Tag: member spotlight

Member Spotlight: Ryan “Not Tube” Campbell

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

koa coverMy most recent book is my novella, Koa of the Drowned Kingdom, published through FurPlanet. It’s about a young fruit bat with torn wings who lives with a family of otters and dreams of rejoining the flighted world of the bats he left behind. The original idea for the book, like most of my books, came from a song on the radio. I don’t remember what it was anymore–something about an upside-down world, I think. That set off the fireworks in my head and I started imagining who would live there (bats, obviously), and what that world would be like. That night I couldn’t go to sleep. The story kept twisting and building itself in my head. By the time I finally dropped off, I’d composed nearly the entire thing, including every major plot point and all the major characters. From there it was just an issue of writing it down. I really tried to focus on a tight, well-edited plot, in which every piece is necessary at least twice. Pull one thread and it should fall apart from both ends. I find writing those kinds of plots very satisfying.

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

It’s funny–I used to be a pantser, but I’ve found lately that that doesn’t work out well when I’m trying to get motivated to write. I have to know before I sit down what I’m going to be working on for the day, and it also helps if I have big major plot events that I’m looking forward to writing–that I’m writing toward. And now that I’m writing bigger, more complicated novels, I pretty much have to have an outline. That’s not to say that ideas aren’t occurring to me all the time during the process, or that I don’t change things or add things as I go! The outline gets modified a lot. The characters speak to me and require me to motivate them in different ways before they’ll agree to move through the obstacle course I’ve set up for them. But I have to know: if I change this plot element, how does that impact the story later? How will this compromise someone’s character arc? And the stories tend to be just a bit too big for me to do that well without an outline.

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

Fantasy all the way. I love working with magic because to me it’s the closest to writing from pure imagination. Anything you can think of you can get away with, as long as you set limitations around it, rules, and then work within those rules consistently. It’d be fun to write scifi, but I kind of feel like I’m not smart enough. To write scifi you have to know how the whole world works, and I’m more an inner mind kind of guy. I’d rather make stuff up than take it apart to see how it works.

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

To some degree I identify with all my characters. If we’re talking about The Fire Bearers, then I identify with Clay’s sense of wonder and also his self-doubt. I can be defensive and officious like Doto at times as well. And maybe most of all, I identify with Laughing Dog and his independence, his tendency toward selfishness, and his rejection of his people’s beliefs.forest gods cover

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

Okay, I love love LOVE Robin Hobb and snap up everything she’s written. I love the way she writes characters who push back against their destinies and against the identities the world tries to foist on them. I resonate strongly with the way her characters hurt themselves because they feel like they have to. I’m a huge fan of Terry Pratchett as well. I love the way he blended wisdom and humor, the way he found love and compassion for people in their foibles, in their weaknesses. I think he’s one of the greatest humanist writers I’ve ever read. Going farther back, Ray Bradbury and Tolkien were my biggest influences in my youth. They took me to faraway places when, frankly, I kind of needed to leave the place I grew up.

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Ryan “Not Tube” Campbell” →

Member Spotlight: Lawrence M. Schoen

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

barsk coverThat would be Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, which was released by Tor Books on December 29th. The elevator pitch for the book was “Dune meets The Sixth Sense, with Elephants.” It’s a story about prophecy, intolerance, loyalty, conspiracy, and friendship. I invented some new subatomic particles for the book, which I combined with theory of how memory works, to create a galaxy in which a rare drug makes it possible to speak with the dead. All of the characters are anthropomorphic — uplifted animals to use the SF term, or as I prefer to call them “raised mammals.”

The origins of the book go back almost 30 years, to when I was a professor at New College in Florida, and legendary furry author and editor Watts Martin was the roommate of one of my students. Watts invited me to participate in an RPG based on Steve Gallacci’s Erma Felna: EDF, and despite the preeminence of felines in the story, I got it into my head that I wanted to RP an elephant character and started riffing on what their world was like. We never did play that game, but I began writing a novel and Watts even published the first two chapters in the pages of Mythagoras.

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

Like a lot of authors I started out as a pantser, but nowadays I’m a born-again outliner. Back in 2010 I participated in Walter Jon Williams’s master class, the Taos Toolbox. Walter teaches a technique called “novel breaking” in which you basically tear a book apart and rebuild it, scene by scene. When you’re done, you not only know how each scene advances the plot, informs characterization, serves the story (or possibly combinations of two of these, or even all three), but you can see how the scenes interconnect and support one another and serve the narrative engine driving the novel. I like to think of it as creating the completely articulated skeleton of a novel. Everything is there, and it all hangs together, and all you have left to do is add the flesh (words) to it.

When I have a completed set of novel “bones” like this, I can sit down and pick up any scene and I know exactly what’s going to happen there, who’s going to do it, and what it’s going to tell me. It’s a very nicely defined task. How I choose to arrange the words to make all of that happen is the fun part!

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

One that teaches me how to do something I didn’t know how to do.

