Furry stories

[TakeWalker]

Maybe one person will care about this, aside from myself. I want to get it off my chest.

Furry stories: What's the point?

Maybe you want to write about characters you or your furry friends created. I guess that's okay.

I'm not looking down on stories that feature an Earth with both humans and furries, and even less so on fantasy or sci-fi settings with anthropomorphic races.

I'm talking about Earth-analogues where everyone is an anthro something or other, but everything else is the same. Why? Why is it important that these stories contain furries? Sure, maybe you like them, but you've got to think of reasons for writing real-world stories in a setting that isn't quite the real world. Have you created some new dynamic of racial tension across species lines? That's really the only reason I can think of to have a world populated by furries of every sort and nothing else.

I dunno. I've never written a "furry" story for precisely this reason. And sure, great writers on this site have created furry stories. But the characters and plots would have been just as memorable had said characters been human. The reasoning: that's what I want to know.

Why?

[Rilvor]

Because not everything everyone does has to have reasoning and or reasons behind it? D=

[Kiniel]

I'm going to take a stab at this...

Although, for certain, many people are not this deep, I think the use of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans is a solid and easily-accessible literary device for drawing boundaries and emphasizing the separation between different groups/types of people. Fictional species'races also allow you to generate your own groups and cultures without having to draw upon real life examples or stereotypes while still getting your point across, whatever it may be.

Also... er... tails are better than no tails.

[TakeWalker]

Because not everything everyone does has to have reasoning and or reasons behind it? D=

Everything does have a reason, though. It just depends on whether or not the person is aware of it. *goes off on a Death of the Author tangent*

I'm going to take a stab at this...

Although, for certain, many people are not this deep, I think the use of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans is a solid and easily-accessible literary device for drawing boundaries and emphasizing the separation between different groups/types of people.**Fictional species'races also allow you to generate your own groups and cultures without having to draw upon real life examples or stereotypes while still getting your point across, whatever it may be.

Also... er... tails are better than no tails.

Well, I guess I already covered that, then.

[Rilvor]

Well, some people's reason may be " Because I felt like it" which often apparently isn't good enough for people to actually count as a reason.

[Kiniel]

I'm going to take a stab at this...

Although, for certain, many people are not this deep, I think the use of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans is a solid and easily-accessible literary device for drawing boundaries and emphasizing the separation between different groups/types of people.**Fictional species'races also allow you to generate your own groups and cultures without having to draw upon real life examples or stereotypes while still getting your point across, whatever it may be.

Also... er... tails are better than no tails.

Well, I guess I already covered that, then.

Wow, I totally spaced there. I didn't even notice you had mentioned that. Still, it's the most valid reason I can dream up.

[Muse]

Why?

Why not?

[Bokracroc]

Why?

Why not?

Damn straight!

[Evangeline]

Why?

Why not?

Damn straight!

Exactly!

[Haul]

i've written few furry stories.tough without actually concidering them as one,i just tought it was cool.and if you don't like the concept,you can always stop reading yanno

[DavidN]

It allows you to have your own social rules and boundaries without crossing any lines that may exist in this world.

[Riasiru]

umm, becuase it's politicaly incorrect, and moraly, to create a black guy who hates whites becuase all whites are racists... but making a dog who hates cats is totaly cool... <<' Ehhh, don't take that out of context, I will have to hurt you for the ebony mob of fire and pitch forks that wants to kill me.

It's also a useful as a ploy to promote a personality, though... more often than not it's used as a comical means, like the cowardly lion or... a bunny that's not timid. (Bugs bunny, timid he's not.) Let's face it, humans are kinda tastless and bland, half the time you forget any features they might have unless they have an accent or something, and promoting personalities through use of race is an increadibly bad idea.

[TakeWalker]

umm, becuase it's politicaly incorrect, and moraly, to create a black guy who hates whites becuase all whites are racists... but making a dog who hates cats is totaly cool... <<' Ehhh, don't take that out of context, I will have to hurt you for the ebony mob of fire and pitch forks that wants to kill me.

It's also a useful as a ploy to promote a personality, though... more often than not it's used as a comical means, like the cowardly lion or... a bunny that's not timid. (Bugs bunny, timid he's not.) Let's face it, humans are kinda tastless and bland, half the time you forget any features they might have unless they have an accent or something, and promoting personalities through use of race is an increadibly bad idea.

So racial explorations. Okay. That's valid. And I won't go into the "But why not just use aliens or faeries or blah blah" argument because, frankly, it doesn't matter which way you go in this vein, and comes down to personal preference.

Can anyone come up with another reason? c.c

Also, I would disagree with your "humans are...tasteless and bland" statement [size=xx-small](they taste great with ketchup!)[/size]. That is ultimately up to what the writer is able to do. Humans, while not nearly as physically varied as the theoretical pool of furries available, still have plenty of emotional variation. The spectrum of human emotions runs the gamut; we all should know this. Pretty much anything you can do with a furry in a story you can do with a human. If you can't do it, then you've hit the realm of "yes, these need to be furries". I mean, try it. Write something with furries and see if you can't replace every character with a human (removing the occasional tail-related joke; is that all tails are for?) and still have the story make sense.

[Riasiru]

hmm, true... now I counter your responce with, why humans? Sure, we are human IRL, but if that's the only reason, isn't as pointless as making them furry?

