Talk:Forest Life
Comments on Forest Life <comments />
Devin said ...
Bartlett said ...
A very good story, very well written and thought out. The pics are good too. More please. :)
--Bartlett 23:47, 11 June 2008 (EDT)
- Thanks! The pics were a pleasant surprise for me too, I guess I caught Ian's fancy when he read this. :) I'm not sure if there's more to write in this particular universe, though. I'd need to come up with some brand new plot elements to make any sequels interesting, otherwise it's just a relatively short TF scene. Bryan 15:29, 12 June 2008 (EDT)
James said ...
The story is written in a very talented manner. I also considered the plot to be wonderful till the moment when the character was completely transformed into a deer. I liked the anthrodeer form very much and considered it perfectly suitable for a human to live the particular world. So I was very disappointed when the character had lost the form and had been completely transformed into a deer despite all he’s fear and all the mental efforts to avoid it. This turn of the plot was especially unpleasant as Bryan being a very talented writer described all character’s feelings and emotional state after the final transformation extremely well. Actually, reading the end part of the story made me feel being afraid of transformations. I disliked the feeling very much as I like the idea of transformation. Though the transformation must be either a controllable one or at least it should be into something suitable for the character and for the current environment for me to like it. As for the brand new plot elements to make any sequels interesting, may be it could be some kind of external threat for the tree spirits’ world. If it would make the spirits to give the transformed people the ability to change back to the antroanimal form for them to defend the world, I would be interested to read the sequel.
--James 11:09, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
- Well, everyone has their own preferences. I don't mind full-animal TFs, for example, but stories really turn me off when the TF wipes out the memories of the original person. I'm glad you liked the earlier bits, though. :) Some of my other stories involve anthro forms so hopefully there's others more to your taste.
- I suspect the tree spirits would not have gone for anthro forms since they would have required a lot more 'policing' than non-anthros; once you give people hands they can easily start back down the tool-making road, which includes tree-felling and fire-starting and all the other things that the tree spirits abandoned Earth to get away from in the first place. I suppose non-anthro deer can still wreck trees but it's a lot harder and there'd be no benefit in it other than sheer spite.
- I've occasionally considered writing sequels to this story but none have every really caught hold. When I wrote Forest Life I had absolutely no plot in mind, I didn't even know what was going on myself until I got near the end, but a sequel would start in a pre-established world and would need to build on it in some way. An external threat to the tree-spirits' world is actually a neat idea, but I don't have any ideas about what threat would actually be. Perhaps someday. Bryan 13:45, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
Thank You very much for Your quick reply and Your explanations. Actually, the main reason for me to dislike the endpart of the story was not the particular transformation but the fact that the character was transformed into something he didn’t want to be and all the more the fact that he wasn’t able to change it neither at the moment nor in future. If the tree spirits would care to teleport to their world only the people who would feel themselves comfortable in the animal forms they will be transformed into, I’d like the rest of the plot as it is :).
--James 09:48, 19 August 2008 (EDT)
- Ah, I see. Well, most of my stories involve unwelcome (or at least unexpected) TFs, since I tend to find that leads to characters and situations I find interesting. I do have a few stories I've written that were more appreciated by the main characters, though; Halloween Cinderella and Reversal of Fortune come to mind. In the case of this one the protagonist is unhappy with the TF but I hope that in the fullness of time he'll find ways to make the best of it; having fellow formerly-human deer to talk with will probably help a lot. Bryan 16:26, 19 August 2008 (EDT)
Well, I can easily understand why You and most of the other TF writers, as far as I know at the moment, use uncontrollable, irreversible and unwanted transformations. After writing two TF stories myself in a completely opposite manner (the TF were expected, controlled and considered best by the main characters :)) I must admit that it seems to be a very difficult task to create a story with strong and intriguing plot in the particular manner :(. I can only hope that my stories are quite pleasant to read, at least once :).
The only genre where a sequence of controllable transformation and partial shapeshifts (in the case characters should have knowledge and power of mages or the story can be set up in virtual reality etc.) looks perfectly suitable for creation of most interesting plot are erotic stories (I have seen only one of the kind so far, though :(. http://www.yiffstar.com/index.yiff?pid=32190 ). But erotic stories are very limited genre themselves so I guess it rarely gives inspiration to really talented writers.
Anyway, I myself prefer TF stories in the ‘happy’ manner where the TFs are either controlled by the protagonist or at least welcomed by him. So I just hope that some day I will find a TF story site that will be home for the writers who write in the manner I like (I hope there are some of them in this world :)) or at least some list of TF writings where all the works of the kind will be sorted out in a category of their own :).
Actually, it’s a quite difficult task for me at the moment to avoid imagining my self in place of the main character, when reading or writing a story. If that’s same with other people, I don’t really understand how could all the countless stories and book with unbearably cruel plots and unpleasant protagonists be written in all the genres of fantasy and SF literature.
--James 07:53, 20 August 2008 (EDT)
- Shifti's mission is to support all kinds of TF stories, so if you like I hope we'd be able to help. Have you created an account? You could use your user page to create a directory of the sorts of TF stories you enjoy, and post your own here as well. I can help out if you like.
- As for the 'placing oneself (as a reader) in an unpleasant situation' thing, you could perhaps consider it similar to riding a roller coaster. There's a certain thrill to be had from going through a terrifying situation and coming out safely on the other end, and reading a story is inherently 'safe' because you can always just stop. Or perhaps some authors may not fully accept that it's 'okay' for them to enjoy imagining themselves TFing, and so by making the character unwilling they can use that as a subconscious defense. Or for some it's just a plain old fetish, like BDSM. I'm sure there are lots of different explanations for different people, we're such a varied lot. Bryan 14:59, 20 August 2008 (EDT)
I love how gradual the change in this story was. I dont ussually go for transformation storys built solely around the actual transformation itself because I cant help but feel sometimes like if you've read one scene about a guy transforming into X you've read em all. But this story really took the transformation itself a step further.
--Devin 02:25, 20 August 2007 (EDT)