This is the first post in a few on the topic of species. When it comes to the topic of anthro species and fiction, the discussion is usually limited to either the physiological or the personality. I want to offer a few things for consideration. Primarily these relate if you feel like taking a world building approach, if you want to tinker with the more global elements of furry in your fiction as a backdrop, but Part 3 will deal with personality in a way you likely haven't seen discussed in furry circles. So with that said, Rechan, get to the damn point.

There's one thing that I find really odd about most furry fiction.

Aside from the rare work, all species get along.

All the species have no strife, conflict or prejudice against one another. Not a second thought about being near any other species.

Compare this with human behavior. The "Us vs. Them" and willingness to divide into groups is a huge factor in human psychology. People will do it at the drop of the hat for trivial reasons. Humans distrust and are prejudiced against other people for multitudes of reasons: nationality, religion, ethnicity, social status, and other labels that people attribute to (sports teams, etc). Purely because "That person is different".

The only source of absolving a person from those prejudices is 1) learning from an early age, 2) excessive exposure, to those types of people: i.e. a cosmopolitan/multi-cultural upbringing, or 3) a unifying goal that brings everyone together for a single purpose.

If you know about Evolutionary Psychology, it says that this is purely behavior from hunter/gatherer lifestyles. And that the human brain has not changed those behaviors - that we as humans have not managed to get over the fact that we are no longer living in small tribes, but instead are in huge communities well beyond our ancestral tendencies and have food in abundance with very little physical threats to ourselves.

Now imagine a world where things are different species. And those species' ancestors are at odds, likely for predator/prey purposes. Hell, not even for Predatory purposes - in the wild, wolves kill coyotes, coyotes kill foxes. It's a territorial gesture. Hyena and lions compete for the same food. Rats who have been raised for multiple generations in cages, never exposed to a cat before, will become afraid when exposed to cat urine; a purely instinctive response.

Even if the various species do not eat one another, and no longer must fight over resources, those instinctive issues would likely still be there. Because if evolution is anything like how it is with humans, it takes a long time to fundamentally change things.

Instead there is a huge kumbaya feeling from almost all furry work. And while I understand that part of the appeal is all of those species mingling together, there's not any thought put to the matter. Here we have been talking about behavior and sensory information and how that's different for the character, but what about on the societal level?

This is me asking my watchers out there: Does anyone know any good stories that involve BDSM?

Or rather, does anyone know any good authors that can write good BDSM?

I don't usually use this as a personal journal to air my whining. But this is about furries and the few places I can actually post it.

I'm a grad student in psychology. Today I was setting in our little lounge and I overheard this hot classmate of mine was talking to a guy. She brought up that she was a Something Awful moderator, and in the span of 2 minutes, while saying 4chan was worse than SA, she managed to completely offend me. She managed to shit all over both furries and BDSM in a single breath, two topics rather important to me.

Her words were exactly as follows: "And really, how is [a picture of a woman having sex with a dog] any different from a drawing of you having sex with an anthromorphic coyote person? Really."

The guy, whose roommate is apparently a furry, tried to explain it in terms of dominance and submissive personalities, and her reply was, "I don't know. See I have weird opinions about that too because I've read too much rape research and S&M is just an acceptable venue for violence against women. It's rape."

I just couldn't believe it.

What frustrates me the most is that I cannot say word one. Because the minute I do, it's going to end up on a Facebook, or it's going to get passed around to the grad students, and I am not going to out myself. Because it's none of their goddamn business. Also, this girl is opinionated, smart, talks fast, and while I haven't seen it, I bet she's argumentative. So she's going to counter every point that I make, and I really do not feel equipped to make a rigorous argument, nor should I have to defend my preferences and feelings. Those preferences and feelings will get shoved up under a microscope and I'm not dealing with that.

Were this simply something I saw on the internet, it would be easy to let go. Opinions of strangers or TV personalities, you can turn off. I just gag/block them or leave. But I have class with her three times a week. And I"m going to get pissed off all over again every time I see her.

And the piss-poor cherry on top, the insult to the injury, is that this is a girl I was attracted to; she's a hot redhead.

The story I submitted to Heat 8 did not get picked up.

What disappoints me more is that I intentionally did something to illustrate an aspect of the story - a very important aspect - and the reviewers didn't pick up on it. They noted it as a flaw of the story. So I'm not sure if I just did not do it right, or it was a failing on their part. Because those who I had given it to seemed to get what I was doing.

