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So back when streaming with livestream was the big thing, I got an account and did the same. Now livestream...was never friendly with me. It was computer intensive and seemed unnecessarily so.

I'm seriously hoping there are better programs out there. Would like to get back into streaming art nights

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Been looking for some furry buds so I thought I would make a post here :3 Just lookin for platonic friends Here's some pics of my fursona and suit: http://m.imgur.com/tqvK548,gXqd1Qd,8d3I669,vQcSPmH

My Skype is lovelylittlekitten666

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Note: sorry otters, this doesn't refer to you. I'm talking to the whales, dolphins and sharks out there...and any other legless critter.

I realize this will be a small minority but you are the people I wanna know from, what made you choose such a different creature?

The whole not having legs must make that bizarrely difficult, and I'd love to see what exactly your sona looks like in that case.

It's so interesting to me, I just gotta know these things!

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I've recently made friends with a couple of furries, and they've changed my perspective on and understanding of furries, which I think is a yay all round. I have been asked if I want to be a fur, and my answer was (and still is) "I don't know". Mostly because I don't feel I understand enough about furry fandom.

So, I was wondering if anyone would like to continue to educate me on what it is being a fur means to you, what you do as a fur (e.g. attending cons), or even just how identified as a fur in the first place. I'm genuinely curious, and feel I owe it to you guys (as a collective) to educate myself instead of assuming.

FWIW, I gave some serious consideration to the thought "if I had a fursona who/what would I be?". The answer I came up with, when considering things such as my natural affinity with animals and the kind of person I'd want my fursona to be, is a black panther named Cheshire. Namely because I'm constantly smiling, and panthers are sleek, strong, lithe, proud, and wise (in their own way). And while the same could be said for all felines, the black panther just appeals.

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Hey Papabear! You might remember me from a bit back (about a month or so). And thanks for your help, I made like 3 furiends!!!!

So my question now is this: I am bisexual, and on my gay side I like furry. I need to tell my parents this, but they are very, very conservative Christians. So I should elaborate on them I guess...

So my dad already knows I am a furry, which he doesn't know much about, though he is aware of the sexual aspect of the fandom, and currently believes I am completely uninterested in it. He will most certainly not take me being bi well at all. He is VERY close-minded.

My mom doesn't know that I am a furry, nor is she, to my knowledge, aware of the existence of the fandom. She will also definitely freak out about me being bi. She, too, is close-minded.

My parents are still together, though about my dad knowing I am a furry and my mom not ... that is because my dad just didn't really think my mom needed to know, which now that I think about it feels kinda ... wrong.

My older sister is probably the only one who won't be bothered. She listens when things matter, and doesn't hold people to past actions. Though when something isn't important she can be VERY mean.

My little brother is 10 and really doesn't need to know about this stuff, so I only mention him for full clarity of the situation.

So in my family the most open minded people are my sister and me.

So thanks,
Brozin Flamepelt (age 13)

* * *

Hi, Brozin, and welcome back :3 I’m glad the previous letter helped you connect with some new furiends!

So, two things here: being bi and being furry. On the first subject, I would suggest you slow down a bit. I am not saying you are not bisexual, but at the tender age of 13 you are still going through a lot of changes—physically, mentally, emotionally—and things might change for you. This is because the years or puberty are very confusing ones. It is not unknown for someone to think they are bi or gay and later figure out that they really aren’t, or, as in my case, believe they are straight and later discover (much later! in my case) that they are really gay. Therefore, before you go telling any friends or family members you are bi, please take some time to really work on discovering yourself and who you are.

Make yourself 100% sure of your sexuality before you go confessing anything. And don’t rush it; it might take a few years. You might, eventually, years from now, please, have a sexual encounter with a man or a woman and discover you don’t really enjoy it ... or you do. Again, please hold off on this particular confession. You are 13, and it is rather early for you to be worrying about such adult things. Please take a few more years and enjoy being a kid. We are in much too much of a hurry in American society to push our youth into adulthood.

About being furry: Papabear’s written about this extensively in the past. Please look at the Coming Out Furry category on the Letters page. In short, the best approach, especially with conservative parents, is to: 1) not make a big deal about being a furry—explain it as a fun and harmless hobby, 2) be completely open with your furry activities and make it clear to your parents that they can look at your computer files at any time (hide nothing; this builds trust), and 3) see if you can’t get them to take you to a furry convention so they can see, first-hand, that there is nothing to be anxious or fretful about.

(Note: I am researching and writing The Furry Book and am working very hard to complete it by the end of this year; it will contain, among many many other things, advice on this particular topic).

