# Writeing a Transformation Scene



## Malamute29 (Jul 2, 2008)

Well, first post.

I've wanted to write a transformation scene for a while, thats the part of the story I like the most, so naturally I've wanted to make my own.  Is there a method to writeing one.  Generally I like the ones where the charcter changes over a long period of time but some times the short ones are fun to read as well.  so i was wondering if anyone had some advise


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## TakeWalker (Jul 3, 2008)

First thing's first, go find yourself some transformation stories and look at how the medium has been handled. Hard with FA down, yes, but there's time. And if you like the drawn-out ones, then pay attention to those and see what you can glean to improve your own writing.

Or, yaknow, just jump out there and write something the way you want to see it written.


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Jul 3, 2008)

I love writing transformation scenes! 

The three big flaws I see in TF scenes are long boring lists of physical changes, not giving a full sensory description and anatomical inaccuracies. 

To keep a scene from just being, "And then he grew fur, and then his eyes changed color, and then his tail popped out", break it up with the character's thoughts, emotions or movements, the reactions of bystanders, that sort of thing. Especially with a long drawn out change, don't concentrate entirely on the change itself or it reads as little better than TF porn. It's even better if the character is not just sitting around the house playing video games and suddenly realizes he's becoming a wolf or whatever, like in so many TF-porn stories which only exist to bracket a TF scene. Plot is frustration - a character struggling to acheive a goal and overcome obstacles - so a TF scene can be livened up when the TF is interfering with something the character needs desperately to do (ask a boy out to the prom, stopping a terrorist from setting off a bomb, pick the kids up from school, deliver a lecture).

Something I see in good TF is a writer using all the senses, not just describing the sight of a transformation. For example, biological processes are usually accompnaied by scent (ahem), so what would the scent of someone transforming be? Sizzling bacon fat? A weird, gingery, sweaty scent? And so on . . . 

It doesn't matter so much if you're writing 'magical' TFs, but for me, I like scenes to be biologically accurate. One thing drives me crazier than anything else, and that's writers describing 'knees bending backwards'. That backwards-knee thing in an animal's leg isn't a knee, it's the same joint as the heel! I have a ton of beefs like that (maybe it's just me) but it totally takes me out of a story when an author clearly doesn't have a clue about anatomy. 

Anyways, good luck with your writing.


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## Stratelier (Jul 4, 2008)

Ah, the good old TFgenre . . . I stand on the knife's edge of a love/hate relationship with the TF genre.  It's not the concept itself (I have always been a fan of Transformers) that irritates me, but the fetishism that surrounds it.  In other words, yes I most certainly WILL shoot the proverbial messenger here.

That being said, I agree with 2 of 3 gripes that Sans_Visage points out, not strictly because of how they are used/misused within the TF genre but because they are specific applications of rules that apply to all writing, specifically:


*Show, don't tell*.  Use whatever senses are available to the scene at the time.  The means of how a given TF sequence is presented should reflect who it is happening to, who is observing it, and the relevant senses available to the viewer.  If the TF occurs to a character other than the protagonist or narrator POV, what senses have you?  Sight and sound are going to be key.  You can't necessarily include the 'feel' sense from another character's POV, after all.  Whereas if the TF sequence is occuring first-person, i.e. to the character with the narrator's POV, then 'feel' is a key element, you can't always demand that a character undergoing their TF is able to (consciously) witness it via eye or ear

*Avoid itemizing*.  Don't go into a longwinded, boring list of changes to physical errata when doing so would interrupt or distract from the surrounding narrative.  If a given TF sequence occurs in the proverbial flash (hereafter dubbed a 'short-interval' TF), describe it as such!  The TF is only one element to a given narrative, keep it as such.

Personally, I have a special hatred for such long, drawn-out TF sequences.  Blame that on George Lucas and _Willow_, probably my first experience with a TF sequence of any sort (aside from the Transformers cartoon, that is) and for that reason still my #1 most despised-of sequence to date.

As for anatomical accuracies/inaccuracies, this touches on a greater, more over-encompassing working knowledge of comparative anatomy.  As with all things, it is something should be studied and learned before being put to use in fiction.

Overall, I am personally a fan of an *understated* approach to any TF sequence.  I would rather prefer that the author simply does and gets it over with, then proceeds on with the rest of the story.  I don't care, nor need to know if the subject can comprehend whether or not they'll have a visible manhood before/after a TF (that's just the fetishism talking *shoots messenger*).  You can't necessarily expect that a character can 'smell' a short-interval TF happening to them (even their nose and sense of smell is changing, remember?) or 'see' it occuring in a mirror (maybe they have their eyes closed?).

