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submitted by Espurra
[link] [6 comments]

But thanks to you crazy fuzzballs, I'm starting to get over my fears(people, especially...). Before I officially joined this community, I was super shy and felt kinda useless. But I post stuff on here and get so many positive responses, I'm starting to think not everyone hates me. I'm starting to be more confident, and I think it's cause all you loving fluffbutts. Thanks everybody! I love all you fuzzy, feathery, scaley, gooey... rubbery... and whatever else... I love all you guys!

submitted by SittingInYourBushes
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submitted by GodQueenSari
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submitted by TakeMyKnot
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submitted by ArgentStonecutter
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submitted by NoahGoldFox
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submitted by sploggs
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Hello, Papabear,

I had seen your articles and read a few I enjoyed, so I thought you might be able to help me with something that's been bothering me for a while.

I enjoy art very much and love being in the furry community. I especially love contributing my art and praising other artists and fursuit makers. 

Recently, I have finally been able to come out of the furry closet and recognize myself as a furry. My entire high school life, I denied being a furry and refused to let myself enjoy that creative part of me that I kept locked away. Reasons I did it were because of judgmental friends who hated furries and thought they were gross. Naturally, as any young teenager in their first years of high school would do, I had tried to fit in.

When my senior year rolled around, I couldn't keep denying it and tried to pass it off as enjoying furry art. My friends didn't take too well to that at all. I began to hide it even more till I met some amazing friends online who were in the furry community. They had always been there for me and supported me when my friends wouldn't. 
I had been diagnosed earlier in the year with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression, to top it all off my mother's own mental health began to unravel and did not help. I had about three or four panic attacks around my friends and had been treated differently ever since. I was also taken to a mental hospital for therapy and to get medication. Nasty rumors had been spread and there were plenty of jokes about it. I felt that I had to bottle up those parts of me also, which I did and ended up in the hospital twice. But my furry friends online had helped me an awful lot with talking to me and just trying to find ways of making me happy. 

While I had easily found help with proper medication and finding healthy outlets, my mother was not as lucky and passed away from prescription drug overdose. 

When my mom's funeral came around, none of my friends showed up but two of them. I had really begun to learn where I stood In their lives and decided to rid myself of them. 

My friends online in the furry community were extremely nice to me and helped me so much with support I needed after mom had passed.

I am happy with myself now and I think I have done very well with myself since mom died. 

I'm not in college yet, I am taking a break to allow myself to process and breath. I have also had time to explore myself and fully accept that I'm a furry. I am also very proud of myself for accepting myself as a furry. I would love to indulge further and enjoy it a step further. 

I have decided to do that by purchasing a tail. I am excited to wear it, but recently, I have been having cold feet about it. I would like to try to wear it in public from time to time, but my anxiety gets the best of me and I immediately just want to throw it away. I have analyzed why I feel such strong anxiety towards it, and I have come to the conclusion that I am afraid of my high school comrades seeing me and I'm afraid of the opinions of others. I looked up forums and other things to see how other people felt, but I feel alone, as what I have read, no one really feels any anxiety towards it and they happily embrace the funny looks when they wear their tails.

I wanted to ask, if you could help me determine if maybe it is too early for me to attempt wearing a tail, or maybe give some advice on how to enjoy wearing it without getting high anxiety or put a little control over my anxiety. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my letter and respond. 

Gadget (age 18)

* * *

Dear Gadget,

I am very sorry to hear of your mom’s passing, and also very proud of you for how you are working through it and your life. Despite your anxiety and fears, I see you as a very strong person, indeed.

In the book I am writing about the fandom, I will be quoting some research that has been done about furries that says a huge reason people glomp onto the fandom is because of the emotional support they receive. You’ve experienced this firsthand how your so-called peers in school largely abandoned you while your furry friends gave you support and encouragement.

I’m glad you’re recognizing that these so-called friends are not really friends at all. Anyone who mocks you, anyone who treats you badly because you are suffering from a disability of any kind (and that includes GADD) is not a friend at all.

