Listen to AsCast!
This essay shares some of the methods I use for creating non-human characters in Narnia stories and making them seem real and plausible. These techniques really a series of questions you ask yourself; the answers tell you how to write the character!
Physicality
Begin with the physicality of the character; what does he look like? How big is he, how strong? Does he have special features which humans don't have (wings, claws) or does he lack something humans do (hands, or binocular vision)? Does he live in an environment we don't (flying in the air, swimming in the sea)? Most importantly, what are his senses like in comparison to ours?
These details are not too hard to come by – for Talking Animals get a good encyclopedia and read the relevant entry. A visit to a zoo or looking at pets can help too. You don't have to stick perfectly to biological facts – but if you change too many details the audience might become confused.
For fantastical creatures you can make everything up from your imagination. A Gryphon is half-lion, half-eagle; can it see as well as an eagle and smell as well as a lion? You don't have a totally free hand here; readers will react to something that seems “wrong” even if they can't say why. Make sure that your creature “feels” like it belongs in Narnia.
Physical differences are the first thing most people notice; having a good understanding of them is essential. It will also help provide many answers for later questions.
Personality
Personality is often set by the genre – Lewis tells us Marshwiggles are grumpy and morose, for example – or by general audience expectation. We expect wolves to be cruel and savage, cats to be sophisticated and sarcastic, Dwarfs to be gruff and dour, etc. You're not straitjacketed to a personality, but moving too far away might confuse readers. A soft and cuddly wolf who loves bunnies will be comedic rather than serious, but a noble wolf who is a good fighter and brave is a good interpretation of the traditional “cruel wolf”.
Consider how intelligent and knowledgeable the character is. This is often dictated by the needs of the story. A Minotaur general will be cleverer than a Minotaur footsoldier, and his personality might be calmer and more calculating (rather than simply violent and angry). A Talking Lion who is a courtier will be more sophisticated and intelligent than one who is a scout, but the scout will know a lot more about the wild. It might even be that the scout is jealous or has some reverse snobbery of the courtier, thinking “he's not a proper lion”.
Decide on these details, but don't get too bogged down in them, especially for a walk-on character. A general tone is all that's needed to answer other questions.
Views of the World
This is perhaps the most important aspect of the character, and where most people get it wrong. It is easy to know a wolf is basically a big dog and the Chief of the Secret Police is cruel and violent, but he looks like a human bully with fur and a tail if you don't get inside his head and think like he thinks. This is where how the character views the world is relevant.
What does this mean? Creatures look at the world differently because they are different. A Giant has a totally different sense of scale to a human (Giant Rumblebuffin being the classic example.) To a flying creature the idea of motion is very different to a human's. A creature which is a predator may see smaller creatures as potential food. In “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” Lucy speculates about the sea-people who look at the mountains as we do the valleys and vice-versa.
An important aspect of worldview is the creature's senses; what they see, smell and hear. Wolves and big cats will be able to smell far more than we can, and they can also see in the dark. Bats can “see” using sonar even in pitch blackness. Some creatures lack a particular sense (or it is so poor it is next to useless – such as virtually-blind moles) or might have a sense we simply don't understand (some creatures can “sense” which way is north).
Another component of worldview is how things are normally done. Creatures (both human and otherwise) assume the way they do things is the normal way, and that everything does it that way unless told otherwise. Wolves hang around in packs and all know their places in the pack instinctively, dominating those below them and being dominated by those above. A creature which mates for life will assume all other creatures mate for life. A creature who attracts mates with impressive feathers and colorful displays will assume other creatures do the same.
How do you bring this into your writing? Whenever you describe something from the point of view of a non-human, consider not only what he is aware of (a wolf sees in black and white and so won't notice subtle shades of color, but has a fantastic sense of smell and will notice amazingly faint scents) but also what his opinion is of it (a wolf would know by scent everyone who had been in the room, but might only really care about packmates, especially those above him in the hierarchy).
When a non-human is presented with human customs and practices, consider what these look like to him and how he interprets them. In extreme cases, severe confusion might arise. For example, a stag grows antlers when mature. A stag who is unfamiliar with humans might assume that all humans are juveniles and treat them as such because they don't have antlers. A wolf or cat might see a smile as an unfriendly action (because it bares the teeth) and view a human kiss as a violent act. A person smiling at Queen Susan and kissing her hand could look very different to a wolf.
Bear these details in mind when writing scenes with a non-human. Use as little or as much of them as you like – it might be that the non-human has lived with humans for a long time and is familiar with the way humans do things. Of course, that doesn't mean he won't do them differently – or that humans won't look at what he does differently, too!
Remember a non-human's senses are normal for him – so he won't be amazed by his ability to smell or see or hear. It is also worth spending some time thinking about just how particular senses would feel – what would it be like being able to tell who someone was, how old they were, if they were hurt or frightened, simply from their smell left somewhere? How might that change how you acted?
Actions and Behavior
Most stories are descriptions of characters doing things, non-humans do them differently. You've thought about how non-humans see the world, now consider how they interact with it.
