Tag: member spotlight

Member Spotlight: Eduardo Soliz

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

​I recently compiled the first three of my Con Fluff collections into a single volume titled Fuzzy Words. The digital version is currently on sale or can be borrowed on Amazon, and I am in the process of having print copies done, which is very exciting!
fuzzy words cover
2. What’s your writing process like? Are you a “pantser,” an outliner, or something in between?

I am a bit of both; nearly every story begins with an outline, but I don’t force myself to stick to it once the words start to flow. I like to say that “stories write themselves” and it has proven to be true on many occasions. I’ve had funny stories turn serious and drabbles that grew into a few thousand words.

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

My favorite stories to write are the ones in which I lead the reader down a certain path only to throw them a curve at the end. It’s a tricky thing to do right, though, you don’t want to just pull a ‘deus ex.’

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

My Christmas story for 2013, “Christmas Wishes,” featured a character that was spending Christmas away from his family for the first time. I certainly sympathized to his plight, having spent my first Christmas away from family fairly recently.

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

My biggest influence is easily Isaac Asimov. In addition to enjoying his science fiction novels and short stories, I loved the way he would write his own thoughts about how a story or book came to be, the “story behind the story” as it was. I have even gone as far to incorporate that device into my own short story collections.

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

As of late, I have been reading books by furry authors to get an idea of what is out there. I found Argo by Rick Griffin to be quite thought-provoking, with some interesting ideas about robots.

7. Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?
eduardo soliz
I enjoy your typical nerd hobbies like video games and comic books, but also like to go out camping and experience the great outdoors every so often. I also record two podcasts, a short slice-of-life podcast called 300 Seconds and a convention discussion one I record with friends named Con Talk.

8. Advice for other writers?

Don’t give up no matter how badly you initially fail. I sold exactly two copies of my first e-book the first year that I put my work up for sale, and sold exactly zero paper books at Furry Fiesta a few years ago. Was I discouraged? Hell yes, I was. Did I stop? Hell, no.

9. Where can readers find your work?

A selection of short stories can be found on my website, eduardosoliz.com. I’m currently trying to upload a new one every month. In addition, the site also contains links to my e-books, blog and podcasts.

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

The amount of creativity to be found in the fandom is nothing short of incredible. Even if a fur isn’t an artist or a musician or a craftsmaker, or a writer, nearly every furry is a creator, even if all they create is a fursona.

Check out Eduardo Soliz’s member bio here!

Member Spotlight: Vixyy Fox

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vixyy

(Editor’s Note: When I sent the member spotlight questions to Vixyy, I should have known I’d get an unconventional reply! I’ve published these responses just as I received them; warnings for adult language in the poem.)

Good morning everyone,

I have been asked by the Furry Writers’ Guild if I could put something together concerning my writing and authorship. I am delighted by this request; though I am wont to speak about myself. This, I suppose, has a lot to do with my upbringing which held such a thing as bragging; and no one likes a braggart. Neither did my father like tattoos but that’s neither here nor there, is it? All the same, and fighting back the bad taste in my mouth for doing so, I will attempt to answer some questions about the writer who is Vixyy Fox.

Now that sounded strange to my mind. You should know that I don’t actually think of myself in those terms. When I write I simply exist. Consider it this way; when you look through your eyes you do not perceive your body but only the things around your body and perhaps the parts of your body you might have in the peripheral of what you are viewing. For instance, as I type this I can see my hands. In a more personal revelation; the real life me hardly even glances in the mirror when passing one by. It only reflects an aging person getting on in life and that’s not who I am.

As strange as this explanation feels; when I talk about Vixyy I also understand that we are different people and yet we are the same person. No… I do not have a split personality disorder. Something of this nature is too simple an explanation. Vixyy is my totem (animal spirit guide / guardian angel) and we live together.

In this endeavor I have been given some questions to answer. I will do this but more in an order that seems to have a natural flow to it. This is one of the secrets of writing; everything should flow in a natural progression. You do not start at the end and work your way back only to jump to the middle, then to the beginning and then to the end again like a perverted form of Hop Scotch.

