# Should I Write Furry Fanfics?



## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Hey guys, I'm known as an incredibly skilled writer and like to write everything from music to stories and do so often. Recently many of my friends have gotten into writing furry stories and I have been contemplating trying it myself. The problem is I don't really see the point in writing anything furry related unless it contains yiff which is something I definitely am not going to include in a story if I was to write one. What do you guys think? Should I go for it?


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## Kalmor (Apr 6, 2013)

Furry isn't about the yiff, so there's no problem in not putting it in. Just write what you feel comfortable with.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Raptros said:


> Furry isn't about the yiff, so there's no problem in not putting it in. Just write what you feel comfortable with.



I know that, I just don't really see the purpose of writing a furry novel if it was outside of yiff. If you're writing about furries hanging out with no "physicality" then it might as well just be about normal people. I guess if I were to do something involving hunting that would have a point to it, I don't know. I think I'm just missing something :/


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## Butters Shikkon (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> I know that, I just don't really see the purpose of writing a furry novel if it was outside of yiff. *If you're writing about furries hanging out with no "physicality" then it might as well just be about normal people.* I guess if I were to do something involving hunting that would have a point to it, I don't know. I think I'm just missing something :/



Exactly. This would mostly be superficial if you weren't going to use the animal traits as symbolism. Which is about the most useful trait furries can offer in stories other than being a tool to depict an "outsider". 

If you are just dead set on writing a story with normal everyday characters as furries then go for it. That's all it'll be however.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Butterflygoddess said:


> Exactly. This would mostly be superficial if you weren't going to use the animal traits as symbolism. Which is about the most useful trait furries can offer in stories other than being a tool to depict an "outsider".
> 
> If you are just dead set on writing a story with normal everyday characters as furries then go for it. That's all it'll be however.



I think I will write one, tonight hopefully. I guess there's no way to see if it will turn out unless I give it a try. Thanks for the advice


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## Butters Shikkon (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> I think I will write one, tonight hopefully. I guess there's no way to see if it will turn out unless I give it a try. Thanks for the advice



Well, happy writing then! ^^ Hopefully, you'll find out if it works or not.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Butterflygoddess said:


> Well, happy writing then! ^^ Hopefully, you'll find out if it works or not.


Thanks! :3


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## M. LeRenard (Apr 6, 2013)

Oh, the sad state of the fandom's writing, when people can't think of any reason to include anthropormophized animals besides sex.


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## Ansitru (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> Hey guys, *I'm known as an incredibly skilled writer* and like to write everything from music to stories and do so often. Recently many of my friends have gotten into writing furry stories and I have been contemplating trying it myself. The problem is I don't really see the point in writing anything furry related unless it contains yiff which is something I definitely am not going to include in a story if I was to write one. What do you guys think? Should I go for it?



Now I'm curious. Can you link a story you've written, mayhap?


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## Poetigress (Apr 6, 2013)

M. LeRenard said:


> Oh, the sad state of the fandom's writing, when people can't think of any reason to include anthropormophized animals besides sex.



Took the words right out of my mouth. :/ I don't even know where to start with this, so... I guess I just won't start.


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## Nikolinni (Apr 6, 2013)

Ultimate Rage in 3...2...1...

You sir claim to be a skilled writer, but yet can't find any other reason for using furs _other than for sex??!!_ Are you Friggin kiddin' me? Good God man, haven't you read anything with animal characters in it? Redwall? Watership Down? Jonathan Livingston Segall? Chronicles of Narnia? Spectral Shadows? I'm pretty sure Brian Jacques, Richard Adams, Richard Bachs, CS Lewis, and Perri Rhoades (respectively) were all able to find good use of their characters other than to just have them bonk each other. Well, truth be told in Spectral Shadows there is yiff going on, but it's not the central focus of the serial it appears in; it's discussed a lot and characters do mention it quite a bit, but even then the story has a mythos for that part that explains why the characters are sleeping with each other (pretty much the only reason is to repopulate the planet; 80% of people who sleep together will not have children), so it's not for some sexual amusement so to speak. 

