Writing Advice: Keep Writing and Carry On
From Buddy Goodboy, Esq: “[H]ow do we as creators justify spending our time on this when there’s so much going on around us?”
This is a big question, and obviously everyone is going to have to find their own answer to it, but I’ll write down some of my thoughts.
This may seem like a weird place to start, but I recently watched the Wachowski’s Speed Racer (2008) and one exchange from it stuck out to me:
Pops Racer: You think you can drive a car and change the world? It doesn't work like that!
Speed: Maybe not, but it's the only thing I know how to do and I gotta do something.
That hit hard in 2025. I feel that and I think a lot of y’all do, too, except maybe you’re thinking that Pops is right and you should be doing something else. After all, unlike Speed, most of us do have other options. We can volunteer for a non-profit, we can join a political action group, we can earn extra money to send to people who need it. And it’s true that all of those will have more material, direct, tangible effect than writing more furry stories.
But here’s the thing. We are communal, social creatures, and stories are one of the ways we communicate. Some of us of a certain age remember how huge a deal it was when Will & Grace aired, when a gay man (well, a gay character) was the lead in a prime time sitcom. Or when Ellen came out on her show (before we knew her quite as well). Neither of those shows directly, materially affected the push for gay rights. But they gave people confidence to be open about their identity, and eventually, to take the steps that did.
There are, as Buddy said, a lot of things going on in the world right now. And look, absolutely you should be contacting your congressional representatives to let them know how much opposition there is to all of the government’s illegal, immoral actions. But it’s also important, as creators, to keep creating work that depicts a world we want to see and sends messages about what we believe. That work reaches other people in the world, it inspires, it reminds them that they are not alone in opposing the cruelties that are going on.
Specifically for furry creators: a lot of what’s going on right now is a culture war, an attempt to suppress anyone who isn’t a straight cis white Christian male, not just to stop them from speaking but to stop the old white Christian men from having to think about them at all. We furries write about—hell, by and large we are—all the people they don’t want to have to think about (no shade to you straight cis white Christian male furries, you’re both good people). Putting more work out, more stories that don’t conform to the America our government is trying to create, not only puts the lie to their myth but serves to strengthen the rest of us. Our art is powerful, our voices are powerful. We’re the rainbow flood sweeping over Pleasantville, the “down with homework” shirts disrupting Springfield Elementary. Our stories and art are a reminder to the world that we are here and we are not going away, and they’re a message to the young queer, trans, non-white, non-Christian, or non-male readers that they have value and they matter, that they don’t have to suppress part of themselves to be worthwhile.
Someone left a shout on my FA page recently that read, in part, “Thanks for teaching me to not hate myself.” And that reminded me that maybe I can write a story and change the world. Or at least part of it, the part that matters more than anything to one person, or a few people. That’s important.
So write your stories. Be loud, be messy, be you.
(But also, seriously, contact your representatives.)
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I worked for a non-profit 20 years ago doing outreach to MSM Natives, I had 1 client who thanked me and said I changed the path of his life, to one where he valued self. I did this work for 3 years. I considered my time in the field a success, after that.