Five writing facts about Vixyy Fox.

  1. I do not touch type.
  2. I would be lost without my spell checker.
  3. I do not pre-plan anything.
  4. The stories flow from my fingers.
  5. I am male writing as a female.

*sighs… (upon viewing the questions posed) The reply for each of these could be a one word answer or pages long in length. I suppose the only way to truly tackle it is head on.

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

I had to look ‘pantser’ up just to be sure of its meaning. I am a Fox after all and Foxes do pant; which was the wrong meaning of course. I love Google and use it constantly for finding such things. I am not a font of knowledge but I do research heavily when I’m on to something. Along these lines I would like to suggest a book to all writers. It’s called ‘Maybe You Should Write A Book’. Ignore the title as it it’s silly but to the point. Also ignore the first half of the tome as it was written by a publisher and summed up as ‘moneymoneymoneymoney’. The second half is absolutely wonderful because he had all these really BIG named authors write a piece on ‘how they write’. You will find that each and every one of them pursues their art form in a different way.

I would be considered a ‘pantster’ – meaning you write by the seat of your pants. This is an aviation expression by the way, something I am very familiar with having worked in the industry for forty years. Flying by the seat of your pants can be considered good or bad depending upon who is using the expression and the results it incurs. ‘Instruments be damned’ you’re flying (writing) strictly on visual and gut instinct with any preconceived outline/flight plan thrown out the window.

I plan nothing. This is not an ego ‘thing’. I have tried outlining (at least in my mind) and it just does not work for me. This is one of the reasons I so love the Thursday Prompt. The prompt gives me a direction in which to fly and off I go. What I will tell you now I do not expect everyone to believe, nor do I expect you to attempt emulation. You will not be able to do this unless it is inside of you already. Sometimes I go so far into the story I connect with something and find I know things of a time and era that I have no business knowing.

First an explanation, and then an example. (Just so you know; the word ‘I’ bothers me.)

When I write I go into the story and watch it like a movie and then simply record what I see. I have always been a chronic daydreamer (something that got me into a lot of trouble in school) and I see my writing as an extension of this. The few times I went into a story with a preconceived notion of how things would go, the characters just chuckled and did as they wished leaving me to stay behind or tag along.

My characters come to life within the words.

They are real to me and become dear friends. I have cried real tears when some have died during the course of a story. I have also laughed with them over some small thing, been concerned when things were not going well and, indeed, felt more than a bit naughty watching their sexual play.

This, I feel, is reflective of life and the fact that the words are living. The thought rather gives new light to the idea written in the Bible that God spoke things into existence, doesn’t it?

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Vixyy Fox” →

Member Spotlight: Franklin Leo

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

​My most recent project is an unpublished short-story about a hare and a weasel fighting against time to survive a utopian society. It’s a dark touch on science fiction involving time travel and manipulation, which I have never gotten the chance to write about before, so I was very excited to get a shot at it and finish up the rough draft. It started off with a line that I couldn’t get out of my head, and when I got the chance between work and classes, I had to write it down. I don’t know what I would have ended up with had I not written that sentence down and returned to it during the drafting phase.

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

I believe that I am a “pantser,” for I enjoy letting the characters I come up with take me along, show me interesting things, and eventually tell me how they corrupt, save, or destroy themselves without me controlling them. If I’m lucky, I’ll have an idea to go into, as my most recent piece has shown. If I’m unlucky, I start with a character in a situation and ask myself, “What is it that this character wants?” A lot of my fiction drives me with this, and I don’t feel accomplished if I don’t find myself ending with an answer for that character’s request. It takes a good character to do what it takes to get what they want, and I’m simply there to write about how they do it.

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

My favorite kind of story is one that tests a character’s morality and what he or she believes is necessary to live.

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

I identify most with Dillon from one of my first stories, “Best of the Best,” published in Heat #10. He’s a guy who carries a lot on his shoulders and understands how important everything can ultimately be. His anxiety of the unknown is something that really sits with me, and I often find myself working through the same concerns he may have within his own life.