This may mean I’m stretching my range by trying something new — like writing in a subgenre I’ve never tried before — or perhaps pushing myself to get better at an area where I’m weak — like taking on the task of creating more complex plot and pacing.

I don’t think you ever finish learning how to be a writer. I’m always striving to be a little bit better. Some stories allow me to grow more than others, but when I can see clear improvement in my own style and process, that’s incredibly satisfying to me.

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

The main protagonist of Barsk is a Lox, an uplifted African elephant (Loxodonta africana) named Jorl. He’s an academic, an historian who really just wants to stay home and do his research and write books and articles. He doesn’t get to.

There’s a long tradition of reluctant heroes who really have no interest in going off and having adventures or shaping the future or defeating evil. They enjoy their routines and they don’t want to be bothered and don’t tend to think of themselves as possessing the kind of agency necessary to do things.

There’s an awful lot of me in Jorl (and likely vice versa).Lawrence M Schoen 2

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

My earliest influences were authors like Burroughs and Heinlein and Le Guin and Zelazny. They’re among the first authors I discovered and devoured. Nowadays I look elsewhere for influence and inspiration. Writers like China Mieville, and Daniel Abraham, and Karl Schroeder. They dazzle me with their abilities to tell stories, to present rich and compelling ideas, to engage the reader’s interest and emotions.

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

That would probably be Charles E. Gannon’s Raising Caine, which is the third book in an ongoing series. The first two were very enjoyable (and both received Nebula Award nominations), but in this third one we’re starting to see all the pieces coming together and it’s deliciously compelling. I know Chuck, and every time I run into him at a convention I demand to know where he is with book four; I’m hungry to learn what happens next! You’d think that as a friend he’d hook me up as a beta-reader or something.

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Lawrence M. Schoen” →

Member Spotlight: Bill Kieffer

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

The Goat: Building a Perfect Victim is both one of my most recent and my one of my oldest works. I lost the original files during the decade of hiding. Phil Geusz, always a supportive creature, reminded me that there was a copy in the archive of TSA Talk, an email-based group of writers.

I had an online friendship with a Fur I’ll call My Goat as I haven’t gotten his permission to talk about him in relation to this novella. It was quite intimate and heartbreaking as he’d found his true self in Furry Fandom… and there just wasn’t a way to get that in real life. I’d been sorta slumming in Furry before I met him. He was like a stubborn classical Greek Hero. Eventually, he had to give up Furry to build his life back. I was one of the things he had to give up, too.  And I had to let him go. In real life, I could never be the master he needed (besides the
fact that I was in a committed RL relationship). As I started to let him go, I tried to imagine what type of master would make him happy.  Frank was a very wrong answer; but I felt some sympathy for him.

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

I’m a “pantser,” except when I do a mystery or crime story.  I outline mysteries and crimes so I don’t cheat, trying to be witty. Otherwise, I let my characters pull me along. Last fall, I tried writing two pieces for Munchkin’s Fragments of Life’s Heart… both contained a lot more death than I had planned. Seriously, I write the worst love stories.

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

I like writing TF (transformation) stories.  I like exploring form and function. I like writing Metamor Keep stories, even if most of the Keepers think I’m trying to break the MK universe when I do so.

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

Greyflank, from the Tales of the Blind Pig, is a Mary Sue, so he doesn’t count. Wheeler and Clay, from my Metamor Keep stories, are two halves of my soul. Wheeler, the seasoned fighter and former sex slave, represents the part of me that knows what he wants and is looking for. Clay is younger and sheltered, his whole world shattered about him, forced to be the stronger partner. He represents that part of me that only suspects what he wants and how he is to fit that into his life.

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

Piers Anthony. Stephen King. Phil Geusz, Charles Matthias. Alan Dean Foster. Richard Matheson. Alan Moore. I don’t think I write like any of them; but I know I stole some good moves from each of them. From Anthony, I learned sex and attraction needs no moral compass. Actions will tell. From King, I learned the threat of a bludgeoning was more frightening than the bludgeoning itself.  From Geusz and Matthias, I learned how to build serial characters that readers will care for. From Foster, I learned a well-written character can stomp out any plot hole. From Matheson, I learned a living character can explode the slightest story concept into living art. From Moore, I learned to build on the past, twisting it as we go. I also may have picked up a great deal of wordiness from Moore, too.

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

Mindtouch by M.C.A. Hogarth was the last novel to floor me. It put asexual relations in perspective for me and changed my outlook.

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

I like food. I cook, I eat, I stalk the aisles of Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. I’m a tubby pony.

8. Advice for other writers?

Write.  Write about people. Don’t write, except for kicks, to please anyone. Be pleased when you do. Don’t feel rejection when you are rejected. 9/10 of this stuff is timing. And you’ll never ever see the clock.

Yes, even if you’re writing about badgers and foxes building a better tomorrow, write about people. Hide a statement in your piece. Make Easter eggs for your readers. Give them something they can claim as their own.

