While I very much enjoyed the Inheritance Cycle, the werecats in there were not really of the same mythos at all. Again, there is no reason they should be, but Mr. Paolini is not right or wrong, nor am I right or wrong, because we present werecats differently. I love Solembaum and the others, but I’m much more taken with my own spin on the werecats. It makes sense to me.
The first werecat story I have published is Unnatural Conflict. I have written the rough drafts for two prequel novels, and the outline for two sequel novels and several sequel short stories.
In case you have not read any of my werecat stories, I don’t want to spoil you, but the werecat character in Unnatural Conflict is about two hundred years old. One of the prequel novels is about her childhood, and how she came to be a werecat. The other is about how the werecat who bit her became a werecat, including his childhood. A third prequel, which hasn’t been written yet, will be about werecats and werewolves getting into fights in seventeenth century London.
The experiences in Unnatural Conflict have a profound effect on the werecat character, and the sequels are about what happens after this story. I find the more I think about them, the more stories just keep popping out.
I would love to hear other thoughts on were-creature or werecat natures. I am aware that modern writers have taken them in all sorts of directions. More power to them; if they are playing with imaginary creatures, who is to say who is right and who is wrong?
But I like to dream with rational consistency. If a were-creature is a cat instead of a dog, I want to think through what I know about cats and dogs, and try to decide how the cat creatures might be different. If nothing else, I think it makes for more believable characters and better stories.
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Brian Groover, Frederick, Maryland, April, 2014