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Bryan’s eyes bring up a topic a lot of authors working with anthro fiction have to deal with: What is furry?
That is to say, what makes a character furry? Is it enough to have people that resemble animals in appearance but not in actions? Are they more human than animal, or more animal than human? How much do you skirt the line between anthropomorphic animals and funny animals?
I don’t think I have an answer for this question, other than what I’ve given you here in this story. My characters are very much people, but I do not consider them human. But I don’t consider them animals either. For all intents and purposes, they are people, with fur, that resemble both humans and animals.
Still with me?
I’m rambling on here because there’s no convention for what makes a “true” furry, other than they are animals with human-like qualities. There is no agreement on wether they must growl or purr, or if they retain body language of their real-world counterparts, or if they must crave meat, or if they’re plant-grade or digi-grade. So, each writer that writes anthro characters comes up with their own mythology.
What’s kind of neat about this is that there’s almost no wrong answer on how to go about the sub-genre. I’ve been really digging lately the way Mab plays with species and size in Dan and Mab’s Furry adventure. For Mab, a mouse or a rat is going to be smaller than a cat or a wolf. In this case, dwarfishly small. And that’s interesting to me.
I’ve thought about The Group, and how they could be human and do most of the same stuff, or at least the argument that I could do it that way. Except, so much of them is what they are that I can’t just flip the human switch. I’d have to rebuild the characters from the ground up. Bryan is very much a person trapped between two peoples, and I could do that with normal race, yes, but that’s boring to me.
Anyways, this has been another rambling episode of 7 Days commentary. I’m going to go do my laundry and pretend like I know how I want to revise Project 2. As always, any questions are welcome.
[g]
Yeah, I find this conversation about furries interesting. How do you know when to make them more animalistic and then when to make them more human? I don’t necessarily write about furries per se, but more like shapeshifters that retain their animals ears when they are in a more human form. It’s a really interesting concept I think.
I’m curious, is there discrimination amongst furries in your story? For example, dogs disliking cats, or full-blooded furries disliking half bloods. I’m curious to see what you do with these themes.
I see more tension between the full-bloods and half-human/half-fur than anything, but they’re people at the same time, so a cat and a dog not liking one another because of their species is conceivable (Interestingly enough, cats and dogs don’t get along because they use the same body language for different things. For example, a cat, when interested or excited, raises its tail, while a dog sees that as a claim on dominance. It’d be as if, to greet you, I came in and said, ‘alright bitches, I’m in charge here!’ Dogs that have been raised around cat learn to interpret on a cat to cat basis).
I think an interesting theme to explore would be playing with the idea of “man’s best friend:” dogs being closer to dominate humans, with side by side relations, while wolves and foxes would be pushed to the margins. The same could be done for cats.
Anyways, like you, I really dig this part of the world-building in this story. There’s a lot to explore here.
I see. I can’t wait to see things come into play. =)
Oh bras. Now I’m going to have to produce on that, aren’t I? =D
Maybe I can work on that during Project 2.
you know, you actually made me (for once) really think about it. I don’t really dig on mab so much because to me, furs are just people with a little extra. More of.. what’s inside a person. A lot can be said about someone right on the surface. A dog, let’s say would pretty much happy and loyal and eager to please, whereas a cat would be much more melancholy and independent (you can guess who I mean..). A fox, sneaky. An elephant, fat. Whatever. Now I’m dealing in stereotypes, right?
I like where you were going with it better.
Excellents. And if we can get more people like this—considerate and curious I’d be even more pleased. You know I’ve never had a problem with this; and I think there’s an actual *huge* demographic that’s gonna be cool as well.
I’m trying to figure out how I’ve always seen the gang, and I don’t know. I just think of them as: would I be in that group? Would I be cool enough to be in that group? Or would I be someone looking in from the outside wishing that there was a place for me?
_Sometimes broccoli must dance_
You share much with Furball and Jeremy. Furball is in, but is scared of saying the wrong thing, making the wrong move, and being pushed out of the group. He very much feels like an impostor. Jeremy, on the other hand, feels like he’s outside, looking in, and think there could never be a place for him. Except the Group loves him. He just doesn’t know it.
As for you, you know a lot about the Group, enough to know they have few common threads, just that they are. You’d do fine. Despite all their angst and brooding, they’re quite congenial and pleasant folk.