just a quickie...!

[Holbrook]

Sounds like a "furry" story.

There is quite a "cult" of this type of writing about human shaped animals.

A lot of magazines both with graphics and without.

United Publications and Shanda Fantasy Arts are a couple that spring to mind

A friend of mine writes these type of stories, for both adults and children.

[Miriamele]

I didn't think Tailchaser's Song was overly cute and cuddly.

A fox sounds good though. Foxes seem to have a lot of personality as animals go. And wearing a musketeer uniform...I'm sorry but I have to say it--that's cute. But you can't entirely avoid of little bit of cuteness when animals are involved. It's just the images the story creates in the reader's mind. Maybe cuteness isn't the right word--whimsy, charm, maybe? That isn't all bad though.

Are you going to post the story on here when it's done? I look forward to reading it.

[estranghero]

originally posted by gabador
For some reason, I don't reckon redwall is very childish. Each one of the animal characters have a different style, accent, look, personality.

I'm actually impressed by Jacques' different accents as he supposedly knows 'em real well and can speak a lot of them coming from England. And I actually read the 1st three books so I know how he writes. But still...

originally posted by Miriamele
But you can't entirely avoid of little bit of cuteness when animals are involved. It's just the images the story creates in the reader's mind. Maybe cuteness isn't the right word--whimsy, charm, maybe?

Exactly. And with this connotation comes the idea that it's children's stories. Well, for me anyway.

I wish I could post a picture of a fox-musketeer I did for kicks on this site, nothing great, kinda crude since I used only Paint. But it gets my point across that animals in human clothing look... 'cute'.

P.S. Hey Holbrook, what kind of cult?

[Holbrook]

Go here and have a look it explains the whole thing...

http://www.furry.com/links.html

in fact this one might be better to explain the "cult" thing

http://www.confurence.com/

Also this one

http://www.furryinfo.org/


My friend is a talented writer and historian and was getting no where with his stories with "human characters" He changed them to furry's and bam! He sold. Each of his animal characters has the nature of the animal etc but act like "normal" fantasy characters.....

Strange what is out there...............

[Shanoncia]

I thought that Brain Jaques Redwall series was quite brilliant actually, but I must confess I read it at a slightly younger age. I think writing a story like this isn't a question of having good enough skills as a writer to present the animal characters in a manor that one could take quite seriously, but being able to overcome the pessimism and stereotypes a basic audiance, or group of readers might possess.It might be the truth that you can't judge a book by it's cover, but the sad thing is most people do. If your heart is in it, go for it! But just be prepared to face promotional problems. GOOD LUCK !!!

[estranghero]

*looking at sites*

Good lord, Holbrook! Cult is right! Where do I join? Okay, maybe I'm a bit too harsh. However, just lookin at the pix on the sites (especially the Confurence emblem), I immediately thought, "aw, ain't that a cutie".

Goes to show that I have my work cut out for me.

Shanoncia,

I think writing a story like this isn't a question of having good enough skills as a writer to present the animal characters in a manor that one could take quite seriously, but being able to overcome the pessimism and stereotypes a basic audiance, or group of readers might possess.It might be the truth that you can't judge a book by it's cover, but the sad thing is most people do.

The ironic thing about your message is that you could actually apply that to the whole fantasy genre. Isn't that the same problem us fantasy writers encounter when we tell someone that we write fantasy stories? Ah well...

[estranghero]

Okay, after reviewing those 'furry' sites, I just have to say:

Two reasons I wanted to use 'animal' characters are because

1) the story I written had all the elements of a good story except for one thing: a twist, a difference to the story that would make it stand out; and

2) I wanted to use a concept I once read from a poem written by Neil Gaiman, that of a fox shape-shifter except that I didn't want to use a shape-shifter for the main protagonist.

Nothing to do really with using animal characters except to fit the credo for my writing: "Larger than life, stranger than fiction."

How about you people? Do you have the urge to make your story different in one way or another? To make you feel as if your work has raised the bar in someway, not through your writing but through your ideas?

[gabador]

*dreamily* oh yes *sigh*
Well, I have no problems with ideas. I think about an idea, and if it's good, then I put a twist on it, flip it upside down, turn it inside out, so it becomes strange, but still logical. That way, I'm sure that no-one has written about it before. I do want to write an original piece, something that is a lot more different to the rest of the books on the shelves.
*sigh*
Alas, it is hard work
Gabador

[enazwo]

If I may point out a short story I wrote about a retarded cybernetic organism and his pet pony. I made a real attempt to a write story without human characters in a very extreme setting. It took me down a strange path but it broadens one's horizons. So indeed it is good to shake things up and break down traditional creative ideas. You won't always come with something great but it helps to create new ideas.
By the way here's a link to A Pony for Snookie http://www.sffworld.com/authors/t/to...on/apony1.html

Beware though its a strange tale.

[user123]

'BREED TO COME' is a scifi novel by Andre Norton which has talking animals in it. It is a very good story, at least I think it is, so I don't see any problem with the idea.