What does a non-human do? A lot of inspiration for this will come from the earlier research into the physicality of the creature. Wolves live in dens and mark their territory with urine, cats clean themselves with their tongues, beavers build dams. Depending on how “human” you want to make a Talking Animal, you might miss some of these things out – perhaps your wolves won't “mark” Cair Paravel! Some behaviors can be changed into something more “civilized”; cats might scent-mark with artificial perfumes.
You are creating a mythological creature, not a National Geographic special, so consider things that aren't just lifted from biology textbooks. What does a Centaur book look like – it is like a human book, or is it different? Perhaps it is much larger and heavier (because they are bigger and stronger) and made of inscribed metal plates (so it lasts longer)? How do Marshwiggles write? (in one of my stories they had dried-mud tablets they wrote on.) Do wolves decorate their bodies with tattoos and scars and dyed fur? Would cats wear jewelery? What would a Dwarfish house look like?
To answer these questions draw inspiration from the original books and your own imagination, but always try to link it to what you've already decided about the character and his race. Talking Leopards having a mud-wrestling contest doesn't make sense (but Talking Hippos might do that!) Similarly, Talking Cheetahs could have races to decide who is in charge and gets to issue orders.
A word of warning; unless the fantasy race is the focus of the story, don't go too deep into “race building”. It is distracting detail and might bore the reader. It's okay to work out exactly how your tribe of Black Dwarfs chooses their leaders, what the number of knots in their beards means, and just which nobles are allowed to wear fur – but if there is only one Black Dwarf in the story then putting pages of anthropology (or Dwarfopology!) in there will be dull and out of place. Having said all that, knowing the background will help you make even single characters very realistic.
What some creatures do might be misinterpreted or be very offensive to humans; wolves snap and snarl a lot to establish dominance and do it with virtually everyone. Wolves also regurgitate food for infants and even for those they have beaten in a dominance ritual. These actions could be totally misinterpreted, or found to be very offensive to human beings.
Perhaps the most obvious aspect of what a creature does is how it moves and looks and smells and sounds. Animals don't walk like humans; your story should reflect that. Think about how a non-human will interact with a world built for humans by humans – short animals might have to jump onto tables or sit up on their hind legs. Perhaps the world won't just be built for humans – perhaps it will make allowances for non-humans too.
Always describe non-humans in a way that lets the reader know what they are and what they look like. The most important aspect is usually relative size – Minotaurs are very big, especially when compared to humans, Talking Mice are quite small. People will notice the color and smell and size of fantastic creatures; make sure you describe it.
Finally, think about the sounds fantastic creatures make. Most Narnian creatures talk – but what do they sound like? Use words which describe their voices in appropriate ways; Minotaurs bellow, wolves howl, cats purr. Additionally, a Talking Animal might use the same sort of noises as their mundane counterparts do – Talking Owls might screech as a battlecry, and Talking Wolves will use howls to communicate over long distances without using words.
When dealing with completely fantastic creatures (such as Gryphons, Dragons etc.) consider what they might sound like. I described birds as having “metallic” voices in my stories, and cats as being “sarcastic” and “plumy”. Gryphons were described as a combination of the two.
Don't be afraid of using accent and dialect; my wolves had American accents as they were from the west and their culture was based on Native Americans. Cats were upper-class English. The Beavers, of course, were Cockney!
How might non-humans refer to things? Wolves would call young creatures of any species “puppies”, cats would use “kitten” or “cub”, Dryads might call them “saplings”. “Husband and wife” is a very human term – other species might use different words, or maybe not have the concept at all!
What do they look like to humans?
How do humans (and even other non-humans) see him and react to your character? A new visitor to Narnia will most likely be shocked and surprised by a Talking Animal, but even a native Narnian will find them different. A wolf who eats raw meat, urinates to mark his territory, is loyal to his packmates over and above the King, ritually scars himself and communicates by howls might be a good friend and servant of the humans – but they won't completely understand him and will always see him as slightly “other”.
What is the relationship between various races and characters. Are Dryads scared of humans because humans cut down trees? Are rabbits terrified of the big cats? Are wolves apologetic for serving the Witch? Details like this add detail to stories and are a source of wonderful sub-plots and motivations.
Putting it all together
Writing a non-human requires being aware of all these answers whenever he appears; every word, every action, every reaction and every piece of narrative must fit these answers. This means scenes might require re-working. Sometimes it will be a big re-write, but most of the time changing one word or adding a single detail will highlight the inhumanity of the non-human character.
Narnia is a fandom which benefits from well-drawn fantastical creatures. I hope these questions start you thinking about the various ways you can show a non-human character in your stories. Use your imagination and have fun
Morohtar works as a writer and apologist for a Catholic apostolate based in Detroit. Perhaps best-known for being mistaken for a woman by several reviewers, his stories King Edmund's Crusade and The Redemption of Sulva are alternately misunderstood and praised by a hard-core group of readers. When not working on fanfic, he writes original fiction (including the MechKnight series with his chum Mercury Gray) and educational books about the Bible. He also teaches religion classes in an exasperated tone that suggests you really should know this stuff already.