Again: hold off on confessing about being bi until you are absolutely certain about it; then write to me again; and take a laid-back approach about being a furry. I know this is kind of a mixed message (be quiet about being bi, but open about being furry), but your age in this case makes this approach relevant for you right now. Things will change as you get older.

Our childhood is gone in a flash. We all need to take the time to slow down and enjoy life. Kids should enjoy being kids, and parents and society need to stop pressuring our youth to grow up before they are ready to do so.

Good luck!

Papabear


P.S. Your instinct is correct that your father not talking to your mom about your being furry is “kinda wrong.” Sounds like they have some communication issues of their own. You note that your parents are “still” together; my bear instincts tell me they are having some marital issues, no? I hope they can patch things up. Hugs.

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I've never really been a big fan of fursuiting, primarily because of the way furries act in them.

The way I see it is that anthro characters are mainly human with animal characteristics. So it feels really out of place when seeing a furry in a suit acting purely like the animal, making animal noises, and not talking. I understand the reasoning behind that last one, but it's still out of place.

If I had a suit, I would likely act as any other human would, but simply change my personality to reflect that of the character. Which is anthropomorphic.

What are your thoughts?

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Edit: Formatting - Thanks /u/MrMagoo22 and /u/SeasWouldRise !!

Time itself. Jeff’s worst enemy. Seems the all night gaming frenzy had taken a toll on him. By the time he fell asleep after browsing Instagram on his phone, it was already 8 o clock in the morning.

Jeff’s parents had already bought Jeff an alarm clock but he never plugged it in. If he knew better he wouldn’t have tried to pull the all-nighter and he would realise that he is late for school, which starts in 30 minutes and is exactly 30 minutes away.

“Can you stop dissing me?” Jeff barks.

Well, it seems like Jeff didn’t get any sleep at all.

“Stop it.”

You do know its 8 o clock now?

“Yeah. I’m sure it is. Haha, wait a minute” Jeff looked at the time on his phone. 8:02. “OHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAP”

Jeff jumped out of bed and threw the nearest pair of trousers on, and threaded his tail through the back. He threw a random T-Shirt on with “Quiet is not in my vocabulary!” printed on the front. He jumped down the stairs and rolled into the kitchen, slamming down some cereal and orange juice. He threw on his bag and sped through the door. He ran to Bank station and boarded the train to Stratford.

Chapter 1: The Class Clown

“We are now approaching Stratford, where this train terminates.”

Jeff bounces up and down by the door of the train, his paw on the button to open the door. “Come on! Open!” he whimpers. A girl waiting to get out giggled.
“Typical of a border collie like you. Very characterful.” Jeff smiled at the human. She was quite pretty, a Caucasian girl, about 14, Jeff’s age. They both step out onto the platform and begin running for the exit. “Same school?” Jeff asked. “Yeah! Names Sam, by the way.”
She smiles back to Jeff as she tapped her Oyster card on the barrier’s reader. “We talked in the canteen for a little bit.” “Oh yeah, we did. On Frida-AAH!” Jeff exclaimed as he got his tail caught in the now beeping barrier. Sam walked over to Jeff laughing. “Well, maybe you could ask the staff here to write you a late note.” Sam giggled.

After a conversation with the station staff, Jeff and Sam walked over to the school, walked their separate ways and went to class. Jeff had an IT lesson and he walked into class.
“Why are you so late, Ferguson?” Jeff looked at the teacher, a German shepherd.
“My name’s Jiff” Jeff laughed, as a reference to a popular film at that time. The whole class that were silent before all laughed. The German shepherd gave a disapproving laugh.
“I actually enjoyed that film, so I’ll let you off the hook.”

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Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Story tips are always welcome. Site news: Super linty hugs for everyone, especially if you send Dogpatch Press from the Ursa Majors recommended list to the Award nominations (now open!) For the next few weeks, my posting will be sparse due to time demands.  Meanwhile, enjoy uninterrupted content from […]

Ah! The relationship between cows and their clouds….

Wat?

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Thief of Song Blurb, and Blurbs in General

by M. C. A. Hogarth

 

Here’s the blurb for Thief of Songs! Someone on Twitter asked me if I had any tips for blurb-writing, and this seems a good time to talk about that. Particularly since, unlike a lot of people, I actually enjoy blurb-writing. (Yes, I know. I am crazy.) The most memorable advice I ever received on this topic was from agent Don Maass, who gave a short lecture on “the elevator pitch” while promoting his book Writing the Breakout Novel. I don’t remember the book, but I do remember the pointers about pitching. Pitching, he said, is about “capturing interest, not telling the story.” It should include the three essential components: character, setting, and conflict. And it should answer the question: “Why should I care? What’s the emotional appeal?”