The question becomes, therefore, why do you give a you-know-what if these non-friends of yours don’t like your wearing a tail in public? If we were all 100% self-confident, of course, this wouldn’t bother us at all because we would consider the source of the mocking and have no respect for it; therefore, it would not trouble us.

But most of us, including me, are not 100% confident; we have at least a part of us that, even in the smallest way, feels bad when we are made fun of.

You write that, in the forums, all these other furries are completely fine with wearing their fursuits or partials in public and do not feel distressed at all. That might be true for a few of them, but, believe me, a lot of them feel the same way you do and feel a bit embarrassed and lack confidence to wear such things in public (especially if it's not a furmeet or furcon). Interestingly, I believe that it is actually more difficult to wear a partial in public than a full fursuit. Yours truly has no problem donning my bearsuit and doing fun things in public because my identity is completely concealed. This is the power of masks and costumes. But wearing just a tail or ears takes cajones because people can see that it is you!

I don’t think it’s too early for you to do some fursuiting, but I think you should ease into it. There are a lot of places where you can have fun wearing your tail: everything from special holidays (Halloween) to fairs (the Renaissance Faire is a good one). You can, of course, don the tail at furmeets and furcons. You could wear it at costume parties or if you have some fun festivals in Texas. Mardis Gras and carnivals are great places, too. You could volunteer at a pet adoption charity and wear it, or perhaps at wildlife conservation or environmental rallies, or at spiritualist ceremonies (if you’re into shamanism or Wicca, for instance). Be creative.

So, wear the tail at such events as outlines above for a year or two or three before doing it for all occasions. Ease into it. The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll feel.

Hope that helps!

Bear hugs,

Papabear

submitted by C1utch1
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer. WORD COUNT RECORD: 8266! Patch has been urging me to make a list of my furry book reviews for fans who want recommendations of what’s worth reading. Okay — but that’s a constantly changing situation. There are a very few books like Animal Farm by George […]

submitted by Meep3rmanXD
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submitted by AnokaLove
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submitted by FoskyBleu
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submitted by HuskySilver
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submitted by secretlyafurry
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submitted by Jakkor
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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

By the time this is released, the most recent published work will be “Vermin’s Vice”, a short story in the anthology Inhuman Acts: A Collection of Furry Noir, released at Rainfurrest this year.

I’ve always felt that noir is supposed to show the shadows of life to the reader, and I’ve also felt that a lot of times those that put up a show of prosperity tend to use those material things to either hide or distract themselves from the fact that we are, at heart, animals.

So my wish was to show that the seedy elements of society, while seedy, are probably just more honest than those we consider more wholesome, who tend to see external expressions of base desires as undesirable. But in the end, those desires are still there, waiting to be unlocked.

Also having a hand in part of the main anthology’s final name was pretty cool. It was a challenge to think of a word that would project something furry, while sounding more grim and not so fluffy. I only got half of the final answer as my suggestion for the title was “Inhuman Avenue” based on other noir titles with street names. I do like the current title better, both the word inhuman and acts hold double meanings. Basically it could be read as “Furry (inhuman) Stories (acts)”, but it has that dark edge to it.

2. What’s your writing process like? Are you a “pantser,” an outliner, or something in between?

Oddly I’ve done both from time to time. However, the thing that seems to be consistent with me is that I know how I am going to start a story, and the ending I want to see happen. Usually those details are outlined. It is the in-between parts that are more fluid.

I may outline scene orders, but not too much more than that.

3. What’s your favorite kind of story to write?

The genre I seem to write the most is Action/Adventure type. I’ve been bleeding into narrative based social commentary here and there. Usually the later ends up better when an event triggers the need for it.

For instance, Travis McCuddy’s suicide inspired, I feel, one of my better of these types: “Passing with Failure”. In it a computer reinterprets the Turing Test in a most disturbing way based on how the life story surrounding Mr. Turing himself. As a warning though, it’s not a furry piece.

It is tough to write good social commentary pieces without being too preachy, and when it happens it can be quite stirring. So I consider doing them when I feel like particularly challenging myself.

4. Which character from your work do you most identify with, and why?

I don’t quite identify with any in particular. Usually most characters I create are exaggerations of particular characteristics that I am capable of. All in all though, I tend to be a bit boring, as watching a man type on a screen doesn’t make for entertaining narrative in its own right.