Besides, sometimes the best short-interval TF sequences are the ones where the character doesn't even realize that anything even happened to them at all, where their very perspective has been changed right along with their body.  Like that one episode in Disney's _Gargoyles_ where Puck turned Alisa into a gargoyle, Alisa didn't even realize anything had happened to her, it took Goliath and co. to tell her that she wasn't born that way.


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## TÃ¦farÃ³s (Jul 6, 2008)

Ever seen _The Fly_? Just thought I'd put that out there as an example of not a scene, but multiple scenes.  Things that happen over time 'til the climax finally comes. Beauty and fear. Jeff Goldblum with acne.

I think the others have pretty much nailed it. Physical description matters as much as what the character is thinking as the transformation takes place. Taking him/her totally outta the comfort zone and seeing how he/she reacts. That's always interesting.


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## ScottyDM (Jul 14, 2008)

Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage said:


> One thing drives me crazier than anything else, and that's writers describing 'knees bending backwards'. That backwards-knee thing in an animal's leg isn't a knee, it's the same joint as the heel! I have a ton of beefs like that (maybe it's just me) but it totally takes me out of a story when an author clearly doesn't have a clue about anatomy.


*Amen!* Artists do this sort of junk all the time too, and not just TF, but furry artists as well. Example: there are thousands of photos online of the common skunk _Mephitis mephitis_, but do furry artists ever look at them? Precious few.

Probably this sort of thing doesn't come up often in anthrofiction because most amateur authors completely fail to describe their characters, except to mention their species--unless it happens to be a transformation scene.



Stratadrake said:


> Overall, I am personally a fan of an *understated* approach to any TF sequence.  I would rather prefer that the author simply does and gets it over with, then proceeds on with the rest of the story.


I'm a fan of the story. If the TF scene gets in the way of telling the story then it needs to be edited down a bit. However, as you mentioned there are folks who live for the TF scene and hold the story, thank you very much. What can you say?


*To get back to the original question:*

A drawn out TF scene, or a drawn out TF process?

A drawn out scene is one where the process might take less than a minute, but it'll take far longer than that to read it. That is, there's gobs of detail lovingly written, (and we hope) with flair and obvious skill. Difficult to write well.

A drawn out process is one where the transformation takes hours, days, or weeks. As such it can hardly be rendered in only a sentence or two. One could write a story using a-day-in-the-life sort of plot, but have the transformation take place during that time and the character either embraces it, or tries to hide it and get through the rest of the day. If the sum total of the story is the character sitting around all day and taking note of the changes, it'll be boring to everyone but the hardcore TF fans.

So the answer is, "It depends."


*Can TF sell outside of the TF community? Darn right!*

I haven't flown in awhile, but the airlines used to publish their own magazines and slip them into the pouch on the seatbacks. You know... a couple of travel articles, maybe some airline news, diagrams of the hub airports, and a longish piece of fiction.

It was either Delta or United magazine, but I remember a TF story in one of those magazines. It was even fetish TF... in an airline magazine! The plot was that this guy falls in love with the sound of a cello (listening to classical music while riding on a plane) then discovers that he needs the enticing sound of a cello for sexual satisfaction. He buys a cello and takes her home, and even learns to play a little bit--but mostly he bows the instrument until both he and she are vibrating in anticipation, then he takes her to bed. One day he notices a bump on top of his head. When it gets bigger he realizes it's the top of a scroll, so he wears a hat. Then his skin begins to turn brown, so he only goes out at night and avoids people. Toward the end he's forced to stay in his apartment. When someone finally decides to investigate why they haven't seen him in a few weeks the police find two cellos on the bed. The cellos are sold to pawn shops... two different pawn shops. 

Sad story, eh? 

But the point is that even fetish TF can sell to a general-purpose (mainstream?) magazine if the story is decent and the author can write. Just don't use jargon like "TF fiction" in the cover letter.

Scotty


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Jul 15, 2008)

ScottyDM said:


> Example: there are thousands of photos online of the common skunk _Mephitis mephitis_, but do furry artists ever look at them? Precious few.



You don't happen to be the person who linked me to that picture of the sole of a skunk's foot for something I was drawing, do you?


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## ScottyDM (Jul 15, 2008)

Nope. That wasn't me.

