Has "clean" furry writing screeched to a halt ?

[Glycanthrope]

Guys, I'm growing genuinely concerned about the state of general-audience writing in the furry fandom as of 2017.

As some of you may know, I've been a regular contributor of written material to the furry scene since 2015 on platforms like Furaffinity and SoFurry (and this place since last year).
I'm perfectly aware there is a strong interest in adult material within the furry fandom , but there has always been a niche left for us "clean" writers. 

For some odd reason, this seems to have changed since the new year.
I can tell by the number of days our stories remain on the first page of uploads, before being pushed down to page two.
It's disheartening to go back, day after day to see that nothing has changed. Your story is STILL right there on page one of SFW.
it's not because my stories are popular they remain locked in place on the front page of FA and SF, quite the contrary
-it's because there are so few writers left to contribute to the SFW section!

Don't get me wrong. I like to have my stories up there on the first page for a couple of weeks before dropping off the radar.
Hey, It increases the chance that some desperate reader looks at my material
- but I'd much sooner prefer to be pushed off the radar within hours by fellow clean writers, such as Iara Warriorfeather who is a damn fine writer.

But there is no momentum in SFW world of writing.

It goes for this place too.
Since December, the only writers to contribute to the story section have been - you guessed it... Iara and myself.

Poetry is slightly better off with RasbyFox, Howie Noble and Kaiden putting in a valiant effort.
-But it's not a lot, given the fact we're three months into the year.

Are clean writers becoming dinosaurs in the world of furry ?

[Loc]

Not really, there is still plenty of clean writing around.
Just not many of them post here (such as myself).

[Glycanthrope]

Thank you, Loc! You're a star.
It's probably just me, looking in the wrong places.

Right now I'm looking at SoFurry, where the next SFW item to be pushed onto page two has been on there for five days.
In contrast, the turnover for NSFW writing is 23 hours.
That's one SFW entry for each five NSFW entries.

The same thing goes for FA. My own "Fall From Grace" novella is currently on page 8 of SFW entries, and that one has been up for weeks.
In contrast, the oldest NSFW entry on page 8 is a full five days old.

Again, the ratio of NSFW to SFW seems... discouraging somehow.

 

[Loc]

Amount of feedback. If you don't get much feedback, you're less inclined to post. And people have much lower standards for NSFW writing than they do for SFW. And are more vocal about appriciation.
Same goes for non-furry writing too. NSFW stuff is WAY more poorly written than SFW. You can crack out half a dozen crappy NSFW pieces that will still get read and rated highly in the time it takes to do one good SFW one.

[Iara Warriorfeather]

Are clean writers becoming dinosaurs in the world of furry ?

Considering I am a dinosaur, I take no offense to this. 

I think Loc has the right idea...consider the non-furry 50 Shades of Gray. I tried reading a paragraph and it's terrible. No substance, just smut. That's what NSFW stuff is for, really, it's not about substance or quality per se, just quantity. It is easier to produce smut than well thought out romance novels, much less any SFW content at all.

I will admit as a NSFW and SFW author, it is easier to get reads and reviews on my NSFW stuff. It's because the "taboo" aspect (sex) sells. I would love to see a paradigm shift with this, but considering human nature, that's not likely to change.

Also, Loc has an excellent point with the SFW authorship not prevalent here...but elsewhere. Plenty of other furry writers are SFW, often focusing on children's lit.

The important thing is not to lose hope, just keep putting your work out and I can guarantee you someone, somewhere reads it and appreciates it.   

[Loc]

I've written NSFW, I mainly write SFW, and I'm actually less shy about people reading the NSFW -because- you don't need as high quality of writing for people to like it. Part of the reason I don't post here.

Also Iara is right - Even if people aren't posting their own, people are still reading yours. Worth also noting - Number of comments does not equal amount of readers and appriciation - Many stay quiet about things they like or don't have the ability to post on the site.

[Glycanthrope]

Thanks Loc and Iara.

Your points are valid and much appreciated, and they invite for some interesting discussions about the motivation for writing,
which we should definitely take up - maybe in a separate thread.
But my original aim for this thread was simply to debate:

- are "clean" writers growing redundant  in the furry fandom ?

Today, I made the effort of counting the written submissions to "SoFurry" uploaded so far in 2017. (Furaffinity is technically more challenging)
The site has seen a total of 3355 written submissions since jan 1st, divided into "clean" or "adult" (by the writers themselves.)
880 (26%) are "clean" submissions
2475 (74%) are "adult".