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

Stephen King, Robert Aspirin, and Tui T. Sutherland all in some way influence my interest in horror, fantasy, the paranormal, and characters not typically seen in protagonist roles, such as dragons or shape shifters. They have shown me that everyone—however odd, weird or different—has some sort of story to tell.

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

The latest book that I read and couldn’t put down was Sutherland’s Wings of Fire: The Brightest Night. As part of a series made primarily for children, the book is simple in its structure, but the conflicts, questions, and dragon characters within all have as much validity as any other novel out there in the market, and I found myself rooting for these characters by the second chapter. Also, who doesn’t love dragons?

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

I spend most of my free time tutoring undergraduate students in writing or instructing part time alongside professors in the classroom. When not working, I’m usually replaying Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us or researching and reading.

8. Advice for other writers?

Start off at your level—admit where you’re at—and just write what you love until you can’t write anymore. Then, read what you love until you can’t read anymore, and when you’re finished, do the process over until you are ready to revise and love what you do. This is how we ultimately grow, yet so many young writers get stuck in that “I’m not good enough” phase. We need to get over our skill levels in order to simply write.

9. Where can readers find your work?

My work can be found in Heat #10 or in various convention guidebooks across North America. I’m also found chatting and discussing my progress on my twitter, @Fictionfelid, where I share upcoming projects and announce any publications available. I hope to have two stories out in a couple of anthologies by the end of this year.

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

The furry fandom is a place where artists and fans can grow together. No matter what one is into, there’s a place for that in the fandom, and fans continually push artists to do the next big thing while artists do much the same with each other. Without the fandom, I would not be writing what I love today and speaking about it with my students, tutees, and friends.

Check out Franklin Leo’s member bio here!

Member Spotlight: David Sharp

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

​The Trouble with Furries started off as a project about the 1990’s club scene. The original idea was more of Studio 54 tale of getting lost in the chaos of the time and place. In 2006, I met a furry by chance, in the desert of Phoenix, while working an event security gig. I commented on his fox tail. He was cagey at first, then eventually opened up about what it meant. I learned through our talks about a subculture, while he learned that I was a writer and encouraged me to write about furries. At that time I did not know how to approach the subject since I was an outsider. Flash forward to 2013, and the idea of combining the two projects struck me as an unique option to tell the story. The final book is a dark cautionary tale of the woes of excess and a metaphor for the beast within.

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

I am probably a little in between the total structure of outlines and the dive in philosophy of the pantser. I see a story come together in my head as if I were watching a film unfold. Outlines are guideposts and sometimes change as the story takes on a life of its own. Once on a roll, the process seems to speed up to its conclusion.

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

My favorite kind of story is a journey where the character must travel somewhere on the road and experience strange things on the way to his destiny.

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

The one character I identify with most is Lane Bowden from my unpublished manuscript of The Journey of Lane Bowden. The story is set in 1973 with a true crime backdrop. I put a lot of my own mother’s passing into his fictional world as his mom, Ellen, died of cancer.

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

Clive Barker has inspired me not only in fantasy, but as being a role model as a gay author. I also grew up on Stephen King. He is a master of believable characters.

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

I recently finished A Dance with Dragons and am enduring the long wait for The Winds of Winter. George R.R. Martin has created an amazing world from the well-defined characters and geography of the lands to the politics and religions of the realms.

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

I love film, particularly horror films and still have my collection of Fangoria magazines from my youth. I go to the gym regularly. Most importantly, I like to spend time with my partner, Bo.

8. Advice for other writers?

Never give up on your dream. Always write it out no matter what. A little writing a day gets you closer, so do not be overwhelmed.

9. Where can readers find your work?

My books are available at amazon.com/author/sharpdavid, Apple Ibookstores, Barnes & Noble, Kobo ebooks, and other fine retailers.

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

Furry fandom gives an outlet for individuality and freedom to try on a new persona. My favorite part is the creativity.