But seriously, animal characters give you a whole nother world to write with. They are SO much different from writing human characters, even if you do a simple Slice of Life story where there's no evil wizards, space-metal forged swords, ascension to higher planes, and genetically enhanced rats, I'm sure there's still some interesting things you could show, that is if you do treat the characters as more than humans with fur and clothing (which it seems like a lot of people do, even some furs). Actually USE the fact that they're animals and do some good with it. 

There's SO much more you can do with anthro animals than have them bonking each other. Newsflash: your writing DOESN'T have to be sexually arousing!


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Nikolinni said:


> Ultimate Rage in 3...2...1...
> 
> You sir claim to be a skilled writer, but yet can't find any other reason for using furs _other than for sex??!!_ Are you Friggin kiddin' me? Good God man, haven't you read anything with animal characters in it? Redwall? Watership Down? Jonathan Livingston Segall? Chronicles of Narnia? Spectral Shadows? I'm pretty sure Brian Jacques, Richard Adams, Richard Bachs, CS Lewis, and Perri Rhoades (respectively) were all able to find good use of their characters other than to just have them bonk each other. Well, truth be told in Spectral Shadows there is yiff going on, but it's not the central focus of the serial it appears in; it's discussed a lot and characters do mention it quite a bit, but even then the story has a mythos for that part that explains why the characters are sleeping with each other (pretty much the only reason is to repopulate the planet; 80% of people who sleep together will not have children), so it's not for some sexual amusement so to speak.
> 
> ...



Sorry to make you and some others "Ultimate Rage," I wasn't saying there was no point in using anthros in writing besides yiff. I do understand the symbolism that can be created using them outside of a pornographic manner, I guess I was just lacking inspiration for any specific symbolism in this genre besides that of a sexual nature. I wasn't trying to be offensive and I agree with your views. I definitely could have phrased my initial statement better. Anyways, I should start the story tonight so if you want you can give me input of if you believe I can "call myself a skilled writer." Thanks for your criticism! (I know you called it rage, but I found it to be very constructive)


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## M. LeRenard (Apr 6, 2013)

There's nothing really wrong with writing erotica, but I just found it a little perturbing that that was all you could think of for anthro characters.  Obviously others felt the same way.  I mean, okay, here's the trick; try writing them as characters, with personalities, and see where it takes you.  Not too much more complicated than that, really.  If you want to give some purpose to them being anthros, that makes it more complicated, but hey... be creative.  That's what writers do.

Anyway, if you post this story for a critique, please use the critique subforum instead of posting the story in this thread.


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## Ansitru (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> Anyways, I should start the story tonight so if you want you can give me input of if you believe I can "call myself a skilled writer." Thanks for your criticism! (I know you called it rage, but I found it to be very constructive)



If you already have the audacity to call yourself an "incredibly skilled writer" in your opening post, then I would assume you can already link an example.
Thank you for kindly ignoring my question though. c:


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## Schwimmwagen (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> I'm known as an incredibly skilled writer



I'd be very interested in reading some publications by you! Can you show us any?
:VVVVVV


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Gibby said:


> I'd be very interested in reading some publications by you! Can you show us any?


I don't have any online publications (that are relevant to the fandom for that matter) as of now, though I will definitely link my new story after I write it :3


Ansitru said:


> If you already have the audacity to call yourself an "incredibly skilled writer" in your opening post, then I would assume you can already link an example.
> Thank you for kindly ignoring my question though. c:


I had the "audacity" to repeat what I have been told from others numerous times. The intent of this post was not to boast nor to accidentally overlook your question. I could link an example, but I would prefer posting the story this thread was centered around first off. If you for some reason seek to disprove me as a skilled writer, you can do so then. And I apologize for ignoring your question, I skipped over it; my ignoring you was not purposed.


TheNewBreed said:


> *I should start the story tonight so if you want you can give me input of if you believe I can "call myself a skilled writer."*





M. LeRenard said:


> There's nothing really wrong with writing erotica, but I just found it a little perturbing that that was all you could think of for anthro characters.  Obviously others felt the same way.  I mean, okay, here's the trick; try writing them as characters, with personalities, and see where it takes you.  Not too much more complicated than that, really.  If you want to give some purpose to them being anthros, that makes it more complicated, but hey... be creative.  That's what writers do.
> 
> Anyway, if you post this story for a critique, please use the critique subforum instead of posting the story in this thread.


