In my trilogy, I wanted to give the world another dog hero, if only for a while. < All three novels of The Prophecy are being published this year, so if you start reading Dreams Unleashed now, you won't have to wait years for the rest in the series. Book two will be published this summer (2011), and book three will be published December of this year (2011).

A free sample of Dreams Unleashed is available at: Amazon

The eBook version of Dreams Unleashed can be purchased at:
Smashwords: Smashwords
Amazon: Amazon
The print version of Dreams Unleashed will be published the week of June 10th.

Follow the author and get insiders' tips on The Prophecies trilogy:
http://lindahawley.com/

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GIVEAWAY TIME!

Linda has generously offered up a copy of her book, Dreams Unleashed for a giveaway! :D

The details:

*You must be 13 or older to enter.

*INTERNATIONAL!

*If you're in the USA or Canada you can win either a print book or an eBook, and for International you'll receive an eBook. (You'll have the option of choosing this in the form.)

*No requirements for this giveaway, but extra entries will be given for sharing this giveaway.

*Extra entry for commenting on this guest post too. :)

*Giveaway ends June 30th at 11:59 PM (M.S.T.)

****To enter just fill out this FORM. (This giveaway is now CLOSED.)****

And don't forget to leave Linda a comment! :D

Happy Reading!!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Introducing....my dogs :)

Okay, so I'm sure most of you probably don't care about my dogs, but I love them oodles and oodles, so I wanted to share them with you! :)

We have 3 dogs, 2 boys and 1 girl.
  

This is Molly, our dachshund, she's the baby out of our dogs. She's also the boss, so don't mess with her...actually if you do mess with her she'll just end up trying to kiss you. She's a humongous suck up and loves attention.

This is Ranger, he's a cockapoo, that's a cocker spaniel and poodle mix. He's the old man out of our dogs, but he's still my baby. We've had him since I was four, and his 15th birthday is coming up on November 4th. This picture's a couple years old, so he's got a little more gray and is more distinguished now.

 This is Riley, our long haired chihuahua. I know chihuahua's have all these negative connotations surrounding them, and trust me, he does bark a lot and at a very high frequency, but to be honest, we think he acts more like a cat than a dog. He likes to sit in the sun, perches on the couch...and on you if you let him, and he incessantly wants you to pet him.

So they're all pretty different, but they all hog the bed. Seriously, I have a double sized bed and I end up getting a quarter of it if my chihuahua and dachshund are on there. My cockapoo's getting a little to old to sleep on my bed though, it's too high for him to get up on so he prefers the floor, a blanket or a pillow. When he used to sleep on my bed though he was also a major bed hog. :P

Anyways, I'm getting very odd topic.

These are my dogs, and I love them. I hope you think they're kinda cute too. :)





Ranger



Riley



Molly



So, do you have any pets???

If you do, why don't you tell me a little bit about them, or even share a picture, I'd love to know more about them. :)

Happy Reading and Do Svidaniya!!!

♪♫ Ambur