Telepathic Pig?

Familiars, animal companions with or without their own magic and a psychic connection, are a common thing in magic from MG to adult. As long as the rest of the story is YA-voiced, I wouldn't have a problem with a psychic pig friend.

Agreed that telepathic animals (or even outright talking animals) are a thing even in adult fiction, and it needn't be a fantasy animal to pull it off. (At least one mystery series has this gimmick.) So it can be done outside of children's and MG books.

One way to "age up" the animal is to do a little homework. Figure out how a pig's POV might differ from a human's - if they see the same color range, for instance, or how they view social structures in a non-primate way. (Or figure out how this pig is... not a pig, mentally. If they're a spirit of some sort, perhaps, inhabiting a pig's body, which will give them a whole different perspective.) With MG, you can get away with more of a "person in a pig skin" talking pig. With YA, you'll probably want to step up your game and make your pig more like a pig, or at least distinctly nonhuman. (I have seen "person in a suit" animal POVs even in adult fiction, so it may be a personal preference of mine, but if you're going to have a nonhuman POV... make at least a token effort to make it nonhuman, or replace the character with a human - a shapeshifted human if need be. JMHO...)

I'm probably over-thinking it if the genre is YA, but: What's the relationship between most pigs (telepathic or not) and people in this world? Are pigs typically pets? Food? Wild animals? Independent intelligent beings with their own social structures?

Wondering how that affects how the pig and person interact. How does an intelligent being like being "a pet" to, which implies "owned by", a human? Is it super sarcastic as a result? Too dumb to realize it's really owned? Constantly agitating to be be freed? Grateful not to be bacon, but wondering why the person isn't helping it free its brothers-in-bondage? Secretly plotting to up-end the whole Big Pork power structure and see how the humans like being put on leashes for a change?

I think you're okay, especially if the rest of your story conforms to YA structure (voice, coming of age/growth, YA concerns). I think it's cool that you picked a pig, verses something fantastical or even more "fierce" like a wolf. You can probably play on that under-dogness. Plus pigs are smarter than people think, and there are a lot of ways you can incorporate that element. I agree that for YA, I would rather read a non-human pig voice, something distinctly different.

The Warriors books by Erin Hunter are YA, definitely animals, and doing very well. There is no such prohibition. Write it well and make it logical to your world.

The Second Moon said:

In a story I'm going to write one of the MCs has a telepathic link with her pet pig. I was totally okay with this idea until... I remembered talking animals aren't really in YA. I immediately told myself I was fine because my animal is telepathic, but I would like to hear what other YA writers think.

I know that in some YA stories dragons have telepathic links with a human/humans. I would be okay with changing the pig to something like a dragon if telepathic fantasy creatures are more acceptable.

Click to expand...

First thing that flashed into my so-called brain was Narnia but I suppose it depends where you think "YA" starts and finishes. Then I thought of an entire herd of talking pigs in Animal Farm (a compulsory text in just about every high school in the English-speaking world) and then the racoon (?) in Guardians of the Galaxy. An odd little medley of meandering musings.

In short, I think you're on safe ground. One question, why would a telepath (pig or otherwise) bother to talk at all? Most of the telepaths I know just mess with your mind in silence.

Write on, sister! Or brother. Or whatever.

Lots of people say Watership Down is not a kids book and never should have been considered as such, and that it's an adults' book that happens to have animal characters.

It's all about the overall tone of the story.