Thanks for the advice, I will keep that in mind. I will post this in the critique subform as soon as I find time to start it


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## Ansitru (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> I had the "audacity" to repeat what I have been told from others numerous times.



My parents call me "the best artist" all the time. That doesn't mean I get cocky enough to repeat it as the truth, as I know I am not.
Just saying.

But very well then, I will be awaiting your sample of a story.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Ansitru said:


> My parents call me "the best artist" all the time. That doesn't mean I get cocky enough to repeat it as the truth, as I know I am not.
> Just saying.
> 
> But very well then, I will be awaiting your sample of a story.


For the record, I was referring to real critique from outside my household. Hell, no one inside has even read my writings. Also, I repeat that I am a skilled writer because I know that I am, though I do not get "cocky" and would never say something like "I am the best writer of all time" as I know I am obviously not.
This is getting quite off topic; just know I greatly look forward to your critique after I do write my short story


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## Ansitru (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> For the record, I was referring to real critique from outside my household. Hell, no one inside has even read my writings. Also, I repeat that I am a skilled writer because I know that I am, though I do not get "cocky" and would never say something like "I am the best writer of all time" as I know I am obviously not.
> This is getting quite off topic; just know I greatly look forward to your critique after I do write my short story



At the risk of making another off-topic reply: you can call yourself an "incredibly skilled writer" without sounding cocky if and when your work makes it into the literary canon and becomes an object of study in literary courses. 

Until then, I'm afraid you may want to take the praise with a pinch of salt, even if it's not coming from your parents, but mayhap from friends or people online. 
Again, I have been called "_best artist 5eva_" quite a couple of times as well, still that doesn't give me a reason to repeat it as there is always room for improvement. 
It's the minute you start to believe mindless praise from people who may not even know what they are talking about that you start to stagnate.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

Ansitru said:


> At the risk of making another off-topic reply: you can call yourself an "incredibly skilled writer" without sounding cocky if and when your work makes it into the literary canon and becomes an object of study in literary courses.
> 
> Until then, I'm afraid you may want to take the praise with a pinch of salt, even if it's not coming from your parents, but mayhap from friends or people online.
> Again, I have been called "_best artist 5eva_" quite a couple of times as well, still that doesn't give me a reason to repeat it as there is always room for improvement.
> It's the minute you start to believe mindless praise from people who may not even know what they are talking about that you start to stagnate.



Believe me, I am usually my greatest critique and am last to stand up and boast. I'd assume I just threw in the "skilled writer" remark to let people know I am not a novice when it comes to the literary arts, I just need advice with a new style I may try out. If you felt I was being arrogant and that insulted you I apologize, though such was not my intent


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## Ansitru (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> Believe me, I am usually my greatest critique and am last to stand up and boast. I'd assume I just threw in the "skilled writer" remark to let people know I am not a novice when it comes to the literary arts, I just need advice with a new style I may try out. If you felt I was being arrogant and that insulted you I apologize, though such was not my intent



Being a writer, one would assume you know which words can have which impact. "Experienced writer" may have been a more neutral choice, as it only states you have written before, without stating you are "extremely skilled", which comes off as somewhat audacious when you have nothing to show for it so far. 

My apologies if I sounded hostile, but I figured it would be best if I explained my stance properly.


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## Troj (Apr 6, 2013)

You should set out to write an entertaining story about believable, compelling characters who want Something so powerfully and so intensely that we hope they get it.

I think if you set out to write a furry story just for the _sake_ of writing a furry story, you'll end up in a ditch, and the story will be a snore-y. (If your character would be boring or cardboard as a human, once the novelty wears off, they probably won't be that much better as a fox, or a talking kumquat.) 

The fact that you feel obligated to include yiff because "that's what it's all about" is a bad moon rising.

