How Does My Career as a Veterinarian Inspire My Books?

Authors get their ideas from all sorts of places: visits to exotic locales; TV shows, books, articles, and movies; even strange dreams.

Or just random musings.

As a practicing veterinarian I wondered: why do we always seem to put more pets to sleep around the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year holidays than any other time of year? What would happen if someone brought a pet to be humanely put to sleep…but lied to the veterinarian about why? Those were the inspirations for The Keys of Death.

Also zombies.

News stories definitely jumpstart my imagination, especially if the story involves animals: search “dog attack” on the Internet. Horrific cases of dogs attacking humans abound…But what if it’s not people being attacked. What if it’s dogs that are being attacked? This is the basis of my story “Tooth and Nail,” available in my short story collection Startling Figures.

Funny conversations aren’t always enough to form the idea behind a story, but many exam room encounters with interesting people make it into my books. 

And if your pet has a great name, I’m likely to remember it. The main character in The Keys of Death has a three-legged dog named Tripod. In my upcoming novel, Lonely River, there’s a cat named Chainsaw McScratchy. I had a client who was a Planet of the Apes fan—they had a black cat named Cornelius and a ginger cat named Dr. Zaius. I’m sure I can work them into a story somehow!