I've been in the fandom since late 2003, but have only been on FA a few months. This is my contribution to skunk art.





(It's a mashup of a couple of photos.)


Speaking of skunks, there's this really cute video on YouTube of a couple of skunks (common skunk, _Mephitis mephitis_) wrestling. I assume they are pets, and that they are just playing. Gorgeous classic patterning! Really nice looking animals and they appear healthy. Anyway, the female has the most unusual belly markings. If I were a male anthro skunk, and was this female anthro skunk, and the Barry White was playing softly in the background, and we drew close, and I unfastened the back of her dress, and she shrugged her shoulders so that her dress fell to her feet... then my mouth would go :-o and my eyes would go :shock: and then my mouth would go :grin: and I'd say, "Woah, baby!"

Here's the vid.

Scotty


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Jul 16, 2008)

ScottyDM said:


> Here's the vid.
> 
> Scotty



Awwwwwwww. Finally at work, I can watch the vid. I'd love a pet skunk, but somehow I think I should wait til I own a house  The cats might have something to say about that, too.


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## ScottyDM (Jul 16, 2008)

I don't know where you live, but I'm going to guess the western hemisphere. In the U.S. of A. there are only 14 states where it's legal to keep a skunk as a pet, and there are restrictions in those. Although I suppose you could get a zoo permit... maybe.

The big fear is rabies. There is no approved rabies vaccine for skunks and there is no known shedding period for skunks--so it's kill and test if anyone gets bitten, or even scratched. A shedding period is the amount of time between when an animal starts shedding the virus in its saliva and when it shows clinical signs of being infected: which includes fear of swallowing and foaming at the mouth.

Because of this, some states where skunks are legal insist you get yours from a fur farm, and a few even insist you get a "fancy" skunk not a standard black and white skunk (proof it came from a fur farm or a pet breeder). What they don't want are wild-caught animals... it's the rabies fear. It is possible for an infection to stay hidden for quite some time, such as months or longer. So catching a wild skunk and keeping it in quarantine for a month is no guarantee.

Despite all the science, domestic ferrets are restricted in a few areas--California being the most notable. I've heard that skunks mellow out once they reach maturity and kind of lay around. Ferrets keep that wild abandon of their youth well into their dotage, so some suggest ferrets as an alternate pet. Both animals share some reproductive characteristics that make it imperative you get your stock spayed or neutered unless you are serious about breeding them.

We've got 2 domestic ferrets and we keep the skunks outside--we have a fence that keeps them out of the yard, most species of adult skunk can't climb for beans.

Scotty


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Jul 17, 2008)

ScottyDM said:


> skunk info



Oh, I know. It's one of those "If I was rich/had a big house with a yard" wannas. In other words, never gonna happen. Thanks for the info, anyways.


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## Ainoko (Jul 17, 2008)

I am currently writing a short TF story myself, and have found this site http://www.transfur.com/Default.aspx is extremely helpful gaining insights to various methods of TF. Hope this helps.


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## johnothano (Jul 23, 2008)

OP: I'm a TF writer myself.  Most of my TF, I take the character's mind elsewhere.  In my opinion, a quick transformation is overpowering due to the character's mind now having to deal with a huge amount of new data and not totally being able to decipher it.  

Think about the first time you went to someplace totally new and different.  For me, it was my first day in the southern USA.  I was moving from New York City.  I was overwhelmed with...everything.  The bugs, humidity, flat land, the heat... it was all so new.  Now imagine that but with your body, your own body.  In my opinion, _this feeling must be conveyed to the reader to make a good short TF scene_s. 

In a longer, drawn out transformation, such as one that take place over several scenes, you have a LOT more 'safety room'.  Just make sure your character is never too accepting of the change, even if it is self inflected.  There is a primal instinct in all humans (all animals really) to survive.  A radical change of a character's body might (I think would) spark such a drive; even if the character wants the TF to go through.  Manifest it as second thoughts, etc. etc.


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## ciaron (Aug 9, 2008)

Alright, here's something you should really think about... does it hurt when the character transforms? I mean i always see these TFs of how they're just doing some regular every day stuff, and before you know it, *pop* I'm a wolf! gee, i didn't feel a thing! No, if it was an actual transformation, the character would be writhing in pain. It would probably feel like every bone in your body is breaking at once while your muscles convulse. I mean, sure it sounds a little... cynic but it adds a unique, somewhat scientific flavor to the story IMO.


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