Unless you have a psycho fan holding you captive and pressuring you to via Misery of course.

5. Which authors or books have most influenced your work?

Stories happen all around, and I feel it’s important not to try and get too caught up with trying to emulate specific items. However, we were all young once and for some odd reason I was a Sonic fan. I liked the Saturday AM arc in particular and I created fan fiction based on it, so I think the late Ben Hurst could be seen as a major influence.

Exaggerated and colorful character development I always feels are great ways to hold stories together, and that is something those old Sonic cartoons did very well (barring the throw away half-episodes). It also holds true to many furry fiction, and the creatures we use help solidify this. It is also why I am stronger at character development than at setting development.

6. What’s the last book you read that you really loved?

In a recent podcast of Fangs and Fonts I noted that I haven’t been a reader of books as much as I should be. I read articles, blogs, and such, but fictional novels have been few and far between. I also have a tendency of to not gush too much over things and works an always looking with a bit of a critical eye toward them. I find that’s what makes me more creator than consumer.

I do have one thing going for me, and that’s retention. I can remember details about things long after they have passed.

That being said the last story I loved that I read was Fredrick Douglas’s autobiography An American Slave as Written by Himself. My favorite thing about this story was how you could see he had to hold back a raging peeve he had that occurred throughout his life when the institutions of Christianity were used to preach the justification of slavery. The bittered passion Douglas felt over this, you could feel rising up, but him having to hold it back to keep himself distracting from the narrative. You come to find the reason he felt so strongly over that is, as a man of God himself, it tore him up to see the very beauty of his religion being used as a tool to cage black people.

At the end he added an epilogue where he finally lets all that emotion go.

I feel those furs within the minority who identify as Christian (or gays who do so as well) will find echoes of themselves in there. It’s amazing that as much as things seem to change, how constant certain things really are. And thus, the story, while over 100 years old, is still very relevant to this day.

7. Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?

If I really have not much else to do, I will read some news articles here and there. I don’t game as much as I used to, I seem to find that my job keeps my mind stimulated and engaged to the point where I don’t feel I need to escape to feel influential or important as I one did. I’m in a rare position of feeling empowered and essential in my workplace, and ironically I’m applying many lessons I learned in my virtual tenures of leadership to my real world ones.

Other than that I’m also working on non-fiction items. There are the Flayrah articles, but that’s technically technical writing. However I also want to share some of the lessons and problems I’ve solved in my spare times that I feel will help individuals and society as a whole. I plan on calling it “The World in Rooview”. The pilot will be about sometime in the future, or it could be one of those projects I start and never fulfill.

8. Advice for other writers?

If there is a universal trait about humanity it is this: We are a creature of narrative. All conflict can be drawn to simply a competing of narrative. We all want to write our own stories and have endings we want to see.

Conflict or “drama” is what arises when two endings cannot exist in the same narrative desires of two groups/individuals.

9. Where can readers find your work?

I have a Goodreads profile here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8578080.T_S_McNally

I have free stuff up on SoFurry here: https://www.sofurry.com/browse/user/stories?uid=164657

I would advise against buying my novel of Light right now. I plan on releasing a new version with “bug fixes” later in the year and will be doing a promotion at that time.

10. What’s your favorite thing about the furry fandom?

Above all else, our perseverance. We deal with a lot of garbage from others in this world. And when Nuka released his statistics on furries and their history with bullying, it shows we seem to have always had to in some shape or form. Many have taken this bitterness of others and allow it to fester within them, consuming them to the point where they themselves become bitter. Many have done so, and continue to do so. As we hear stories about needless violence, death threats from the shadows, we see the negative sides of anonymity. However, in opposition to that stands this fandom, ones who use anonymity not to spread fear, anger, or disgust. Instead we try to spread happiness, joy, and creativity. My hope, if anything, is that is a foundation that will not change.

 

Check out T. S. McNally’s member bio here!

Hello everyone!