Check out David Sharp’s member bio here!

Member Spotlight: Austen Crowder

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

​My most recent finished work is The Painted Cat, and it’s a novel about a teacher in a backwater town who falls in love with a cartoon cat and the city in which she lives. (Trust me, it makes sense in context!) I was inspired to write it after moving to Chicago from small-town Indiana. The impact that move had​ on my happiness and my social life was huge and I wanted to explore the differences between those environments.

​It should come out later this year.​

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

Writing an outline is the kiss of death for any one of my drafts. I come up with a fun concept and plan out some sort of “final scene” to work toward. Then I might put down some one-sentence ideas for the next scene, or things I want characters to say at some point, but those usually get wiped off the notes page. As long as I’m building dramatic tension and working toward my endpoint, writing is seat-of-the-pants all the way.

Besides, why would I write a story if I already know how it ends? There’s no motivation for me there.​

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

Character pieces that take the extraordinary and make it ordinary fascinate me.​
​My stories usually revolve around a group of people with similar but conflicting views of the world learning that their enemies are also human. Lots of small disagreements drive the tension in my stories.

​In other words: “The world is crazy, but how are John and Jane Doe coping with it? Let’s be a fly on their wall.”​

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

Oh my, that’s a tough one! My philosophy in writing is that good, honest prose comes from being true to yourself and your experiences. As such, most of my characters have a piece of my personality at their core. Of those pieces I most identify with the ones that point out that we can’t waste our lives worrying about what other people think. Cassia in Bait and Switch was a good example of this.​

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

I grew up a voracious reader of Mercedes Lackey books, which helped me identify the way a novel is constructed. (Most of her stories have the same bones which made identifying patterns a lot easier.) Bradbury taught me the power of prose that had been elevated to poetic heights. Philip K. Dick taught me the power of surrealism and the unreliable narrator.​

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

I finally got down to reading ​Cory Doctrow’s Pirate Cinema ​recently and it’s a fantastic book. Fun characters, a slightly unbelievable premise, and a healthy dose of critique of copyright law come together to create a great narrative.

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

My Day Job, mostly. Girl’s gotta eat!

Beyond that, I play video games, board games, RPGs, and hang out with friends in the area. I’m also planning my wedding with my fiancé, and if I didn’t mention that somewhere in the interview I’m pretty sure she’d throttle me.​

8. Advice for other writers?

Keep writing! You might not be at the level you want to be in the here and now, but the only thing that fixes it is practice.​ ​I wrote enough bad transformation stories, cruddy Sonic fanfics, and shared universe furry stories​ to fill a closet full of shame and regret. Still, those stories made me better.

Also, don’t be afraid to stretch your legs. I did a stint as a political columnist for two years and learned a lot about my writing. Write stuff you’re not comfortable writing. Fail. Look at why you failed. Learn to not fail next time.

9. Where can readers find your work?

You can find my work on Amazon, but beyond that I’m trying to figure out what to do with my stories. For now I have a small collection of pieces at www.furaffinity.net/user/slyford.

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

Furry is a no-judgment zone where people can find their identity. Once you’ve found your place, you can even stay for the great friends you’ve made!

I wrote about my experience with furry in this article for {adjective] [species] that explains the identity-finding bit further.

Member Spotlight: Mark “Prof Hauke” N.

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

If the focus is only on those that were actually completed and published, I’d have to go back a whole year to the first anthology, Tales From the Guild: Music to Your Ears. There have been more recently written things but they were so short, I’m hesitant to call them “projects”. I’d be more comfortable with “drafts”.

Anyway, that one (“Echoes from the Consort Box”) was inspired by an image of a confrontation that didn’t actually make its way into that story; the story that was published is, if anything, a prequel to what I was really starting on; it’s still in progress.

In a wider sense, the big project I’m working on now is to write a textbook for a class I’ve taught several times. I’d guess that almost nobody will actually read it and even fewer people really want to hear about that, it’s Linear Algebra. I doubt I’ll make any money off of it; the book will be more of a photocopied loose-leaf packet that I hand out to students at the beginning of the semester.