I'm working on a novel that's chalk full of fantastical talking animals--including the protagonist--and while there might be some sexual subtext or symbolism for the eagle-eyed reader, there's nary a drop of "yiff" to be found. 

(My poor protagonist has enough to worry about, without having woodland critters try to ride on his disco stick!)

Most of the truly great and classic stories about talking animals and magical beasts don't contain a lot of overt sex, and people still enjoy them. 

Gimmick sex, on the other hand, can be a serious nail in your tale's coffin, and screams "amateur looking for attention/sales."

Additionally, cheesy gimmick yiff is why most people think furries are creepy over-sexed furverts.

Speaking of gimmicks and cheese, if you're looking for inspiration, DON'T look at capital-F "Furry" stories. Furry stories written by furries explicitly for furries tend to stink like roadkill. (See: the threads here on bad webcomics.)


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## M. LeRenard (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:
			
		

> as soon as I find time to start it


I would hope you'd find the time to finish it before you ask for critique.  ;-)

Anyway, something tells me you should be prepared to have a lot more people than usually would coming in and critiquing this piece.  It sounds like everyone here took your post as a challenge, like, "Hey, this guy says he's great, let's see how quickly we can tear him down off that pedestal."  Fair warning.


I just noticed, too... . Sparks, Nevada, huh?  I got lost in the Costco there when I was really young.  I used to live in Walker Lake, something like 20 years ago.


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## Ansitru (Apr 6, 2013)

M. LeRenard said:


> Anyway, something tells me you should be prepared to have a lot more people than usually would coming in and critiquing this piece.  It sounds like everyone here took your post as a challenge, like, "Hey, this guy says he's great, let's see how quickly we can tear him down off that pedestal."  Fair warning.



I do not intend to tear down "just because" or not be constructive. I'm just saying that it's not always best to state you are "incredibly skilled" if we have nothing to look at to try and verify that claim. If and when he posts his story here, I intend to be fair, but honest, not malicious and mean-spirited. c:


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

M. LeRenard said:


> I would hope you'd find the time to finish it before you ask for critique.  ;-)
> 
> Anyway, something tells me you should be prepared to have a lot more people than usually would coming in and critiquing this piece.  It sounds like everyone here took your post as a challenge, like, "Hey, this guy says he's great, let's see how quickly we can tear him down off that pedestal."  Fair warning.
> 
> ...



Yep, to be honest I'm glad people took this as a challenge to critique me, I'm always happy to hear criticism even if it is harsh. And yeah, you've got to be cautious of those Costcos >.>


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## anothersacrifice (Apr 6, 2013)

Not really sure if I want to step off into this, but I'm opinionated so I feel I must. Going to go ahead and thrown in that most people are going to take any sort of comments about you being anything above a decent writer as you being arrogant unless you are very well established. People that have books that have hit the best seller list can probably get away with this (even if their writing is not in fact stellar) but most other people are just going to open themselves up for a mass calling out about it. 

More on the point however, it is a sad state that you cannot find a reason to include characters in your story for any reason other than sex. I write with furry characters in both sexual situations and non-sexual situations and there is a vast difference. Someone that has heightened senses and different physicality is always going to react to things differently than a human would. The statement tells me that you probably view anthropomorphic characters as humans that look like animals instead of the much more complex idea of them being animals that look more human. I would go further even and suggest that the remark equates saying something along the lines of "Why would I bother writing a story with female characters if there's not going to be any sex involved? May as well just write with guys if they're just hanging out." 

Ultimately as a writer you are the one that makes the difference. If your furry characters are acting exactly as their human counterparts would then I encourage you to please continue writing only human works. If you're having to justify your work to yourself there's clearly an issue there and you're out of your comfort zone in a bad way. If you can't find a reason to include something into your stories then as a general rule, you shouldn't put it in. 

If saying Bob is a Husky won't make him act any different than saying Bob is Italian then you're not using the range given to you. Writing in the furry fandom has a great amount of freedom because we have the luxury of being involved with a widely known subject that has a million different interpretations. If you want your furry characters to be more human-like, not many are going to question that because that's acceptable. On the other hand if you want to give your furry characters more animal abilities to match their species then that is also perfectly acceptable to the fandom as well. It has a wide range that allows for every personal interpretation to fit snugly into the puzzle without raising too many eyebrows. 