To be fair to the reviewers though, I do intend to rewrite a few pages to begin with, but that is only due to length.

I've intentionally been sitting on this story, having planned to submit it to heat. I may still sit on it; there's another project I would like to use it for. But I may post it here for a short time once I rework it.

Edit: Someone elsewhere made an interesting point. This story in question dealt with a mental disorder. I was trying to show that disorder to the reader so they would pick up on it. But, if a reader has no familiarity with that disorder, then even if I spelled out "This is what is wrong", if they have no frame of reference FOR that disorder, then they won't get it. They won't see the significance of it because it's pertinent to the point of the story. It's not an issue of good writing, but of audience. That makes me feel a lot better about it.

Back from the convention. Phew. The travel has been a real kick in the butt.

Things really picked up on Saturday - the panels well. When I talked to people who had attended,t ehy all said it was good. My strategy was the shotgun approach - I was the only one doing writing panels, so I tried to make them very general, and address a little in every topic, hoping everyone would get at least something useful. Anytime anyone talked to me about the book or the panels, I was so very excited and bouncy.

But Sunday? Sunday was a real shot in the arm to my ego.

The few people who had bought the book on Saturday, most of who were from the panel, came by and said "I read the first four chapters and it's GREAT!" Then I sold six in an hour. By the end I was bursting at the seams. All told I moved twelve copies. It was slightly frustrating that many who passed by the table would say, "I'd be interested in this book, but it has breasts in it." Although a few of those who did buy it said "Thank you for writing something straight!" However, another author there (Ben Goodridge) told me to not care about the books I don't sell. Every sale is a success. Every sale is a success because that's one more person who has your book, has your name, that means your name is getting out there.

One girl came up to me and told me that she had borrowed her friend's copy and had read twelve chapters. How beautiful the book was and that she loved it, but he was leaving and she was out of money. I just could not let her leave not reading the end, so I bought her a copy myself.

People who had attended the panels snagged me at several points and we talked at length, usually at least an hour about their stuff. It was great - it just felt good to talk to people, to talk about things, to be productive. I didn't talk to a lot of people beyond that, but the interactions I did have felt good.

Beyond that, I had a decent time. I played several boardgames that I enjoyed (although not the ones I had brought to play!). I definitely want to attend a con next year - either Rainfurrest (because I want to meet some folks on the West coast, and because the writing track is apparently really great) or AC. Honestly, the only incentive I would have to going to FC would be to see one person; otherwise I wasn't impressed with the panel schedules. Not to mention that AC and RF are practically a year away; I'm likely to have something else finished by then.

I at least have a new project idea to do.

FurPlanet has placed my book on their store!

http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=483

Come, get your copy today!

I am so very pleased. It's no longer just official, it's final, it's out there and available. This took so long to come to fruition and it still tastes so sweet. Yes. Yes...

♥To every guy that said, "Sex can wait"

♥To every guy that said, "You're beautiful"

♥To every guy that was never too busy to drive across town to see her

♥To every guy that gives her flowers and a card when she is sick or down.

♥To every guy who has given her flowers just because thats how he rolls

♥To every guy that said he would die for her.

♥To every guy that really would.

♥To every guy that did what she wanted to die for

♥To every guy that cried in front of her...

♥To every guy that she cried in front of...

♥To every guy that holds hands with her.

♥To every guy that kisses her with meaning..

♥To every guy that hugs her when she's sad.

♥To every guy that hugs her for no reason at all.

♥To every guy who would give their jacket up for her.

♥To every guy that calls to make sure she got home safe.

♥To every guy that would sit and wait for her for hours just to
see her for ten minutes

♥To every guy that would give his seat up...

♥To every guy that just wants to cuddle.

♥To every guy that reassured her that she was beautiful no matter what.

♥To every guy who told his secrets to her.

♥To every guy that showed how much he cared through every word and every breath.

♥To every guy that thought maybe this could be the one.

♥To every guy that believed in her dreams.

♥To every guy that would have done anything so she could achieve them

♥To every guy that never laughed at her when she told him her dreams.

♥To every guy that walked her to her car and opened the door

♥To every guy that gave his heart.

♥To every guy who prays that she is happy even if you are not with her.