I'm the girl, who if you ask why, why, why, why, will yell why not at you... heh, I'm also the person who dresses up in all black and waits at the local mall for a bunch of goths to gather around and just lurk there, only so I can suddenly smile as hard as I can at them and say in a rather off putting voice 'Will you be my friend...'

[Ray Kicio]

I'm reading this thread as 'I like humans, you should write about humans when you have the chance to write about humans.'

I'm going on the 'because it is within my tastes' bandwagon here. I personally, happen to write stories where nearly every character displays physical traits of animals but not the whole body experiance. They, in essence, show the different core traits of the person so you have a way to tell their personality off the bat.

Here is my question: Since you can interchange human and furry, why does it matter what it's physical representation is in the story? It is not like we have never had stories where the earth has been warped towards one direction before. (Harry Poter... 'What if Hitler Won'...)

[TakeWalker]

I think my point in writing this thread, to respond to the last two posts, is more to make writers question their own motivations. I mean, if they want to go ahead and write Earth-analogue furry settings, I ain't gonna gripe. They tend to feel the same to me, however, again, that's up to the individual writer's ability, and it's not fair to blame the subject matter. I just want those who write these stories to really consider why they write them.

As for the "why humans" question, well, two reasons. First, as they always say, write what you know. Although I'll be the first to admit that's a lame excuse. A better, yet more personal reason, would be that I'm a realist. I definitely would not write furries into a story unless they were simply another race in the world. That having been said, this thread has inspired some crazy creativity and I'll be putting out a furries-and-humans piece in the near future. <.< Hopefully.

[Riasiru]

hmm, ya know, I never took the time to think about this, but I'm not one for the all furry mirror either... Heh, most of my half attempts at making stories has a split of reality where furries and humans are considered the same species, even if they're not. Then agian, what are the rules for classifying species agian, must be able to breed and create a reproductive offspring? Yeah, then in any story I'll make, they're totaly the same species, hmm... really do need to make a story one day, something... futuristic and shiney, and a set up to an awsome anime... ~rambles on as she walks away~

PS. I know this somewhat contridicts what I said before, but... Contridiction is the basis of all existance!

[Muse]

Why?

Why not?

Damn straight!

Exactly!

Well, no maybe not. If you look really closely you can see it's a little bent. Just a wee bit though... To left there, do you see it?

Anyway, in my opinion, (aside from 'why not?' and all that) I prefer humans and furries in my 'furry' worlds, as long as the relationship between them isn't too trite or cliché or tritely cliché, even since both trite and cliché can work if done really well (though cliché certainly more so than trite, usually...).

Simply substituting furries for humans can be interesting as a 'what if..?' sort of deal, as speculative fiction (again, done well) has it's own charm even if the plot is otherwise mostly just an excuse. Plus, the human-society-with-a-pack-mentality-inclination doesn't work near so well if the humans are actually humans. C'mon, people acting like animals? Unheard of!

[size=x-small]Edit: Fear my box-wang!!11[/size]

[Orlith Nemeth]

I don't know, I've only written one chapter of one story on a whim...seemed like a good idea at the time... how else could my characters fly on they're own power (which is much cooler IMPO than using some dumb jet pack with would have put the story way out-of-era) and isn't using a rat as a pirate (though possibly stereotypical) kinda cool? i think it is...eh...whatever. Maybe its just personal preference, since i tend to read a lot of stories where dragons are major player, but never the actual main characters and i just wanted one where they are the main characters, instead of just some workhorse. *shrugs* i think I fell into the "because I felt like it" category...

[Dragsooth]

Well don't really care about this but I just think stories are way better than the pics let your imagination show the pictures in your mind instead of someone making it for you

[WolfoxOkamichan]

Hi Take! Nice to see you here!

Anyway, here're my reasons:

1) Humans are overused "race". I once made a rant about it before about humans being Mary-Sues, nearly parring with Elves. They're an overused "womg we're oppressed by non-human-looking things!". Using furries gives a new light.

2) In my canon, furries tend to share their animal characteristics. Canine anthros, for instance, tend to be very family-oriented in their attitude. Same goes with my monkey characters. Scent-searching, use of special devices to alleviate "too much noise pick-up", clairvoyance, etc. They tend to play large roles in my stories. There are still human emotions, but then again, furries are humanoid animals.

3) I am not sure if you include the "furries with humans" (I think you did), but in my case, I added tension to it. In my comic book-esque canon Nightscout, the main character's (anti)hero persona struggles because he is viewed as a monster despite his duties, since he isn't human (let's face it, you're easily a hero if you're a human). I am trying to give a new approach to the conflict, since usually it's the human's eyes.

[Ruiner]

Why? Why is it important that these stories contain furries?

When writing a story that is Philosophically intensive, its a good idea to add animals and other concepts to add levity. Otherwise, you'll just write something so depressive that you'll be the only lonely bastard ever to read it.

Plus, in the furry fandom, you don't need to be good at writing to get furries to read it.

[Faradin]

I know why: Because one day I'm bored, so I turn on TV. Brother Bear, the movie that spawned from Satan's bowels, is playing. I think to myself, I could make somethng like that, but better. And I did. Very much so. I discovered I had a natural flair for it. So I continued on to this day. Doing something because you want it to be better than some other guy's work, that's my answer.

[TakeWalker]

Plus, in the furry fandom, you don't need to be good at writing to get furries to read it.

Don't I know it.

[WolfoxOkamichan]

Yeah, as long as it has pr0nzors, most of the time - or at least anything that would entice a fetish.

Of course, that's a "general" view, not necessarily labeling everyone like that.