I love going to zoos. Good zoos, that is. I enjoy discovering new, exotic species I’ve never heard of, let alone seen. And of course, exotic doesn’t have to mean animals from countries other than Australia.

Even discovering what is ‘in my own backyard’ is a thrilling experience. Seeing a platypus for the first time was a amazing. And then there are the true exotic species like the fosser which EATS LEMURS! Who cares that it looks kind of like a weasel. I’ve seen one. Tick!

Where am I going with all this? Well, as I go through my WIP once again to refine it down one more level (I can almost see the glint of something shiny now) I am noticing repeated phrases, ideas and metaphors. Oh no! And one that I’m hot to trot on (pun intended) is how many times I use particular animals to describe my characters and their actions and reactions.

My story is fairly animalistic. It’s about desires and base lust, drives and savagery so using animal metaphors is a requirement. But I have to work harder to find something a bit different. I’ve used bull, lion, dog, wolf, cat, horse and snake (of various varieties) and I’m certain I’ve used each one more than once. I think that’s a bit of a problem, particularly when used in the same way. (And that’s what editing is for.)

What I’d like to know though is where do you draw the line in the type of animal you choose? The ones I’ve listed are archetypal. They’re buried deep in our psyche and you only have to say the word to summon an image. And sometimes it’s exactly the image you want. But use it too often and the reader is going to switch off and think you don’t know what you’re doing. And we don’t want that, do we?

So what alternatives can you use? I’ve used a Silverback (once) and a tiger (once). They fit the requirement. I could use elephant and orangutan, but they don’t paint the right picture. But how about African Painted Dog, Africa’s most misunderstood yet most efficient land predator? That’s probably going too far. I may as well use a fosser and be done with it. (One day, I will include a fosser in a story. Just you watch.)

I have more work to do, it seems. And I know I can make my words and the images work harder. I’ll have to. I found a book of animal metaphors in the library the other day and got a few more ideas. I’ll check I haven’t already used them but I’m liking:

  • bat
  • crow
  • bear
  • ox
  • chimera (the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a serpent)
  • crocodile
  • rat
  • swan.

And who’s to say I couldn’t use an African Painted Dog? It’d take a while to explain. Perhaps.

So how do you use animals in your work? Do you have favourites? How do you search for fresh and interesting examples? And what’s the most unusual you’ve ever included in your work?

And finally, what’s the best zoo you’ve ever been to?