9. Where can readers find your work?

The Goat: Building a Perfect Victim is a naughty m/m novella that will be available this summer or fall from Red Ferret Press. This takes place in my “2×4” universe where a few of my stories take place. If I can remember how to build a website, those other stories will be on Xepher.net in a few months. “Brooklyn Blackie and The Unappetizing Menu” appears in Inhuman Acts from FurPlanet. This takes place in a universe I call Aesop’s Planet.  Except for Captain Carrot fan fiction, this is the only published work in that universe. My Metamor Keep stories can mostly be found at the Metamor Keep Story Archives, although my Ursa Major Award nominated short story “The Good Sport” was recently reprinted in An Anthropomorphic Century, also from FurPlanet.

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

I like how it transforms people. I like how it transformed me. It helped me to accept that I’m bisexual. I like that being a horse gave me a framework to hang my anxieties on. I like, most especially, the acceptance that I receive. It’s not universal, but it’s enough.

Check out Bill Kieffer’s member bio here!

Member Spotlight: Jakebe Jackalope

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

Right now I’m working on a serial story for Patreon, told in weekly installments, then bundled up once a month or so and posted to various websites. I’m really excited about the opportunity and challenges presented in telling a story in these episodic bursts; I think it really allows you to experiment with the plotting and structure in ways that maximize the impact of how things roll out.

This first serial is something I’ve been developing for a while, called “The Cult of Maximus”. Two mismatched police officers — a large, gentle wolf and a small but aggressive rabbit — are investigating the disappearance of various homeless people within their jurisdiction of Fog City. The discovery of what’s been happening to them pulls them both into a sprawling conspiracy that has designs on guiding the kaleidoscope of sapient species to the next stage of evolution. Now, this pair has to find a way to discover just how deep this cult goes and how to stop them while being in over their heads every step of the way.

I hope that the serial will give me the ability to arc out a deep exploration of these characters and how their experience with this mystic, impossible problem changes them — both inside and out. Of course, those changes manifest in ways that affect the people around them, and this serial will explore that as well. I’m really fascinated by how personal changes become community changes, and how those become bigger socio-political changes given enough time and momentum. We don’t exist in a vacuum, and I’m really jazzed about the opportunity to show that step by step.

All of this will be taking place in the context of a story with an erotic nature, which is also exciting and really tricky. I’m going into this with the idea that erotic stories can discuss serious and interesting topics; they can be arousing, thrilling and thoughtful at the same time.

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

Definitely “something in-between”. I’ve found that it really helps me to pull through a story if I have signposts that can lead me to the next big thing, so I really love having an outline that allows me to see the rough shape of a story. However, the story almost never turns out to match the shape of the outline I’ve given it.

When a story “grows legs”, it’s a sign that you’ve really tapped into something but it can also throw all of your plans out of the window. Characters end up doing things you’d never expect, pulling new characters from the ether that you never planned for; or a character will resist a certain plot point because there’s something about their personality that makes a necessary action impossible for them to take, so you have to back up and get to know this person in your head a little better.

So while the outline is definitely a big help for determining the joints of the story where things pivot, you might find that you need to reconstruct it on the fly fairly often.

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

I think I really love telling stories about outsiders. People who resist type a little, perhaps, or feel that they don’t belong for one reason or another. I love digging into a character to figure out how they work, what makes them feel disconnected from their environment, and then writing the story that moves them a little closer to the world they inhabit.

Most of the stuff that I end up showing is erotic in nature, just because I’m a big fan of macro/micro stories as well. There’s something about the way physical transformation necessitates a shift in your mentality that I love exploring too; when you gain or lose physical power, it changes the way you see yourself and your place in the world. It’s more than simply lording power over someone else, it’s also dealing with this real, physical difference that separates you from your world and what that does to your psyche.

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

This might just be because it’s what I’m working on now, but Officer Tom from “The Cult of Maximus” is someone I’m having a lot of sympathy for right now. He’s this sort-of average guy who holds strong beliefs without necessarily voicing them, who feels in over his head with his job most of the time, who is trying to balance the demands of this difficult profession with his home life. And just when he feels like he’s getting his feet under him, something else comes along to pull the rug out from under him! It happens all the time in life, and I think that’s what makes it such a fun story to write. Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Jakebe Jackalope” →

Member Spotlight: Kandrel

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

Let me get to that in a moment.  This’ll make sense when I get down to it, trust me.

Up to this point, just about every story I’ve written has been in one of two categories.  In one, I was writing for submission.  Just about every anthology has at least a broad theme, so just to start with I’m working under thematic limitations.  Even in situations where the theme either coincided with my own interests or was broad enough that I could do my own take with it, there were always word limitations, or content limitations–things I had to include, or things that I wasn’t allowed to include.  Not that I’m saying they’re restrictive, mind you.  If you’ve read a few of the anthologies out there, I think you’ll find that the stories included are usually quite diverse.  It’s just that while going in, I’ve always got this image in mind that’s pretty tightly boxed.  The story must be about this long, and it must contain these themes, and here are the lines in the dirt across which I must not put a toe.  Anthologies are great for keeping the writing juices flowing.  There are even a few stories I’ve written that wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been for these themes.

