Animal Writes: Prompts and Practices to Guide the Animal Writer’s Journey

by Midge Raymond, John Yunker

Animal Writes is for animal lovers who write—and for writers who love animals.Created out of the enthusiasm for the book Writing for Animals and the Writing for Animals program, Animal Writes will take you one step further on your journey in writing for animals. Whether you write poetry, essays, novels, or memoirs, this book will be your companion along the way.

Writing for animals is a unique endeavor; writers have to think not only about the animals they’re portraying in their work but about audiences who may not be familiar with certain species or the topics of animal rights. In Animal Writes, you’ll learn tips for how to portray animals empathically and authentically, as well as how to approach publishing and your readers. From language to craft to exploring your individual writer’s journey, this book will provide the inspiration and tools you need to portray animals genuinely and compassionately in your work.

133 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 27, 2025

About the author

Midge Raymond is the author of the novels Floreana and My Last Continent and a short-story collection, Forgetting English, which received the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction. Her stories have appeared in TriQuarterly, American Literary Review, North American Review, Bellevue Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times magazine, Poets & Writers, and many other publications.

Midge is also the author of Devils Island, co-authored with John Yunker. She has taught writing at Boston University, Boston's Grub Street Writers, Seattle's Richard Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink.

Midge lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest. Visit her online at www.MidgeRaymond.com and www.MidgeandJohn.com.

"FLOREANA is a beautiful, unexpected, and powerful novel about the fragility of life and love in its many forms — a book that is all at a once a riveting theory on an unsolved historical mystery, a close character exploration of love and loss [that] tackles the themes of motherhood and the innate desire to nurture and be nurtured, the pain of unfulfilled expectations, and the simple beauty and tenuousness of nature. A powerful and totally unique book. Not to be missed!” — Samantha Greene Woodruff, bestselling author of THE LOBOTOMIST’S WIFE and THE TRADE OFF

“In the 1930s, a set of murders straight out of Agatha Christie took place on Floreana Island. Raymond's novel toggles between this old story and a new one, proposing a plausible solution to this enduring mystery. Is this what really happened? Who cares! Raymond’s novel is riveting and revelatory, a murder mystery embedded in other mysteries — of love and regret, loss and redemption, and how we can manage to hold on to the parts of this beautiful world that were never ours in the first place.” — Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of BOOTH and WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES

“FLOREANA is a stunning and deeply layered murder mystery, historical novel, and environmental love letter all in one. Midge Raymond beautifully and seamlessly weaves the hidden lives of two women, a century apart, as they negotiate the fragile terrain of the Galápagos Islands along with their own troubled psyches…A haunting tale for our times.” — JoeAnn Hart, author of ARROYO CIRCLE and HIGHWIRE ACT

“Who knows what happened on Floreana Island in the Galápagos in the 1930s? In this suspenseful and immersive novel, Midge Raymond offers a possible series of events leading up to infamous awful fates of a few of the settlers, as well as telling an equally compelling contemporary story. Come for the disastrous love affairs, stay for the careful depiction of efforts being made toward penguin conservation. Much like the fantasy of desert island life, FLOREANA offers a rich bounty of attractions.” — Alice Elliott Dark, author of FELLOWSHIP POINT and IN THE GLOAMING

“FLOREANA masterfully weaves together the tales of two women who escape to the same faraway island almost a century apart. Both storylines feature deeply buried secrets, yearning, questions about what people owe to those that surround them, and the profound need for connection and purpose. The echoes and reverberations in the two timelines—about new beginnings and love and families and conservation and hope—perfectly illustrate how human concerns are universal and timeless. Raymond’s beautiful and absorbing novel kept me turning the pages, eager to find out what and who would fail to thrive on Floreana Island and what might blossom there.” — Karin Lin-Greenburg, author of YOU ARE HERE


"Midge Raymond’s debut novel is a sensitive explora

Reviews

[Shel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by the publishers of the short fiction anthologies Among Animals and the creators of the Writing for Animals self-paced course, this is a helpful guide with writing prompts to take with you to the local park, on a hiking trip, off to a farm sanctuary, or into your backyard to think and write about animals. "If we want to see a better future for all living creatures, we need to start by imagining it. And what better place to do this than in stories." Recommended for anyone who wants to write about animals in their creative work, you will find community here.