Apparently I am a furry. I accidentally clicked on this subreddit this week and found a community, so open and nice, that I found myself identifying with it. For years I've had posters of anthropomorphic cats above my bed and I actually created a fursona when I was a little child, I just didn't call it that.

My fursona is a dragon called - you guessed it - Quadriga. It is an earth and plant dragon. Quadriga is elegant and intelligent, but unfortunately also a bit socially awkward. She is green, with antlers with leafs on top and generally very female-looking. She doesn't wear clothing, except around her hips she wears a leather belt with four steel horse heads on it.

I like drawing but I'm not very good at it, so I may draw her in the future if I manage to draw something in satisfying quality. I also like anime and computer games and getting good grades on tests.

Soooo... I don't know exactly how this works, but I guess you ask me questions now, right?

Nice to meet you guys! :)

submitted by Quadriga-chan
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submitted by Stupid_Pink_Dog
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The Furry Art Request Roulette master post can be found here for hopefully all the information you need as well as links to past FARR posts.

I'm going to start digging though the old FARRs this weekend to see who didn't receive any of the requests that they should have. Keep an eye out for a post looking for artists to help catch up on unfulfilled art.

Art links Requester Artist Summary ... 4dolfin embarrassingshit 1 pencil bust ... aCowFromWisco Byn_C Sketch ... Alpine_Hell 123mine123 colored sketch. basic background. ... ArgentStonecutter TrueChaoSxTcS sketch - shaded headshot ... CanineAmericans Jakkor Simple sketch ... CanOfSodah rainbolt colored headshot, style depends on mood ... dutchcow Nsyse Full body, 1 character, color and shaded, no BG, I prefer streaming the process :) ... fanggari PrettyOkayMrFox cleaned sketch/lineart with some color/shading; abstract or no background ... Fantabulous_Fox Dillyday lineart/ minimal coloured basic background. ... feral_troll Fizzyfoxy colored sketch ... Geneio42 Volly96 I can do a fully shaded with some basic background ... IAMA-Sergal-AMA okonomi-yaki b/w sketch, no bg, 1 character ... IMA__TIGER__AMA monsieurmonstre sketches or lineless coloring // "abstract" or nonexistent backgrounds lol ... JasmineStarshine lenkagime Single character colored chibi. ... jfmherokiller kimmykun Sketch, colored if not complex. No BG ... KawaiiWaffles Marshykip Colored chibi with a simple bg, probs. ... kojolion awsmmushroom Fully rendered character on basic/abstract background. ... LeoThaTurtle scottieterrier lineart (probably traditional because my tablet is acting up ((sorry))) ... MrMadwolf92 stupid_pony Colored sketch, abstract background ... Mysfit_ Fruit_Tree Anthro bust sketch with colour, no bg. ... okonomi-yaki kitatwbobcat Coloured sketch with a background if I feel up to it. [Will be back home on the ~ 28th Sept] ... PrettyOkayMrFox Fearful_Leader Cross-stitch of your sona's head ... RavenDesk mckatze traditional sketch, one character ... raw0625 Marshykip Colored chibi with a simple bg, probs. ... Redemolf sourflesh colored bust or waist-up if time permits ... Ryuu_Girl squirrelflight01 Rough Sketch, No background ... Sam_The_Wolf Telepanda Sketch ... Sleekgiant 041744 Shaded body drawing, simple background ... Tachhe squirrelflight01 coloured with basic background ... Stariteone selk- Full body sketch ... squirrelflight01 ICanTasteTheSin Traditional media, full color, blank background ... TanukiFluff okonomi-yaki b/w sketch, no bg, 1 character only! ... Terwin94 okonomi-yaki b/w sketch, no bg, 1 character ... TheoDaRulah StyxtheRiverdog Traditional sketch/or colored picture. ... Volly96 Asurium Flat colour headshot, or more depending on time. ... YouOtterBeKiddingMe rabbitfields Whatever the client wants.

NEXT ROULETTE WILL BE OCTOBER 9th. Sign up using the form(s) linked below.

Request form --- Artist form

If you've got any questions, I'll be busy most of the day, but I should have time by this evening to answer (unless someone else answers before then).

submitted by Big_Red_Hothead
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