In the other category, I’m writing just for my own enjoyment–quick pieces to post online, or longer challenges I came up with for myself to hopefully make myself a more adept writer.  These are usually don’t conform to any particular limits, and in the past I’ve explored some rather more extreme topics in them.  I’d like to think that these pieces are what I use to really grow as an author, but I’m not fooling myself.  They lack focus.  They wander through the plot.  When I read back through them, they’re little morsels of golden prose, linked by an otherwise mediocre framework.  It’s the type of work that any competent editor would take a big red pen to–and on the few occasions that one’s gone into print, that’s exactly what happened.

So back to your question.  Over the last year, I’ve spent a lot of time working on my first full-length novel.  Unlike the anthology submissions, it’s really unbound by any particular limit–except that it needed to be long enough to be a novel.  And unlike the ones I’ve written for my own enjoyment, I’ve taken the time to give it a good polish.  At the time of answering your question here, it’s done and sitting in a slush pile.

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

I think I’m about as far as you can get from being a pantser.  In fact, I’d like to state for the record that I “pants” as little as possible.  I prefer my stories with no pants at all!  Before I torture this metaphor too much further, I’m actually telling the truth.  My process for story writing is to think up the world, plot, and characters, and then tell myself their story over and over and over in my head until I feel it’s ready to come out.  The process of writing for me only really starts once the story is done.

That said, the process of writing is a bit of a battle for me.  It’s a combat between ‘the way it sounded in my head’ and ‘the way it reads best on paper’.  I know what needs to happen, so the hours I spend at the keyboard are primarily spent looking for the most clear, concise, and beautiful way to tell the story that’s running through my head.  If there’s any “pants” to be had in my process, it’s the struggle to fit the whole scene in my head into as few words as I can manage in print.

pile cover3. What’s your favorite kind of story to write?

Absolutely sci-fi.  I grew up with (and still love) fantasy, but I’ve slowly grown out of the world of magic and wizards.  I think at this point I’m too much of a desk chair scientist to be happy with an answer of “It works that way because it’s magic.”

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

Oooh, are you tempting me to reveal my dirty secrets of self-insertion?

Well, I do have a few characters I’ve written that I can identify with.  As many of my friends were quick to point out, the fox in the story “On the Bright Beach” is quite clearly my own attempt at wish fulfillment (You can find that one on my SoFurry).  Okay, fine.  I admit it.  I wrote the story as if I were there personally.  But really, it was meant to be just a fun romp, and I didn’t see any harm in it.

But that doesn’t really answer the question well.  It’s a bit of a cop-out to answer ‘With whom do I most identify’ with ‘Myself.’  I think if I had to pick a character in another story that I tried to put the most ‘me’ into without settling for self insertion, that would be Taj from “Seducing the Sky.” (This one’s in Hot Dish from Sofawolf Press.)  I don’t think I really have the credentials to claim to be what he is–a trained symbiote-pilot from a super-advanced predatory alien species–but the personality I drew from experience.  I really like the concept of a warrior-philosopher.  Even though my analytical side calls it complete bunk, the idea of a soldier that follows the mantra of Sun Tzu’s Art of War intrigues me. Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Kandrel” →

Member Spotlight: John Van Stry

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

The ‘Portals of Infinity’ series is my most recent project. It’s about a guy who discovers these portals that link all of these different realities together and his adventures as he deals with different realities, gods, goddesses, and champions. Book six just came out in October.

I can’t point to any one thing that inspired it, as it was actually inspired by a lot of different things. Mainly I was looking for a story that could be serialized and this was what I came up with after a lot of thought. I’ve been rather surprised by how well it has been received.

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

I guess something in between; when I start a story I usually have the beginning, the end, and a scene or two written down. But somewhere around the second or third chapter, once I have a feeling for the story, I’ll sit down and write a full outline. However, I do update the outline if necessary. Only the original plot points I started with don’t change.

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

I actually prefer to write first person singular (and yes, that probably wasn’t what you meant when you asked that, right?) I guess I prefer stories with action and adventure, but it’s really hard for me to narrow it down, because many of my stories rarely have a single ‘kind’ to them, I tend to mix it up. I write SciFi or Fantasy predominately, but I’ve written Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and even a few odder things.

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

This is actually a tough question, partially because I’ve got a lot of stuff out there now, as I have a few pen names. I guess I identify a little with Raj, from my book Children of Steel, because we’re both pilots, and we’re both martial artists (though I don’t teach or fight anymore), but I also identify a bit with Mark from The Hammer Commission as that story did come from a dream I had many years ago.

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

That’s a very long list. Roger Zelazny definitely influenced my writing style; Robert Heinlein influenced my love of science fiction and the idea of capable heroes. But also Tolkien, Asimov, Roger Sterling, Lackey, Webber, Dickson, Capote, Zahn, Norman (Lisanne, not the Gor guy), McCaffrey, Correia, and the list goes on. I used to read a lot and I had a lot of authors who I really liked.