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

What’s a “pantser”? Like, “by the seat of your pants”? I guess I’m like that. I mentioned an image before; most of what I do is inspired by an image. This isn’t the .jpg or .gif type!   It’s one that comes when I’m either thinking of nothing in particular; hear (or mishear!) something, or think “Now how would this unfold if it were in a furry world instead of this one?” Try it: if I say “That’s not the way cake is supposed to look” and you imagine a cake, and something’s wrong with it. What, precisely, is the matter? Who made it? A lot of things can snap into place as if they came from somewhere else; you just write about it as you go.

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

My favorite kind of story to write is one that I don’t think I’ll have to finish!

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

That’d have to be Hauke von Friedrichs, the cockatrice (or basilisk, if you speak German) professor. He dates back to a very primitive time in my writing career: he’s my alter ego, my self-insertion into the furry world. As I started writing more and more, he got left out more and more, but I’ve got a soft spot for him.

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

The single most influential author on me I can name is Lynda Barry. I suppose Harvey Pekar should be mentioned as well. I have a lot of authors whose work I admire and that I love to read, but I find myself stealing from those two when I turn around and try to write something.

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

If I interpret this as the latest book I’ve read that has left a good impression, that would be City by Clifford Simak. It’s the book I’ve read most recently that has stuck with me. I’m a little surprised that I had never heard other people in the fur fandom talk about it. Structurally it was appealing to me since it’s several short works bound together with one theme (I think to myself “I could do that!” as I look over the very short pieces I’ve done). Simak’s stories are told as myths and legends by dogs about the mythical human race.

 

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Mark “Prof Hauke” N.” →

Member Spotlight: C. A. Withey

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

My most recent projects are my novels Cora and the Dreamer and its upcoming sequel Through the Glass Wall.  This series is starkly different than any of my previous works for a number of reasons.  Taking place for the first time on an alternate modern day Earth, they feature relatable real world characters and events inspired directly from my own life.  It’s also at its core a romance, which is a first for me, and centers around a young, strong, independent female protagonist–a character I very much enjoyed creating.  Also marking a change in this series are the crazy, abstract ideas I’ve thrown into it–one character is literally a god on Earth–grounded by life-like characters, emotions and the series’ central romance.  It was a fun and unique puzzle when I started writing Cora and the Dreamer.  I said to myself, “I have this person with god-like powers who can do practically anything he wants.  While that sounds fun, and it is, how do I keep this story grounded, personal, and relatable to readers?”  The solution to that was Cora Everton–the humble young art student, a mere mortal in every sense of the word, and the crazy romance that blossoms between the two.  It’s through her eyes that readers experience the story and all of its roller coaster emotions and antics.

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

CAWithey2 My writing process is sporadic.  I will take notes to help my memory, but essentially I have pictures in my head of scenes I want to include in the future, all while I try to pull the story along the course to get to those scenes.  Sometimes it works out, but sometimes my characters have a mind of their own and go their own way.  I listen to what the characters would do and how the scenes are going and adapt as necessary.  The path may be wayward, and I may have to go back and edit and smooth things out, but I find where I’m going in the end.

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

My favorite kind of story to write is the one I’m currently writing.  If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be writing it.  If you ask me now or any time in the future which of my books is my favorite, I will always tell you that my current is my favorite.  If I didn’t honestly believe that my current is the best story I’ve ever written, I wouldn’t follow it through to the end.

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

Savagery coverThis question is tricky.  I love the character of the Dreamer, the aforementioned ‘god-like’ character.  He’s essentially a glorified cartoon in real life, with the ability to do almost anything he wants as long as it amuses him.  It’s led to the creation of some very amusing set pieces and interactions.  But the character I most identify with, myself along with my readers, is Cora the humble art student.  She’s a great character, very intelligent and strong and fun to write, and seeing and experiencing the madness the Dreamer is causing is even more interesting when viewed through someone normal, having to bear witness to it.  She’s my favorite character to date.

