Exchanging emails with a friend of mine a few weeks ago, she commented that she’d recently finished reading my novel, Song of the Sea Goddess, which I’m pleased to say she enjoyed. Knowing this part of the world, she commented that she could see how my trips up the west coast of South Africa had inspired me. She also said she found it interesting that a monkey should appear again. Was there a reason for this?
Good question! I had to think about that.
Fingers and Toti, my two monkey characters are very different creatures and have different roles and functions in the stories in which they appear.
Fingers provides some of the comedy in my earlier novel, You’ll Never Walk Alone. He also helps to reflect wheeler-dealer, Bob’s character, showing a softer side to a character who might not otherwise be perceived as such. Through Fingers we are shown elements of Bob’s relationship with his Nan and learn about her character, since we never actually meet her. Right from the first time Fingers is introduced we are shown his naughty side and his thieving tendencies (scouser-trope alert!) although he’s never malicious, in fact he turns out to be quite the hero thanks to his light-fingered antics.
Toti, who appears in both Song of the Sea Goddess and Spirit of the Shell Man, provides a means of reflecting some of her fellow cast members’ characteristics and personalities by the way that they react to her and interact with her. But mainly she’s the bookish Professor’s little companion; in particular, she provides a foil for his thoughts so that he isn’t talking to himself all the time. Toti actually crept into the book as a male monkey called Felix, but he didn’t fit. The gender switch and the African name worked so much better. Now in her second novel outing, Toti’s character has developed and she’s becoming a player in her own right.
Subconsciously though, I think there might be another reason for the appearance of monkey characters in my novels. Meet ‘Monkey’ (and Luna, of course).
I loved Toti!
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If she was a film star, she’d have her own show!
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Ah ha! Now we know the secret to the monkeys. Love both of them in all three books.
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We just had to explain ourselves!
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😎🐵🐒
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😁💖
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💕
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Another great glimpse behind the scenes, Chris! 🐒💖
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This ties in quite nicely with part of your post today, Susan!
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Interesting peek behind the scenes, Chris. Cup of tea anyone? Lovely cat btw!
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I don’t suppose many people would recognise ‘Monkey’ from the PG Tips ads, Chris!
(Luna thanks you🐈⬛)
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Yes, it does!
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I found Toti a delightful character! Thank you for providing some context for her today.
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Only a pleasure to share a little background to the birth of one of my favourite characters! Thanks again for your lovely review, Liz 🙂
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My pleasure, Chris! I expect to finish Spirit of the Shell Man tonight.
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😁🐚
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Great insight into your secondary characters, Chris! Really enriches the world you’ve crafted 🙂
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Thanks very much, Tom!
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looking forward to reading one of these books, Chris: they do sound like great fun 🙂
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Thanks, John! I’ve found that feel-good fantasy is the way to go with my books now!
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Aww! How nice to see Luna sleeping by the monkey 😀🐱🐵
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If you look carefully she’s got one eye open… ‘are you taking a picture of me?’😺
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I haven’t read your novels but putting this on my list of books to buy and read. I loved reading this, nonetheless 🙂
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Thanks so much, Maria! I hope you enjoy reading when you come to it. 🙂
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I’m sure I will, Chris 😁
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😊🤗
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You’re so right about how adding animals to our stories can enhance a read, Chris, not only with their own personalities and antics, but by showing another side of the human characters. I enjoyed Toti and look forward to more. 🙂
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Writing characters like Toti enhances the pleasure I get from writing! Toti and her Professor are just about to enter their next adventure. 🙂
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🙂 Happy Writing!
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Hi Chris, I like little Tori very much. A monkey pet is sweet and uniquie.
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She’s one of my favourite characters! Although we should really encourage keeping monkeys as pets in ‘real life’! 🐒
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I don’t tend to use animal characters all that much in my stories, Chris, but you’re right, they do bring out different aspects to the other characters. Obviously I have Huffle with Maraganna, and he has lots of animal friends, and when I came up with those two characters a couple of years ago, it was always my intention to use them in the little three-panel quips I’m posting now, but not really as main characters in any of my stories (it was the same intention with my Ancient Egypt characters, but I haven’t got around to creating those quips yet!)
You may be reading about more animals soon in my random tales… thanks for both the pointers and the inspiration! 🙂
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I really like Huffle’s ‘catitude’, he’s very similar to the real life Luna, you know, Tom! Animals in my stories just seem to worm their way into the limelight, as you’ll see in my Six!
Looking forward to catching up with your Ancient Egyptians. Might they be seeking a camel too?🐪😁
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Worm… hehehe! 😆
A camel… now you’ve got me thinking! 🙂
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😉
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Oh, and it’s nice to see Luna (and 🐒!) 🙂
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They thank you, Tom! 🐒🐈⬛
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