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

I guess the last one I read that I really loved was Off Leash by Daniel Potter. It was a ‘Rollicking good yarn’ (sorry, but how often do you get to use the word ‘rollicking’ these days? Couldn’t pass it up). I write full time now, so I don’t get to read as much as I used to, but I came across this book via the board here after talking to Daniel, and I really had a great time reading it.

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

Right now? Fallout 4. Though I do wrench on my motorcycles and ride them whenever I can. I also play bass guitar, pretty much every day. I keep a couple set up next to my writing desk with a practice amp for when I take breaks.

8. Advice for other writers?

STORY! Always put the story first. People want to read a good story; they don’t want to be preached at. This isn’t to say you can’t have a viewpoint, or a ‘message’ you want to convey, but the story must always come first. If you don’t have a good story, you won’t sell any copies. The next piece of advice? GET PAID. As Larry Correia says, make that the first line in your business plan.

Another thing I would say is don’t overprice your work. No one is going to pay bookstore prices for an unknown ebook author, especially a self-published or micro-press one. 5.99 is too much, you should all be looking at 2.99 to start. Yes, you make more money on a 5.99 book, but 70 percent of 1 or 2 sales is a lot less at 5.99 than 70 percent of a thousand sales at 2.99.

Last of all, SciFi is not a big market; it’s actually a tiny market. Fantasy is bigger, but Romance is the biggest. If you like writing Romance, then you should write in that market, as you’ll find success a lot easier than in the other markets, and you can charge higher prices for your work. Furry is a very tiny, microscopic market, so it’s no wonder that the only authors doing well in it are writing Romance. There is also a huge prejudice against anything remotely furry in mainstream fiction, except for Paranormal Romance, which if it isn’t vampires, it’s pretty furry.

9. Where can readers find your work?

Amazon. I went exclusive with Amazon last year, because being in the Kindle Unlimited program was a good financial decision for me. I may start going ‘wide’ in 2016, depending on what Amazon does with that program going forward, but right now Amazon is THE place to buy and sell books. The other booksellers out there on line don’t understand the business, and are failing at it.

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

The friendships mainly. Back when I first got started in the fandom and was more active I made a lot of friends with a lot of the other creative folks. I still know quite a few writers and artists and talk to them occasionally. These days I’m not very active in the fandom anymore, I show up at a con or two, maybe log into a muck for a few minutes to check my mail, and that’s about it.

 

Member Spotlight: MikasiWolf

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

I am currently working on a novel in between short stories. With the time I have between work and other hobbies it is progressing gradually. I would, however, like to shift the focus to one of my stories recently accepted by AnthroAquatic for his sports anthology Claw the Way to Victory back in June, entitled “A Leap Forward”.

Sometime last year, I had the idea for a story featuring Parkour (PK) a physical discipline which emphasizes the use of one’s body to circumvent obstacles in the natural and physical world. There had been few stories written on Parkour, and they, alongside the numerous videos to be found on YouTube, tend to focus more on the more action-intensive aspects of the sport. Although the benefits of PK are obvious, especially to people largely dependent on set paths and roads for getting around, I wanted to explore the social aspects of the discipline, and what makes its practitioners tick. Like any high-intensity sport, the adrenaline rush is there, but for some, it is also a way to entertain oneself in the absence of other means, and even a means to earn a living.

LesautAlthough PK looks glamorous in film and video, there are also other aspects of it that has been largely forgotten and passed over in favour of its more colourful and exciting visuals. Aspects such as the philosophy of the discipline, and the importance of bettering oneself for self-growth over the need for competition. Because PK finds its place not just in Europe where it had hailed from, but also in unlikely places such as Brazil and the Gaza strip, there are countless reasons why one would choose to take up the discipline, cultural and social differences aside. I believe that for people to truly understand a lifestyle, one has to go into the mind of those who do as they do.

And in the case of “A Leap Forward”, my African Civet protagonist Lesaut.

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

I used to pants-write every story, given that it is extremely liberating in terms of feel. However, as was often the case, things don’t always fall seamlessly together, especially when there’s a lot of detail like a novel would have. Without a layout or plan, the ending may not be known, which can give rise to conflicting events in the story itself.

I now plan the layout of my stories on paper, unless they’re for shorter works, in which freewriting generally works best for me. I don’t always refer to the layout step-by-step and the ending can be different from what was originally intended, but at least I have a direction to work the story towards.

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

Stories with a message, themes people can relate to. We may not be living in a futuristic world fifty years ahead of now, but some themes remain universal. Finding our place in a society that rejects others simply for being weak or different, for one. I also try to fit some action scenes in my stories, both to give the thrill of the chase and allow characters the chance to fight for their goals. I find it enjoyable to work on humourous stories, but because some themes don’t work well with humour, I don’t do many of them. “Kenyak’s Conquest”, my story in the Anthrocon 2015 conbook was one of the few. Most people may think of Vikings as a bloodthirsty people who conquered other territories, so I thought it would be interesting to have the concept of “conquest” redefined for the protagonist, a swiving warrior.