I am now just rambling so I'm going to stop. I've said my piece anyway.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

anothersacrifice said:


> Not really sure if I want to step off into this, but I'm opinionated so I feel I must. Going to go ahead and thrown in that most people are going to take any sort of comments about you being anything above a decent writer as you being arrogant unless you are very well established. People that have books that have hit the best seller list can probably get away with this (even if their writing is not in fact stellar) but most other people are just going to open themselves up for a mass calling out about it.
> 
> More on the point however, it is a sad state that you cannot find a reason to include characters in your story for any reason other than sex. I write with furry characters in both sexual situations and non-sexual situations and there is a vast difference. Someone that has heightened senses and different physicality is always going to react to things differently than a human would. The statement tells me that you probably view anthropomorphic characters as humans that look like animals instead of the much more complex idea of them being animals that look more human. I would go further even and suggest that the remark equates saying something along the lines of "Why would I bother writing a story with female characters if there's not going to be any sex involved? May as well just write with guys if they're just hanging out."
> 
> ...



I didn't find that as rambling, I got what you're saying and I actually found the reason to write with furry characters came quite easy to me when I started my story. I think my initial problem was that I hadn't seen any stories not written around yiff before, so I had to discover the purpose myself. I finished the first three pages of my story however and would like to post my progress so far (I want to share it before I get too far so some of the users here can tell me where I'm going wrong and where I'm going right in my story). Should I make a new thread in the critique subforum and post all three pages or should I use a specific website?


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## anothersacrifice (Apr 6, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> I didn't find that as rambling, I got what you're saying and I actually found the reason to write with furry characters came quite easy to me when I started my story. I think my initial problem was that I hadn't seen any stories not written around yiff before, so I had to discover the purpose myself. I finished the first three pages of my story however and would like to post my progress so far (I want to share it before I get too far so some of the users here can tell me where I'm going wrong and where I'm going right in my story). Should I make a new thread in the critique subforum and post all three pages or should I use a specific website?




Find a natural stopping place and post it on the main FA site either as a WIP or a chapter. You can remove it later when you finish the whole work or put it in scraps. Then make a thread in the critique forum and put the link to the story there. Remember that NSFW can apply to violence as well as sexual situations so if your story needs to be rated mature or adult for any reason you should mark the link.

Make sure to read the rules of the critique forum before posting anything, but that's kind of common sense.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 6, 2013)

anothersacrifice said:


> Find a natural stopping place and post it on the main FA site either as a WIP or a chapter. You can remove it later when you finish the whole work or put it in scraps. Then make a thread in the critique forum and put the link to the story there. Remember that NSFW can apply to violence as well as sexual situations so if your story needs to be rated mature or adult for any reason you should mark the link.
> 
> Make sure to read the rules of the critique forum before posting anything, but that's kind of common sense.


Thank you, I will!


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## Harbinger (Apr 7, 2013)

TheNewBreed said:


> don't really see the point in writing anything furry related unless it contains yiff



Kung-fu panda, Puss in boots, Robin Hood, and a hell of a lot more all starred anthro characters, yet there wasnt a single yiffing scene in any of them thank fuck and they all turned out brilliantly.


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## TheNewBreed (Apr 7, 2013)

Harbinger said:


> Kung-fu panda, Puss in boots, Robin Hood, and a hell of a lot more all starred anthro characters, yet there wasnt a single yiffing scene in any of them thank fuck and they all turned out brilliantly.



Yeah, I know now that you can write an anthro story without yiff. As I said before, I had not read any anthro fanfics that weren't centered around yiff so I just had no idea what I could use as inspiration. I found it when I started writing.

Also, I already started my story and have gotten pretty good reviews (if you ask me), so I think I can close this thread as it's title and initial question has been answered.
Thread: http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/134175-My-First-Attempt-at-a-Furry-Story!

Thanks everyone for your input!


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