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: C. A. Withey” →

Member Spotlight: B. A. Maddux

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

On the top of my list currently is a novel-length collaboration with a good friend. The working title is Forging Rust. Chapters are being posted on several sites as I get them done. After everything is completed, the novel plus some bonus material might look for a publisher, but I need to get it finished first. This work is actually a roleplaying series my friend and I started as a change of pace from the normal setting we had been using. After it went on for a while, it became apparent that we were building a larger plot line and the friend made a comment on how it might be fun to novelize the story. Reworking the sessions from chat into prose and filling in gaps has been taking me more time than I had originally suspected, but it’s also been satisfying.

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

Lab Rat coverI usually start out being some level of an outliner with a work. Even with short stories, I like to have an idea of where I’m going. Sometimes it is just a concept of characters, how things look at the start and where the ending needs to be. Sometimes it is a closer to a detailed outline. But I have something in mind that’s at least an image of a rough outline.

That said, while writing, I’ve had things change from the original plan completely. I may come up with something new to add or just feel that something works better a different way. Sometimes a character will just write itself, it seems. I usually let these adjustments happen, even if it means having to make big changes to the earlier parts, which – for some stories – tips me further towards a “pantser” while writing it than an outliner.

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

Adventure. I enjoy the concept of exploring new things and overcoming obstacles (you’ve always got to have problems to face and find solutions for.)

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

I think I’ll have to go with Randy, the character narrating the series For Every Door that Closes. To be fair, that’s kind of an easy answer, though, as the concept required me to put a lot of myself into the character. To some extent, the author is in most of their characters, but Randy was based a lot more off of me than most.

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

I have read enough different authors that I know I will miss some, if for no other reason than because it’s hard sometimes to see what all is influencing yourself.

Let’s start with the author that got me into reading adult-level books seriously. When I was young, the family traveled many weekends, and I had taken up grabbing whatever romance the parents had along just to help burn time sitting in the vehicle. I never really got into those. They were above my level and other than expanding my vocabulary through learning words in context, I don’t think I got much from doing that. Seeing me read the larger books, however, did make my parents get me a gift box of the first three Xanth novels by Piers Anthony. This got me hooked on science fiction and fantasy as I got newer books of this prolific author and also looked for older ones.

I’m going to include Chris Claremont in my list because a lot of his comics (Uncanny X-Men and The New Mutants in particular for me) showed how side characters were characters too, as well as how many plots and sub plots it was safe (and unsafe) to juggle. While prose is different than comics, there’s plenty of aspects that carry over between them about good writing.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan and Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind both refreshed my love for epic fantasy, as well as made me recognize the different forms that fantasy tropes could take. In this way they both recharged my desire to write, even if I eventually got frustrated with the series that followed them.

Laurell K Hamilton has shown me how both romance and eroticism can work and be a part of more serious plots and characters. When she does the mix right, it’s a great novel. She’s also shown me how too much of those good things can overpower a novel so that the reader is left wishing something other than sex and relationship drama happened. Certainly there’s a balance that works, but doesn’t always get hit.

Within the fandom, Phil Geusz gives great advice at con panels as well as writing a good story. He gave me a small confidence boost about approaching publishers when I was hoping to start that process.

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: B. A. Maddux” →

Member Spotlight: Dark End

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

My most recent published story was “Da Capo al Fine” in the latest issue of Heat. It is from my Hotel at the End of the Road setting, a distant future where humanity have created artificial lifeforms called “metas” that live for only three years but can pass their memories on from generation to generation. When I wrote my first story in this setting, I created a lot of rules to make the story work, not really thinking too hard about the greater implications of each rule. Later, I found myself going back to those rules and wondering if they could be broken, or what would happen when they did. One such rule said that metas could not just copy their memories into a near identical body in order to preserve their identity. “Da Capo al Fine” was inspired by wondering how I could break this rule. So I had to figure out both why the rule would be broken (the main character is a famous meta actress, and the Hotel wants her fame to continue past one three-year lifespan) and what impact breaking this rule would have (she begins to have trouble distinguishing between the present and her memories).