So the heart of blurbing, for me, is identifying the central conflict, the character most affected by it, and then ending with a leading question/statement that invites the reader to find out more.

In Thief’s case, the conflict in the story is Amet’s problems with the lowlands. He is the character most affected by that conflict. And the leading question is whether he’ll be willing to set those problems aside to love a lowlander. Easy peasy! But the art of blurbing is making those answers as succinct as possible, while also as exciting and mysterious as possible. Think of movie trailers: they give you only enough set-up to understand why you should care about the outcome, and then tease you by not revealing the ending!

Here’s the fun part of it for me, then: I want the whole thing to fit in 3-5 sentences. Fewer is best!

So, some more examples for deconstruction. Here’s Mindtouch‘s: Setting: The entire first sentence gives this context.
Character Most Affected: Jahir (who shows up in sentence #2).
Description of Conflict: the second part of the second sentence (“unprepared for… etc.”)
Leading question: “Will the two, etc etc.”
Sentence count: 3

Here was a rough one for me, the Black Blossom blurb: Conflict: First sentence!
Character Most Affected (or at least, most prevalent because Narration): “the gentle Calligrapher, etc…”
Setting: The third sentence.
Leading question: The last two sentences.
Sentence count: 4

Now, here’s an interesting exercise. When the sequel to Flight of the Godkin Griffin came out, both Sofawolf (the print publisher) and I wrote blurbs for it without consulting one another. It was a difficult exercise because we’re introducing the final book in a series, which means we have to allude, at least a little, to the first. And we handled it in very different ways! Here’s Sofawolf’s blurb:

Sent to oversee the most recent territorial acquisition in the Godson’s empire, Mistress Commander Angharad finds herself in an unexpected position. Rather than smoothly assuming control from the outgoing governor, she finds herself in opposition to violent factions of the occupying forces, the corrupt governor she is replacing, and unexpectedly even the Godson himself.

No doubt her unplanned adoption as the champion of the conquered province of Shraeven and the chosen vessel of its many native Gods has something to do with her sudden fall from favor.

Certain that Shraeven holds the final key to the empire’s goal of breeding a God of their own, the Godson himself arrives to regain control of the province. Angharad knows that a lasting peace will only come from a diplomatic solution, but with the Godson’s behavior becoming increasingly erratic, she is no longer sure he is capable of reason.

The Godson’s Triumph is the conclusion of the fantasy military adventure started in Flight of the Godkin Griffin, and takes Angharad to the brink of war with her own country on her way to truly understanding the Gods and the empire’s dedication to emulating them.

Meanwhile, here’s the one I wrote:

Mistress Commander Angharad Godkin hates politics… so of course, her ruler the Godson sent her to replace the Governor of barely tamed Shraeven province. She hates religion, so naturally, the native gods began to plague her the moment she arrived. And since she hates both, the gods started playing politics—and the politicians began playing at godhood. In Flight of the Godkin Griffin, Angharad, a creaky old veteran of the Godkindred Kingdom’s many wars of conquest, was dragged out of retirement only to discover her newest assignment—to rule a province in peace—might finally be the death of her. She certainly wasn’t expecting to face off against her own monarch in a battle that will decide not just her own fate, and not just the fate of Shraeven Province… but of the world itself.

The Godson’s Triumph returns us to the world of Angharad Godkin and her comrades and concludes their epic journey. But who will be left standing when the fires burn out?

The last piece of advice Maass gave was to “use one of the following words in your last sentence: love, heart, dream, journey, fortune, destiny.” I don’t follow the letter of this law, but you can see clearly what he’s aiming for with it: you should be pitching a hero’s journey to the reader, a story that really grips your heart. It has, as modern audiences can now say, ALL THE FEELS. If it doesn’t have all the feels, why bother? And if your overall blurb doesn’t operate on that level, it’s not going to connect to as many people as you hope.

So, in short:
1. Keep it short.
2. Keep it punchy—now is not the time to downplay the conflict.
3. Identify the most important conflict and the character grappling with it and put them on center-stage.
4. Give enough setting information that the conflict makes sense/feels urgent.
5. End with a question/invitation to find out more.

I am not the best blurb-writer in the world, but I think I do passably at it, and I enjoy doing it. If you have questions, leave ‘em here and we can continue deconstructing the process. Or if you have examples of great blurbs you like, bring them here!

This post first appeared at M. C. A. Hogarth’s blog. The original post can be found here.