Not many girls appreciate nice guys anymore...
And because of this, there are not many left out there...

If you are a nice guy repost this with: "Nice guys STILL finish last "

If you are a girl that thinks every guy should treat a girl this way
repost this with: "To Every Guy"

Handcuffs and Lace is coming to Fur Fright. The editor says that it should be available on FurPlanet's site before then, but that it will be debuting at Fur Fright.

Since I will be there, I am being allowed to sign copies at the table as long as I like. That apparently increases sales.

So now I shall OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG all over the place.

So I shall be attending Fur Fright this year. Not just as a regular con-goer, but I will also be conducting two panels on writing.

Just in case those out there might be going!

Because of this, I'm now in the market for a badge or two. Anyone have artist recommendations?

There are several places where basically it's a "Hey we're furry writers we put our stuff here/talk about our stuff here". There's even a podcast for it.

But in RL there are groups of local writers where they get together, one or two people bring something for everyone to look at, and the group gives a critique to the person seeking help.

Is there anything out there like this? Or would anyone be curious about putting this together?

So I'm still getting the book, but it's not going to be out at AC.

Damn.

While I will not be at Anthrocon, I have it on good authority that something special will be there.

On a table, laying or perhaps resting on its end, will be a book. The title of the book is "Handcuffs and Lace".

My book.

I wanted to hold off the announcement until the very last moment, just so that I didn't celebrate too early. But the contract is signed, the cover and interior art is handed in, and now all there is left is to see it on FurPlanet's website and for them to print.

I am exceedingly satisfied. Ever since I was a teenager, I have had the dream to see something I wrote sitting on a shelf. And while this is not a pocket novel sitting in a chain bookstore, it's close. Close enough. At the very least, a stepping stone.

As soon as the book goes live on FurPlanet's website, I shall post its link. For now, I would like to share with you the awesome cover: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3998499/

Because I am getting the work published, I am removing three of the four parts of Handcuffs and Lace I posted here on FA and on SoFurry, while the original H&L will still be here. This way, those who bought the book won't feel cheated that they could have went online and read the whole damn thing.

I've been utterly quiet for months, sorry about that.

I'm working on a big project. Well, not big for you, but big for me.

Additionally, I'm getting SLAMMED by Graduate school. This is my first semester, so I'm just being savaged on all ends.

But I'm still alive.

I have a story finished. It's been so freaking long since I finished one, and I've felt so guilty about my productivity. I have had four sitting on my drawing board in various stages of unfinished. I've just felt so unmotivated to get to them. This one was like pulling teeth. But tonight I was laying in bed, thinking about it, and finally said, "No, I'm going to smoke this bitch," went downstairs and finished it.

Now I set the story aside for a few days before going back to edit it. Might get someone to look at it before and after.

I should have it out soon, though. Just letting you know that it's on its way.

Just in case you are wondering, this is a stand alone. No sequels here. In fact, none of the stuff I'm working on right now are sequels.

Here's the cover art Heather Bruton did for Heat #6:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2138238

I am riveted. Not only that, but I yearn to see the interior illustrations.

Additionally, I hope her interior illustrations will draw people to my story, and give me a nudge in the "read" department. Since I'm suspicious many pick up Heat for the pretty pictures, and ignore the text.

It's really great feeling when, with a simple thought, a writer's block completely flushes and flows.

The resulting flood will be long in coming, mind you, but it's nice when, at the very least, thoughts get moving again.

Haven't written a whole lot in a long while, I know. I have several things in production (as usual), but I don't get the drive to come back to them.

Oddly, I recently got the drive to do something, but I was stalled by my utter lack of direction. I know what I wanted, but I had no plot, conflict, motivation, or decisiveness on characters to write with. It's like being hungry, deciding to cook, and you have an empty kitchen. This is, interestingly, similar to what happened with Handcuffs and Lace; I have a desire for something specific, and yet I struggle to build something around it.

My fear is that my motivation and inclination will wither before I really hammer something out. And considering how long it usually takes me to write anything... yeah.

Another cause of hesitation is the selection of species. I generally try to pick species based on the rarity of them, my like of them, and the mood/feeling I get from the story and the characters. At the same time, I realize how my readers may react to what I select. If the reader, for instance, just can't be attracted to the species because the species causes certain hangups, then you have a problem.