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

I’ve done both ways. It really depends on the story. “Da Capo al Fine” was pantsed, because I wanted to really be in the moment with my protagonist, seeing what she saw and letting her attention drift into her memories in an organic way. “The Moment at Eternity”, my first published story, had to be carefully outlined, because it jumped between three different timelines, and I needed to be sure that the order of the scenes made sense.

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

Cerebral, “what if” sci-fi.

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

Laika. She was originally created for a bit part in the story “Unnecessary Monsters”, but she burst into the plot and made it all about her. She’s a cruel, conniving, sadistic monster who knows that if she stops being a monster, even for a moment, it could destroy her family and everything she loves. I don’t identify with her because I am similar to her, but I understand where she is coming from and why she does what she does far better than any other of my characters.

After all the crap I’ve put her through, I really just want to give her a hug.

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

Within the fandom, Nathan Cowan was a big influence on my writing. His Foxforce novels directly inspired my Hotel at the End of the Road stories, and it was seeing him get published in Will of the Alpha that convinced me to send “The Moment at Eternity” to Sofawolf. I’d also point to Gene Breshears and M.C.A. Hogarth.

Outside the fandom…wow that’s hard to say. I read a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy novels as a teen that have kept my imagination churning ever since. Books like Foundation, Fahrenheit 451, The Dispossessed, and Redwall.

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Dark End” →

Member Spotlight: Patrick “Bahumat” Rochefort

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

My most recently published anthropomorphic project is the short story “Prospero” for Tarl “Voice” Hoch’s horror anthology, Abandoned Places. I’m really fond of taking genre tropes and subverting them. In this case, I started with the common trope of “furries through genetic engineering” and went further than humanity. It’s a cautionary tale about the consequences of humanity trying to use science to distance itself from nature, and how you can’t out-think instinct.

The story is presented as a letter home from a pygmy marmoset, the titular Prospero. He’s genetically engineered to be hyper-intelligent, and was sent out into space to function more or less as a biological component of a larger computer system. Just a piece of the machinery that’s more efficient and economical to launch and operate than silicon for the tasks anticipated. So humanity casts a hyper-intelligent social primate out into the void, alone, and neglects to ask him if he even wanted to go, or for that matter, if he’d want some company along the way. And humanity pays the price for this.

With a theme being “Abandoned Places”, I can’t think of anywhere more lonely and abandoned than the silence of deep space.

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

I’m a “seeder”. Stories tend to come to me with a climactic scene popping into my head fully formed. From there, I have to outline, plot, and write forward and backward from that point, to understand both the circumstances that led to the dramatic scenario I envisioned, and its consequences.

I’m trying to get better about starting my stories from the beginning, once I have the climactic scene in mind. In fact the project I just finished for SofaWolf’s Hot Dish anthology is the first I set out to to rigorously write from the beginning.

Before writing, I’ll play music I consider relevant to the pieces I’m working on, as I envision scenes. Once the writing starts, though, I work in silence and solitude as much as possible. My typical writing window is ninety minutes to two hours. Chemically, one to two standard drinks of alcohol, three to five of caffeine, in that time period, keeps the words flowing. On a good day I can turn out five thousand words in those two hours.

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

Pornography for the heart. In a past life I’m pretty sure I wrote soap operas and melodramas. I delight in making my beta readers bawl their eyes out in a reading, and then laugh out loud, or otherwise react unconsciously. A room full of beta readers being silent? That’s a story without punch.

My goal is to move my readers emotionally. I write stories about flawed protagonists who earn their scars, and not all of them are worn with pride. Some are just worn because they were wounded. I like my villains to be the protagonists of their own stories; everyone brings their own stakes and reasons to the table.

I also love taking cliches and common tropes and twisting them in on themselves, subverting them, taking the reader on uncomfortable journeys they’re glad to have taken.

Continue reading “Member Spotlight: Patrick “Bahumat” Rochefort” →