Writing Tips for Furries

[Punk_M0nitor]

Not too terribly much of a writer myself, but I would like to start, since I don't have the time or motivation to make comics for my fursona's backstory and frankly don't feel like it would do him enough justice. Experienced furry writers, what tips do you have for describing anthro characters? How do you plan and edit your drafts? How do you stay motivated? Share below!

 

[JuniperW]

I wouldn't exactly call myself *super* experienced, but here are some tips!

• When thinking about a world inhabited by sapient animals, consider what similarities and differences it has to ours. Maybe it's a world like Blacksad, where the characters being animals is more of a stylistic choice - replacing them with humans wouldn't change much. Or perhaps it's like Beastars or Zootopia - where there are divisions between predators and prey (that's just one example of how a society with anthro animals might work - in one of my stories, there's a division between cold and warm-blooded animals).
• There's probably an infinite amount of ways you could describe an anthro character. However, details such as their body language, dialogue, attire and even species can give readers a good idea of their personality. For example, an animal character has their ears folded down, we can infer that they're feeling sad. In the end, it really depends on the kind of style you're going for. Are your characters ferals with human-level intelligence? Are they basically just humans with a few animal features?
• I get motivation and inspiration from a lot of things, including video games, music, books, anime, films, art, science, documentaries...uh, just everything under the sun. I often find it hard to make time for writing because I have so many other hobbies, so balancing out your time is crucial. Don't rush anything you write and go all-out. Tell the kinds of stories you yourself would want to read.
• The most important thing, of course, is to have fun

 

[Jaredthefox92]

I have a lot of writing experience, what tips do you want specifically? I often put focus on their ears and tails, as their fur. I also go into detail in how feral or how humanized they are. Facial expressions help a lot, so detail how they're feeling at the moment. (Just like humans, anthros and furries tend to be more sentient and thus their feelings can be converted to their thoughts.) I listen to music, and a lot of my ideas are derivative, but unique enough to say "yeah this is my idea". I personally go about the story first, then just describe them as I go along. Characters enhance a story, not the other way around.

 

[Miles Marsalis]

How much of an experienced writer I am in the furry genre is up for debate since my furry output consists of RPGing with my OC Miles, a half-finished short story I wrote about him, my commissions which I don't view as my ideas, and 400 page epic I wrote about tardigrades in high school that is bad it's never seeing the light of day.

That said, I think an important part of writing in the furry genre is deeply describing the various characters' physical details for the reading as well as sketching out their biological characteristics. Character and character development are also important to have.

 

[reptile logic]

Don't forget the world your characters live in.