On TF Central, an informal poll was taken to determine the reason why people that are into the genre look at TF-related pictures or read with stories with TF content. Out of forty-three votes, seventy-four percent said that sexuality "best describes your interest in TF as a genre."
You are probably getting into writing TF stories because you like the idea of sexuality mixing with the concept of transformation (and if that hasn't crossed your mind in the least bit, why not?). Don't deny it either, sex is more prevalent than ever in today's culture, due in part because of the Internet. But while it shouldn't be that simply having a sexual interest in the TF genre makes anyone a pervert, a writer should handle the idea of sexuality with care for the sake of the quality of the story being written.
First off, remember this: a TF story immersed with sex to the point where the transformational content is secondary to sex in importance tends to have little or no plot at all. To make it fair, my earlier stories tend to be examples. There are many furry stories out there that follow this premise, but some of the TF stories include "Danny" by David Ihnen (how exactly did his hand get on his dog's "long heavy sheath"?), "Alice's Werewolf" by Furzone Studio (she has sex with a werewolf, all of a sudden she has a dream where she's running with wolves), and "A Little More Fun At Night" by Nightcatcher Blackwolf (girl reveals guy's "impressive" penis, guy transforms into werewolf, girl strips down naked and strokes his crotch to have wild animal sex in a soundproof room by becoming a werewolf herself).
Before I get tons of flames in my mailbox, don't get me wrong; from time to time I still read these stories because I get a kick out of these stories. I love reading stories like these because they were, in part, the inspiration I needed to write TF stories. But when you've been writing as long as I have, you're going to find that there are only so many ways to write "she screamed in pleasure as the knot in his penis pushed its way inside her." And sooner or later you're going to feel like you're peddling low-class porn rather than telling interesting stories.
But don't stop writing stories altogether. Just like me, you got into writing TF stories because you do like sex, and you do like people transforming into creatures of passion. Just remember the basic structure of a story: a plot that has real direction and usually a conflict requiring resolution by the end of the story. Accomplish this, then feel free to add in as much sex as your heart desires.
The key, first and foremost, is to work for it. In real life, you can't put two total strangers in one room and expect them to have sex within ten seconds of closing the door (well, passionate sex, at least). A guy has to have a working relationship with a girl; in the case of certain situations, even a period of a few hours qualifies as a working relationship (some people just aren't romantics). In the story "Wolfhood" by Gorfydyd Sionnach, the whole point of the story centers around a wolf-boy who, in order to ascend into adulthood, has "to lick Tanya's cunt." Being that Tanya is a she-wolf which the boy has never met before, why do you suppose I was disinclined towards this story? Again, to be fair, "Strangers In The Night" by yours truly is another example. Male werewolf and female werewolf meet, and all of a sudden they experience their first time deep in the forest. Of course, the turn of events was happening at a warp speed pace for the sake of brevity within the story (all writers mentioned: feel free to defend your own story with a rebuttal). In real life as in the worlds in which we create, sex is not a given and, like all good things, it has to be earned. When it is earned, it feels more real, it feels like something the reader can relate to.
"Mating Season" by Gre7g Luterman is one example. In this particular story, the connection between the human male and the she-wolf is already established, but the story is written so that the relationship feels real, so that it is perfectly credible for the two to be lying in a cave, and so that the reader cheers for the guy when he survives his mate.
One thing to point out is that there seems to be a prospective trend towards stories with a common plot that goes like this: a person (male or female) does something stupid or has been bad in life, an animal stands in his/her presence, the animal passes something onto the person, usually in the traditional method (biting the person, of course), the person writhes in pain as he or she transforms into the animal he or she was bitten by, the animal (if it is male) shoves its penis into the transformed person or (if it is female) the transformed person has a sudden urge to mount the female animal. Regardless of the last step, what happens is that the person never becomes human again, and they are driven by sexual attraction for the rest of their days.
The first of these to appear on the Internet was a story, I believe, with a title of "Once Bitten." I don't remember the author's name, but in this story a criminal flees the jurisdiction, gets attacked by a she-wolf, unwittingly turns into a werewolf and, through surprisingly no control of his own, mounts the animal and draws his prize into her domain. "Peace At Last" by CogitoErgoErat (guy injures doe, is punished by turning into doe, becomes sexually attracted to the musk of a buck) and "The Pain of Making A Mistake" by Doc (girl runs over a doe, also gets turned into a doe after saying out loud, "What the hell are nipples doing above my crotch?", unwittingly mates with buck to "pump out a number of offspring" (and if that last remark doesn't sweep you off your feet, I don't know what does)) also follow in the footsteps of this tired plotline.
We will, of course, mention the need to be original and unique another time.
Yes, there is no denying that some of these stories (with the exception of the last two) may actually be good stories. Again, people love sex. I love sex, and so what if it's mentioned in a story every now and then? There are some other good TF stories written with sexual content as well. "Come As You Are" by Rogue Kzin, for instance, is a story in which a real, honest-to-God bond between a human female and a male werewolf before the two make love on Halloween night. In "The Passion" by Peter W. T. Sims, a bond forms during their relationship which, no doubt, begins with sex, but a relationship forms nonetheless and all the female wants is offspring anyways, not simply to have sex for the sake of having sex (although that is one of the reasons). And in "Werewolves Within" by Wolphin, the relationship had already been formed without the male realizing the female was a werewolf.
In summation, what I have been trying to say in this crazy article is to use your judgement and try not to use sex where sex seems unwarranted. I am careful not to say "don't add in sex for the sake of having sex," because I will fall into that trap the same as the rest of you. Rather, if a story has to focus on sexuality, use the theme of transformation to further the concept of sexuality. If a story is all about transformation, then, use sexuality to further the transformation. When one helps the other, both concepts thrive, thus improving the story. Finally, like I said before, work for it. Stories in this case are like sex; good ones you won't forget, bad ones you wish you did.
Please direct all comments to Direwolf. Please tell him what you think!
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