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

Mikasi from my second novel. Although Mikasi started off as the least confident of the other three apprentices he was travelling with, he was their mediator and unofficial leader despite the efforts of the most stuck-up apprentice. Despite being a mage apprentice, he favours the skill of the blade over spellcraft, much as how I prefer all things mechanical over electronics. 🙂 Lesaut from “A Leap Forward”, however, represents my free spirit.

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

Before having read books by Kyell Gold, with Waterways being the first, I was focused more on the action-based and adventure aspects of the story. Kyell’s work reminded me, however, that with people being complex creatures, how they interact with each other can determine the outcome of one’s life as much as other events. Anthony Horowitz had taught me the importance of giving personality to objects, such as calling a vehicle by its make rather than simply a car.

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: MikasiWolf” →

Member Spotlight: Phil Geusz

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

Early Byrd coverI completed the final edits on The Byrd books– Early Byrd, Nestling Byrd, Jail Byrd, War Byrd and Angry Byrd— probably sometime late last August; they took me about eighteen to twenty-four months (interrupted by two bouts in the hospital with heart issues) to write and edit. Four of the five have now been published, with the last one due out any day now.

The Byrd series, though set sometime in the near future, is based on history that dates back to and just before the reign of Augustus Caesar. During this period the Romans were suffering from interminable and expensive border raids undertaken by the tribes of what is now Germany. While the Romans during this era were invariably able to beat back the raiders after the fact and even undertake powerful punitive invasions, their political and military system wasn’t up to the challenge of taking and holding the (to them) cold, alien forests. So, in an attempt to bring about a better cultural understanding and relationship that might lead to the development of Germany as a sort of self-ruled Roman client state and better neighbor, after one of their more successful punitive raids the Romans demanded that the tribal “kings” of Germany turn over their sons to be raised by high-ranking nobles back in Italy essentially as Romans themselves, with the intention that they eventually be restored to their German thrones as “uplifted” barbarians worthy of trust and properly appreciative of all the good things that Roman civilization had to offer.

Things of course didn’t turn out at all as planned, either in my books (where aliens play the part of the Romans) or in actual history…

I’m very proud of the Byrd books; though they’re only marginally furry. (The aliens, who play major roles throughout, are best visualized as anthro wolf-bears both physically and mentally.) While the Byrd books are essentially ‘escapist’ or ‘fun’ stories and never aspired to be Great Literature, they mark a major turning point for me as an author in that despite many failed efforts I was never been able to write convincing aliens before. This time I think I succeeded at long last, and have the skills I learned writing furry stories to thank for it.

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

Somewhere in between is the best answer, though no truly sane person would ever approach writing the way I do.

I began writing in a serious way on the Transformation Story Archive Mailing List (TSA), and I owe all of what success I’ve had as an author– and many other Good Things in my life– to my fellow members there. This background deeply shaped my techniques. There, I gradually developed the habit of writing a story-part (usually 1-2k words) pretty much every day in a disciplined manner. I soon learned that the best way to attract and hold readers– and receive highly-prized feedback– on the TSA is not only to post near-daily, but also to make sure that each and every story part leaves the readers eagerly awaiting more. This is a very high– sometimes impossible– standard to meet in Real Life, and particularly so in longer works. Yet, it’s clearly what’s not only what’s called for in order to succeed in a mailing-list environment, it happily also results in a finished book with that “impossible to put down” quality that suits the action-adventure genre so well. Therefore, in pursuit of these goals I developed a sort of hybrid ‘in-between’ approach to story planning that still serves me well. On the one hand, it’s absolutely impossible to plan ahead a hundred or so “mini-cliffhangers” to hold a reader’s interest during a book’s multi-month writing process. If anyone were to attempt plotting out or outlining a story in such detail, well… I think it’d be easier to just write the thing and be done with it. On the other, you can’t do proper justice to things like plot arc and theme without at least the broad strokes of a master plan. So, I spend weeks and months and sometimes even years thinking about a book– usually while simultaneously writing one or more others– thinking about not plot details but rather the grand sweep of things. For example, before writing Freedom City I spent weeks thinking about and mentally probing the limits of all the major aspects of human freedom I could think of– political, economic, social, sexual, scientific, and (being at heart a transhumanist) physical form. Then I thought some more and came up with a plot and setting where I could explore them in depth. In the end, the exploration of each of these forms of freedom became its own subplot, parts of a greater whole all “singing together” as part of the larger theme.Freedom City cover

(By the way, I’d like to note here that though many interpret Freedom City as a political novel, it was never for a moment intended to be anything of the sort. I created the setting solely because it was the best place I could come up with to explore to the limit all the freedoms listed above. Am I a Libertarian? Yes, in many though not all ways. And this certainly colors what the final novel became. But Freedom City never was– and isn’t now– a personal political statement. I meant to create art, not an Atlas Shrugged-style rant. One of my greatest regrets as a writer is that it’s so often taken as such.)

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

The quick, easy kind that makes lots of money!