The particular species is Rat. I rarely, rarely see rats. Honestly, I only see them paired with mice, for the innate distinction. But, I have the feeling that not a whole lot would find them attractive, in an anthropomorphic sexualized circumstance. The species' reputation (dirty/diseased, cruel and nefarious) and a few unflattering characteristics (the naked hands, which I find kinda creepy, the harsh hairy rat tail). It makes me hesitate to use the species as a main character.

A smaller facet of this is my own self-consciousness over furry imagery. Everyone has their personal tastes as to how human vs. how animal an anthro should be, from personality to appearance. For several characteristics, I lean rather heavy to human - plantigrade feet, no hooves (because I like shoes and long legs), human head-hair (because I think hair is sexy). I often wonder how this can cause reluctance in a reader when your furry representation isn't what they like.

And of course the above also leads to the threat of "humans in fursuits". I have set in several panels where the panelists say that "If there's no reason for the characters to be furry, if they literally act like humans with tales, there's no point in having them be anthros". Which is a point, but one that doesn't lose me any sleep. Still worth a thought, however; I've read many stories where the person is So Clearly consumed with "Furry Fandom Culture" that it makes me feel... put off.

In addition, I feel that my story production is going to get even slower. That I will not be putting anything out within the next year because of Grad school on the horizon. It has become such a low priority.

So that's what is going through my brain the last few days.

A few months ago, I got confirmation that "At A Glance" was accepted into Heat.

Today, I received an email from the editor. Heather Bruton is doing the art for the story.

For the cover.

MY STORY ON THE COVER.

There's this little ritual I do when I finish editing a story, when I am Satisfied with it.

I open my "Work in Progress" File, copy the file and paste it into my "Finished" folder, then delete the original from the WIP file.

It makes me feel warm and fuzzy and accomplished.

Speaking of, I wanted to give you, faithful reader, a little bonus. I mentioned in the comments on "At A Glance" that a commercial inspired me. Well, here is the commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TOve6swe7M

Warning: It's a spoiler for At A Glance; read the story first, then watch.

The Table of Contents for Heat 5 was just posted. The picture sample is the one underneath the dog with the bowler hat; the dog and the mouse.

The artist is AutumnSunrise , a talented lady who has taken the time to illustrate my story Just Another Saturday.

I am so looking forward to seeing the illustrations.

Thanks, Autumn.

Heat Magazine has chosen to pick up my story Just Another Saturday for Heat #5.

I am HAPPY. Eee!

I feel impotent. I have the desire to write, to finish, and I know what I want, but I can't muster the energy and I can't word it right.

Also I can't stick to a single damn project. I have at least three I want to get off the Work in Progress backburner, two that I haven't even started but have meaning to, one I've just started nudging along, and Another story is jumping up and down while whispering "I'm short and sweet and fun, write me!"

I am utterly unproductive.

Meh.

I'm starting to feel kinda bad, now. The story I recently posted on YS and here are not garnering any comments (aside from Roochak), after a lot of looks. No favs and only one vote on YS, too.

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm whining. But I sort've base my self worth on said comments. ;)

I know, I know, I haven't written a lot lately. The well feels dry; I think all my creative juices are going into gaming lately.

Though, I did notice something about my writing. A lot is from the First Person perspective.

In all honesty, I Like writing first person. Not only is it easier to get into character for it, but the reader gets a first hand impression on the character's thoughts, feelings, and their perspective. It's a fun form of narrative.

On the other hand, I've been told that it's less exciting than third person. And my fear is that if I write too many first person stories, to the reader, they'll start to run together. That, and I don't want to elicit "Oh jeez, not another one of Rechan's first person stories".

So. The story I have written has been submitted to both Heat and Furnation. I also sent "Just Another Saturday" and "Smoking in the Stacks" to the former.

To Sylverfox Publications, I directed the entire "Handcuffs and Lace" stories, along with three others; I'm hoping Sylv will do an entire book of Handcuffs and Lace.

So now all I can do is cross my fingers and wait to hear from them. It'll probably be a month+ before I get a word from any.

If Furnation picks up my New Story, I can't post the New Story online for a year. If Heat picks it up, I'm not sure when I'm allowed to post it. If neither take it, I'll post it. In the interim, if anyone here on FA wants to read it, email me and I'll send it to you.