From Paw to Print: Essays About Writing in the Furry Fandom

by Thurston Howl (Editor/Contributor), Tarl "Voice" Hoch (Contributor), J.F.R. Coates (Contributor)

Ever since Paul Kidd published his first novels (Mus of Kerbridge and A Whisper of Wings) through Kitsune Press and Vision Books back in the 1990s, writing in the furry fandom has exploded and become nearly as respected a form as fan-driven artwork.

Since 2011, there has also been the Furry Writers Guild, whose mission statement is to support, inform, elevate, and promote quality anthropomorphic fiction and its creators, along with guiding new writers on their way from the idea to the writing process to the finish line of submission. And here too are just a few words of wisdom, from both writers and publishers, as they bring a portion of their experience and advice to the fore that could aid an incoming furry writer. From learning about the best way to go about submitting your works to publishers to learning about worldbuilding, from animal attributes in furry writing to the differences in romance, erotica, and porn (which exist) , you’ll not be disappointed!

91 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2020

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but useful guide for every aspiring furry writer out there. Very interesting read with lots of basic background information and tips (do's & don't's) on how to get started. Highly recommened!

[Xalsier · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the essay's that I found the most interesting in this collection was the one by Katav. There were lots of footnotes for further reading, which is always nice, and I highlighted a couple passages to research later.

I had to deduct one star because there were a couple of noticeable typos in this collection on the Kindle edition. For example,

"If a writer just emails the first draft of their work to an editor, publisher, or agent without care, this can sometimes this can result in a less than desirable end for the work they are trying to submit."

These typo's didn't detract from the overall quality of the essay's, in my opinion though.

I also liked the essay Animal Attributes in Furry Writing, so I'll put a couple of my thoughts about it in this review.

For instance, raccoons that live in urban areas have been found to be better at problem solving than those that live in rural areas, probably because urban raccoons must adapt to novel manmade stimuli to survive.

I'm kind of curious after reading that section to see what other differences there might be between wild animals and animals that have adapted to urban life. So I'm definitely inspired to look into some non-fiction nature books eventually. The one take away I had after reading that essay was that there's definitely a lot of elements about animals that can be incorporated into the plots of stories.

For example, fish with electroreception or snakes with infrared sensing- (As talked about on Page 29) I have to wonder what types of stories could incorporate that with anthropomorphic or furry inspired characters? Zootopia 2 was a really good example of this, with the heat sensing of a Snake played by Ke Huy Quan having a really pivotal role in that movie.

In Beastars, there is a horse with a very wide field of view. And in a similar vein, a half human/half horse character in One Piece also plays into that for comedic effect in their first introduction in the Wano Arc. So there are also different ways of approaching the same ability as well.

Even if not all of these essays talk about furry writing directly and more focus on the process, some of the essays do give future writers a lot to think about. ^-^

Anyways, that's the end of my review. Overall, 4/5 stars.

[Lupin Sanchez]

While the chapters on animal attributes and building a platform were great and insightful, the bulk of the book seems to be completely unrelated to the furry fandom, being general writing advice that would apply to everyone. On top of that, some of it isn't even advice, like the chapter describing how Circles was published, and too much of it seems geared towards publishers rather than writers (how to make an anthology, what are the best measures for book layout, how much will it cost you to self publish). Finally, Weasel's chapter had an unfortunate aggressive tone which, coupled with an uncalled for attack against a certain political group which will barely be relevant to people outside of America, kind of rings funny considering how another chapter begs for professionalism.

[Zephyr Mang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book book is a great resource for beginning writers in the fandom figuring things out. As well as offering great advice for establishing a platform digitally for your writing. I know I will be returning to reread parts of this soon.