In all seriousness…

The vast bulk of my work was written solely to divert the reader’s tedium and entertain, because that’s mostly what I personally seek as a reader. It features lots of action, potent imagery and outright violence in world-shaking quantities, all structured over what I hope is a thought-provoking exploration of provocative concepts and irresolvable moral dilemmas. I happen to like to think and to confront new ideas, you see, and assume my readers feel the same way. But what gives me the greatest satisfaction of all is to attempt a genuine piece of literary art, a story that stands more on craftsmanship and symbolism than big ideas and ray guns. I’ve written only a handful of these, and less than half of this handful are furry. When the attempt is successful– and it isn’t always– the resulting stories actually give me a sort of “artistic high” for days and even weeks afterwards.

“Cheetah’s Win”, which is both furry and an attempt at “high art”, was perhaps the most satisfying writing experience of my life to date. Certainly, in literary terms it’s the most “perfect”.

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

Birkenhead omni coverThat’s tough, for several reasons. I write mostly in first person, which I suspect means I “live in the heads” of my protagonists more completely than most. Plus I’ve been writing in a serious way for almost twenty years, having finished over twenty-five books and god only knows how many novellas and short stories along the way. I’m very much not the person who wrote Transmutation Now! (my first novel) circa 1997 anymore, but at least in certain respects I certainly was then. Each and every protagonist I’ve ever written— and most of the supporting characters as well— contains an element of me, from the washed-up action-adventure actor Jack Strafford (who, like me, was confronting middle-age and then found new meaning in a new life– his physical transformation into an anthro-rabbit was a metaphor for my own discovery of the furry fandom) to David Birkenhead (whose struggle against evil and prejudice was fought as much against his “friends” as his putative enemies, and which reflects my own hugely-frustrating career working for a Big Three automaker and experiences in UAW politics) to Lawrence Hightower, a homicide detective who loses his soul in a society where it’s absolutely unavoidable that absolute evil be employed to fight absolute evil. (He also reflects my experiences in UAW politics– this was not a fun time in my life.)

Identity being such a mutable thing– and as a transformation fan I’m of course obsessed with hacking the concept of self-identity— the correct answer to your question has to be “Whatever protagonist I’m writing on any particular day.”

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Phil Geusz” →

Member Spotlight: R. A. Meenan

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

Zyearth coverMy most recent project, The Stolen Guardian, was published just two weeks ago! It’s a dramatic action/adventure story about two high ranking military individuals dealing with a foreign invader and invincible monsters. There’s magic, drama, death, and even a little romance.

The story has been a long time in the making. The original version of the story was actually a role play that I did over the course of about a year with a friend of mine during my senior year in high school. It was also originally a Sonic the Hedgehog fan fiction, though it was a very loose fan fiction which only used a few basic elements from the world. No canon characters or storylines were involved with the story, and it even took place on a different planet.

As I studied craft and worked toward making my world an original world, The Stolen Guardian went through a bunch of drafts and changes until I ended up with what I have now.

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

I’m kind of a mix of both. I tend to write really detailed outlines with descriptive beats and clear goals, but I allow myself to pants things if the story lends itself to it. Any time I hit a wall, I’ll try to re-outline to make sure everything matches up. I like to see where I’m going while writing.

For short stories though, I tend to shoot the breeze. My best short story, “White Assassin,” which will be coming out next month, pretty much wrote itself. All I did was throw characters into a situation, and everything fell into place. “White Assassin” actually won an Honorable Mention in the prestigious Writers of the Future contest, which I see as proof that sometimes pantsing can be awesome.

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

I prefer character driven action and drama, with a bit of wit mixed in. I’m a very introspective person myself, so my characters tend to be introspective too. I also prefer speculative fiction. Pretty much all my stories have some level of magic, science fiction, magical realism, or other such things in them. Real life is boring. Magic is awesome! R. A. Meenan

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

Hmm, that’s a difficult one. Probably Matt Azure from The Stolen Guardian. Matt is a really passionate character, and he’s got a powerful drive to do whatever he can to help others. He throws himself into situations that he knows might be bad for him to protect those he loves. I’m not always good at that, but it’s something I admire and strive for, so Matt has become the sort of person I’d like to be.

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

Three authors really stick out in my mind. Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, was my first major inspiration. A lot of my writing style reflects his, such as close third person POV, lots of different POVs in a book, extreme detailed descriptions, and we even have similar characters.

The second is K. M. Carroll, author of The Spacetime Legacy series. She was one of the first really serious authors I ever sent my work too and she was completely honest about how much my writing sucked at the time! But she was patient and she helped me develop my craft and style, and still helps me with editing and marketing strategies today. She’s also an amazing author in her own right, and she always amazes me with how many books she’s put out. She has a big family, but she’s found a way to be the best mom ever, while still writing quality books and putting out several a year. She’s a big inspiration.

The last author that has really influenced me was Jess E. Owen, author of the Summer King Chronicles. K. M. Carroll introduced me to Jess’s books and I fell in love immediately with her writing style. I love the fact that she has such a strong sense of style and her characters feels so real. I’ve found over the years that some animal books never feel right because the characters never feel like animals, but Jess’s books aren’t like that at all. I also love the way she describes things, especially flight. Any time I get to describe flight myself, I think of Jess’s books, which makes flight feel so authentic and beautiful. The fact that she has an amazing series of great animal books has inspired me to believe I can do the same.