I may not have the experience of the older members of "Furtopia", but I'm old enough to  know of "rule 34"
-and how sex is part of everyday life
-and part of a relationship
-and we should relate to it in our writing

Mozart wrote "Leck mir den Arsch" in 1782
Catullus wrote gay poetry in 50BC
Sappho in 600BC
Eroticism in writing is cool,
but guys! we are in a situation, where three fourths of our written output is porn.
I don't think it's unreasonable at this point to be concerned about the state of our fandom, for which the definition was once

"The appreciation  of fictional anthropomorphic characters."

Maybe it's a therian thing - I'm not ruling that out,
but my brain can't establish a meaningful connection between anthropomorphics and seventy-five percent porn.

[Loc]

I think this is maybe going a bit far into the realms of adult discussion for the main boards :p

[Glycanthrope]

I think this is maybe going a bit far into the realms of adult discussion for the main boards :p

A most astute observation, my friend.
Regrettably I've only made 28 posts in toto, so I'm restricted to post in the *clean* section of Furtopia.

(and you just KNOW I'll stop posting by the time I reach 49, don't you ? *winks*)

[Loc]

Well of course, it's the way you have to do things :p

But if you ever can manage to push yourself over that big 50 limit, I do have a few more things I'd like to comment on about this.

[Varg the wanderer]

A most astute observation, my friend.
Regrettably I've only made 28 posts in toto, so I'm restricted to post in the *clean* section of Furtopia.

(and you just KNOW I'll stop posting by the time I reach 49, don't you ? *winks*)

Go down to the Word Games board. People with ridiculous post counts here tend to play down there. Posting in a few of those games for a few days will raise that number in a hurry.

Are we discussing *adult* as in adult bookstore? I know of a lot of stories that end up being kicked into the adult category due to violence and language, but are completely non-sexual in content. Wild Rose Country by Jonawolf, Gesshru by Arbon, Light Over Shattered Water by Greg Howell, and The Courier by Wolfy would all fit that category, despite being the kind of thing you would find on the shelf at the local non-adult bookstore (and some of these I wish the author would publish, too).

This is the same reason I post my stuff in the adult forums.

I'll support what's been said already: That NSFW stories are held to MUCH lower standards than SFW stories, for the simple fact that NSFW stories are written with one goal and one goal only in mind. SFW stories have much more that they need to accomplish, and those things that don't matter as much when you have only one goal suddenly matter when you are trying to tell and actual story that engages the reader.

Also, I have found that view count is likely a more accurate way to see if people are reading your stuff, esp. if you have a series.

[Kobuk]

Go down to the Word Games board. People with ridiculous post counts here tend to play down there. Posting in a few of those games for a few days will raise that number in a hurry.

Varg, I think you forgot this:
http://forums.furtopia.org/word-games/word-game-forum-guidelines/

[Kobuk]

Also, I have found that view count is likely a more accurate way to see if people are reading your stuff, esp. if you have a series.

Exactly. Just because somebody doesn't post a reply does not necessarily mean they aren't interested.

[Varg the wanderer]

Go down to the Word Games board. People with ridiculous post counts here tend to play down there. Posting in a few of those games for a few days will raise that number in a hurry.

Varg, I think you forgot this:
http://forums.furtopia.org/word-games/word-game-forum-guidelines/

Oops. I guess I need to go back and reread all of those.

[Michen_S]

Go down to the Word Games board. People with ridiculous post counts here tend to play down there. Posting in a few of those games for a few days will raise that number in a hurry.

Varg, I think you forgot this:
http://forums.furtopia.org/word-games/word-game-forum-guidelines/

But posts made in the Furry Lite board does count towards your made posts, so sometimes you can get a lot of posts from there.

Anyways, both on this forum and on an other forum I'm on, I tend to stalk art threads. I don't leave replies, but I find the art very interesting to look at. I'm fairly curious, I like to see what people came up with and the effort they put into it, no matter the skill level. And occasionally I even use it for motivation.
Now I know that usually a lot more artwork than stories appear each day, but I'm just trying to make a point here.

[Glycanthrope]

thanks guys, You've put my mind at ease. 

 I just grow concerned now and then, when my favorite hangouts drown in
sexy anthropomorphic material that I can't relate to.  That's all.

Thanks again 

[Michen_S]

No problems. And remember, there still is a lot of SFW stories for you to read if you look for them. Maybe on a different site, but it is definitely there. And that'll stay that way.