Really, it's a showcase for my drawings, and my stories - just somewhere I can post my work, gather a little feedback, and maybe figure out how to improve. Vanity site? Quite possibly, but maybe I'm lucky and one or two people will find it entertaining.
This site runs on a PHP back end, using XML files for data definition, and XSLT templates to provide transformation from the raw data to presentable HTML. Why? Because most of these pages have repeating blocks of formatting, with the only difference between them being the images and text. Doing it this way, the entire site uses less than 100 lines of PHP code.
Macromedia Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop, with occasional tinkering in good old Paint Shop Pro 4.
Good question! And one without any really easy answer. I've always had a tendency to enjoy writing stories, and I can remember doing so from about age 10 - although until the Foxwood Chronicles came along, it was admittedly all 'fan fiction,' which I freely confess to despising now.
In September 1998, the initial idea was in my head, and I spent an evening with an A4 note pad writing some of it down (and wow, was it ever dire! Seriously, my notes from this time are atrocious).
Oh goodness, yes! The three that immediately come to mind are the Spellsinger books by Alan Dean Foster, the Dragonlance books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and the infamous Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein.
The really odd thing is that until age 16-17, I was far more a science fiction fan than a fantasy fan. To have turned around and started writing a medieval fantasy story is one that surprised me, and I still don't quite know why I did. Maybe because I have a much smaller background in fantasy, I didn't feel quite so much that all the good ideas were taken.
Very much so. We live in a world containing thousands, maybe millions of published fiction stories. Being 100% unlike any other story is, to my mind, impossible, and shouldn't be tried. There will always be elements between any given story and something out there on the market already - so it becomes silly to worry about it. Instead, I try to focus on the unique elements (my characters, their environment) and not be paranoid if I feel there is an overall theme (dragons, wars, wizards) that might be in many other books.
Principally, as a support to visualisation and illustration for the Foxwood Chronicles. I always find it ironic that I failed GCSE art, didn't touch a pencil for about 2 years, then suddenly adopted it as a cherished hobby.
For the initial sketch, an HB mechanical pencil, plain A4 printer paper (80 gsm) and a cheap eraser and ruler. The initial line work gets refined as many times as necessary, generally tracing through the good bits onto another sheet, correcting the mistakes. Eventually, the final line drawing will hit heavy 120 gsm printer paper, and be coloured with either Derwent or Karisma pencils, or Tria Letraset marker pens. I'm not a fan of inking (my hand isn't steady enough) so outlining is simply a 2B mechanical pencil.
I really don't want to get in to the fiddly details about the term furry, but essentially a furry is an animal character with humanlike qualities - or perhaps a human character with animal qualities, the line is quite blurred.
The observant will notice that it's far from an uncommon term on the internet - there is in fact a whole subculture built around the genre. Some people just like to write or draw about furries, some like to roleplay a furry character online, others have fun dressing up in a fursuit. Whatever the personal meaning, it's a term that those interested in the genre will be very familiar with, hence I tend to use it.
And I have no doubt that you have. Press for the furry fans/lifestylers as a whole has an amazing ability to be negative (for an example, see the Rants section). I think that's more down to the state of today's media, as much as anything else. People seem to like reading about freaks and weirdos, therefore everyone and anyone who can be painted as such, will be.
There's also, I think, a very strong tendency to focus on the sexual side of the furry culture (again, it makes popular reading) so there is something of a public opinion that everyone involved is a deviant of some variety, and possibly dangerous.
This is a lie. The average furry fan is probably far less dangerous than most. You can leave your whips, chains, needles and manacles at the door, because by and large, they are gentle, tactile people, and all they really want is a hug and a giggle.
Oddly, probably not. I have no feeling of being anything other than human (oftentimes to my regret), and do not use an online 'fursona' (furry representative for myself). What I am is a furry fan - I like the genre, I like the idea of characters with animal traits and qualities. I find them interesting, and to a degree, the variety is very useful to me when writing my own stories.
Isn't anything relating to fictional stories childish? Classic fantasy has elves, dwarves, and magic... is that childish? Was Lord of the Rings childish? Furry is a form of fantasy, nothing more, and our fantasies have a way of growing up with us as long as we are prepared to keep them around. I think it would be a great shame to declare anything too childish to have anything more to do with, because on that day I would lose a part of myself.