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

Gosh, I read so many books, that’s hard to know! I think A Shard of Sun by Jess E. Owen is one. I’m actually rereading it for the third time. I’m also reading The Martian right now, which has immediately grabbed my attention. Excellent books.

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

I’m a college professor of English, which means lots of essay grading, so generally I don’t have a lot of free time. But when I do get it, you’ll often find me drawing or painting, walking through the botanical gardens by my home, or playing any number of video games. I’m a huge Assassin’s Creed and Halo fan, and I’m looking forward to both of the new games. Especially Halo. The game comes out on my wedding anniversary!

I also spend a lot of time reading webcomics. Questionable Content and Furry Experience are my two favorites.

8. Advice for other writers?

A lot of writers tell you to write every day. Don’t listen to them. Write on your own schedule. Make sure you’re making time to write, but don’t kick yourself if you don’t write every day. Sometimes life is more important than writing.

Also, don’t be afraid to try a lot of different genres. Sometimes writing a brand new genre will be a breath of fresh air and will rejuvenate you as a writer.

9. Where can readers find your work?

My novel is available on Amazon here.

Readers can also visit www.zyearth.com and access the first two chapters of The Stolen Guardian there. I’m also going to be releasing three short stories in the next three months, all of which can be downloaded for free from my website.

You can also find me on Goodreads.

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

The openness! I’ve only really been involved with the furry fandom for about a year, and I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I was drawn in and how kind everyone was. It seems like furries happily invite everyone into their circles and it’s made me feel really special. I’m very glad and blessed to be a part of such a wonderful group of people.

Check out R. A. Meenan’s member bio here!

Member Spotlight: Andres Cyanni Halden

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

plowed coverMy latest published project was Plowed, an erotic anthology I both contributed to and edited about foxes on farms. It actually started as a joke on the days-long drive back from Anthrocon, which then evolved into an anthology with eight authors. I was surprised at how enthusiastic all the contributors were, considering it all started as a joke, but I’m glad we got such stellar stories from everyone.

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

I am absolutely an outliner and a planner. When I’m working on a novel, I tend to plot out the entire thing on a whiteboard before even starting, which helps me stay focused and keep a train of logic going. “X happens, which causes Y,” etc. This certainly can change as time goes by, but it helps move things along. Once I have the subject, scene, or section of the novel I am working on, I tend to write for an hour and see where and how things go, especially when it comes to character interaction and action sequences. Sometimes I will run through an action sequence with someone else on how it would look on film or as a drawn piece of art.

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

I really enjoy writing a story where the characters aren’t confident in what they’re doing. I want them to question if what they’re doing is worth it, if it’s right, and I don’t want it to be easy for them. Getting to the ‘eureka’ moment or the relief after a big decision’s results come through is really fun for me.

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

Honestly, probably Carson from All Tied Up in Knotz, because he thinks he’s content with where he is in life, and is scared of change. The character really reflected where I was at the time in my life, and despite how adult the book is, I do think the conflict in that book is one I understood personally, and one I think a lot of other people have gone through as well.

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

I have different inspiring authors for different genres that I write, so I’ll go through them. For everything fantasy I’ve written, probably Tamora Pierce, since not only did I find her stories fascinating and her worlds inventive, hers were the first fantasy books I ever read that had gay people in them, which gave me hope that I could write fantasy books with gay (fox) people in them and that people would read them. For my more slice-of-life and modern stuff, I can say no two authors have inspired me more than Fuzzwolf and Kyell Gold.

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

The Princess Bride by William Goldman. It’s probably one of the most romantic novels I’ve ever read, and definitely one of the most creative uses of a framing story I’ve ever seen. I had only seen the movie prior to last year, when a friend got very angry at me for not reading what she considered a masterpiece. After reading it, I agreed.

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

My big hobbies are definitely tabletop gaming and video games, but probably my biggest hobby is reading manga from all sorts of genres.

8. Advice for other writers?

Read, and read broadly. That’s the single most important tool for gaining experience as a writer. I read well outside the genres I write, just to get a feel of different styles, experience levels, and format. Read poetry, short stories, novellas, and novels. If you write only furry fiction, read more mainstream books as well as furry novels. I definitely recommend picking up anthologies in either case — they will give you a wide selection of writers, which will help guide you to finding more authors you truly love.

9. Where can readers find your work?

Everything I’ve published can be found through FurPlanet and Bad Dog Books, FurPlanet’s digital store. I’m hoping to have more exclusive digital content up soon, but everything that’s currently available as a physical book is also available as a digital title.

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

The creativity really surprises me every day. This is a fandom full of thousands of talented people and the people that love them, and the fandom comes up with new characters, species, art, stories, interpretations of popular culture, and other wonderful pieces every day. I hope it never changes.

 

Check out Andres Cyanni Halden’s member bio here!