Writing detail from an animal's perspective

Question

My sci-fi story is told from an alien wild animal's perspective. The story is immersive, so the reader directly follows the thoughts and reflexes of the alien. I enjoy writing this way, because the immersion allows me to slowly reveal things the alien thinks are irrelevant (for example, the alien calls humans "outsiders" when interacting with them, so revealing to the reader through implication that they are actually humans makes a cool plot twist).

The problem lies in describing what the animal is. While a short description wouldn't be difficult in a more traditional writing style, since I am directly translating the thoughts of the animal, I am having a hard time coming up with a scenario when the animal would contemplate its own appearance and abilities. For example, people don't often think, "Wow, I am a land-based mammal with two arms, two legs, and a head with eyes and a mouth" in their daily routine (speaking for myself at least).

I've considered leaving the description out and leaving hints throughout the story (example: the creature frequently mentions using its claws, showing the reader it has some kind of claws) and leaving the rest to the reader's imagination. However, for an immersive story, I see this quickly becoming frustrating for the reader, as the events of the plot directly depend on the animal's design and abilities.

Would it be better to add another perspective that offers more description between chapters/segments (Ender's Game does this in a sense) or is there a better way to create a clear image of this creature in the mind of the reader from its own thoughts?

Answer 1

I'm not sure there's an easy answer; this is a problem in a lot of first-person narratives even with people. Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. The protagonist/narrator/main character listens to people talking about it, maybe eavesdropping.

2. The protagonist interacts with others who mention things in dialog, e.g. "But you're a land animal, you don't know about fish."

3. The protagonist stops before a mirror, pond, or reflective surface, and examines their reflection, describing what they see. This is often really badly done (stories written by men where a female human protagonist looks in a mirror and describes her breasts, etc) but might be more interesting in your situation.

4. Just reveal it as it comes up, only bringing up details as they relate to the narrative. This makes it harder for the reader to imagine the character, so you should try and introduce important features as soon as possible. You could be creative, e.g. injuries would allow you to describe the animal's body.

Answer 2

You can use comparison. If your character comes across other individuals of its own kind, opposite sex, youngster, elderly, different size, different colours/markings, then by comparing them to himself you give a picture of both creatures.

Example:

As he rounded the bend X spotted Y lounging on the track ahead, his fifth leg scratching at his stomach. The 5 year old was easily 2kg heavier than X, double the height and with double the belly. Y acknowledged him as he approached, flourishing his azure head-crest. X responded awkwardly, his own crest being not yet fully grown, and of an immature pale green.

We can get a fair picture of X and Y from the above.

Answer 3

I've considered leaving the description out and leaving hints throughout the story (example: the creature frequently mentions using its claws, showing the reader it has some kind of claws) and leaving the rest to the reader's imagination.

Perfect.

the events of the plot directly depend on the animal's design and abilities

This will be opportunity for the reader to discover, through the method you have chosen of slow reveal, more about what the creature is like. Especially the parts of their physiology that are relevant to the plot and the reader (which are the parts you probably wish to exposition dump anyway). I don't see why it would be frustrating at all, I've read stories where this was achieved extremely well.

Would it be better to add another perspective that offers more description between chapters/segments

I have also read good stories where some parts were told from the humans' point of view. The reader is left to figure out the creature sighted, perhaps offhandedly remarked upon by the human narrator, is in fact the creature of the rest of the story.

This worked very well too, but since you want to tell as much as possible from the creature's point of view, I don't think you have to be afraid of doing that.

Answer 4

Your protagonist is a dog, a sentient one. Or at least that's what your readers will think.

That was feedback I got from one person on the first chapter of my own writing, depressingly enough, to which I had to respond what dog has fingers?! I can only assume that some of the details I gave were overlooked — two out of three people I asked for feedback had bad guesses as to what the protagonist was. (The chapter was intended to be vague but not that confusing.)

That's why I spelled out what my protagonist is in the next chapter, all but giving a name to it. You don't need to switch to another perspective to do this either.

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Your first opportunity to give a picture of your protagonist is on the cover (literally). The second is in the description (or the back cover, if it's a physical book).

Even after that you have plenty of opportunities. And the majority of these, when used properly, are good for worldbuilding.

What does your protagonist's daily routine look like and how is it different because of their anatomy? For example, some books start out with the main (human) character getting out a bed and styling their hair, so now you know what they look like. What does your character do instead, polish their carapace? When they're going places, do they ever get so sore that they have to land so they can rest their wings? And at work do they take the elevator because they're too small (or big!) to take the stairs or could they crawl up the side of the building and come in the window? Maybe they don't work in an office but are terraforming the landscape with their spit so crops can be planted?

How does your protagonist react to others of their kind? Do they help a stranger who's molting, because everyone knows how painful that can be? Do they steal glances at a member of the "third sex" who has a perfect pair of antennae (ie the species is sexually trimorphic or even polymorphic)?

How do other species react to your protagonist? For example, do humans whisper "alien scum" xenophobically as they cross the street to get away from them? Do humans awkwardly try to have a smooth interaction but fail out of ignorance? "Just think of an opportunity like that slipping through your fingers — wait — claws?", accompanied by a furtive look at the protagonist's "hands".