I just got a job at PetsMart in Riverside, California which is one of the worst places to find a job right now, so I'm pretty happy that I found something. Anyway, I was watching some of their training videos and one of them was talking about stray dogs and dog fighting. After watching it, I got an inspirational idea for an Animal Fiction story. The problem is is that the only animal fiction story I've read (excluding children's books) is Animal Farm, so I don't know if the story I created has been done before. I'm not even sure about writing it due to my limited knowledge of the genre, but here's my idea: A dog (a stray perhaps) finds himself thrown into the world of dog fighting where he has to fight to survive. He or she eventually escapes to try to find a new home (perhaps narrowly escapes after almost being killed by his master after he or she lost a battle) and then he or she travels and is caught by a dog catcher and perhaps someone comes and saves him or her or perhaps he or she is on death row about to be euthanized etc. This isn't the whole story and I just roughly sketched it in my mind a couple of hours ago, but I'm thinking this could be a good allusion to gladiators. Gladiators were captured as slaves and made to fight, just like dogs in dog fighting. The story might also bring awareness to the activity. Issues/ themes might include homelessness, independence vs dependence, nature vs nurture, what makes a good master or dog, etc. Again, this is all off the top of my head. Again, I don't know if anyone has done a fictional story about dog fighting, if not then it should be interesting writing it since I have limited knowledge on the subject (which will probably change after a bit of research). Also, if anyone has any book suggestions on animal fiction (I know there was a recent thread on this), then that would be greatly appreciated.
Wow... this is a genius idea! I don't think it's ever been done before, but I know you're on to something... Besides, even if it has been "done before," I would just advise to not read it (until after you're mostly done, unless you're really struggling) and write what you dream up. It will wind up being a different story this way, so... no, it hasn't been done before!
This sounds like a great idea. Definitely could be used to create awareness on dogfighting issues, but putting in a little research on the topic may be a good idea. Mirroring a gladiatorial theme sounds promising. The only animal fiction I recall with dogfighting are The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Both Jack London, and so-so anyway. For general animal fiction, Watership Down by Richard Adams is very good. I never have enjoyed the genre to much (couldn't even get into the Redwall series), but this one I found to be quite well done. ~ Mist
Sounds promising. It might be a good idea to raise questions on animal vs human rights as well, for example is it correct to assume that animals should be euthanized because they or their population as a whole will suffer less (even though the same rule doesn't apply to humans who are overpopulated or in pain or what not.) The only issue I can think of is that, from the perspective of a dog, it might come across as being child-like or for children, and considering it looks like it has pretty complex and distressing themes, it might fall into a grey area in terms of who would be willing to read a story like that. If you're looking for a similar story, I can suggest The Nine Lives of Montezuma by Michael Morpurgo. It's aimed at children and isn't as rough or deep as what you've outlined, but it follows the life of a cat from its perspective which might be useful if you were wondering how to execute that.
Yeah, I was worried that it might lean towards a children's direction due to the characters being animals. The only thing I can think of to remedy that issue is to make the dog/protagonist think like an intelligent, thoughtful, observant human being. It would be extreme anthropomorphizing since dogs do not philosophize about their lives (at least I've never seen them do so), but then again they didn't create systems of government like in Animal Farm. So, I think it would be classified as adult animal fiction.
Write it. Forget what "suggestions" we might give you. Write the story you want to write. You can always tweak it later.
there's a movie with that plot... a child brings home a dog that escaped from a dog-fighting ring and so on... and probably books as well... but that doesn't mean you can't write your own twist on the premise...
I agree with Writing in the Mist. Definitely read White Fang before you start your story. Also take a look at some of Richard Adams stories as an example of modern animal fiction. My favorite is "Watership Down" of course, but for dogs you might look at "Plague Dogs" Don't forget to do some research about dogfighting as it really happens.
