I agree with some of the most prolific writers in our fandom when I say that we have moved on past that need. This is furry fiction as a meta genre unto itself. Every story does not need an explanation of where furries came from or why they exist. If it is germane to the story being told, sure, it can be revealed in the narrative, but usually it is trite or feels wedged in. As an example, while Alflor and I disagree on the 'furry' nature of Redwall, mr. Jacques does not offer us a reason why the world is populated only by animals, how they use swords and knives, how they wear clothes....the story carries itself and the world around it.
That we don't explain where the furries came from is not a flaw in a story. It is simply not relevant to the story at hand. Unless it is critical for the reader to understand that backstory, the reader will, or should, be able to accept the characters for what they are as presented. Now I will agree that I prefer to see animal characteristics at play, wolves and foxes with stronger sense of smell, tigers having to work to keep their claws retracted, etc., but those are sauce for the goose.
I'm not saying that there's no place for that sort of information either. If it is necessary and done well, it can be fine. I'm only saying that it isn't always necessary.
I've been catching up on a long backlog of anthro fiction, and of all the published works I've read, only Common and Precious offers an explanation for furries, and even then it's about the same length as the preface to the Star Wars novel, explaining the rise of the empire. And it matters because we're set on a distant world very different from Earth and the reader needed that information to parse everything else in the proper context.
In a short story, you don't have that kind of luxury or time. And it would get very tedious to see a snippet of text in EVERY short story that would tell us "okay, these furries are made by science.". "these furries are aliens." "these furries are magic" or "these furries are millions of years down the evolutionary train tracks". Those are pretty much the four furry origin stories and there isn't so much in them that we need to be told about it in every story or every novel. There are so many things in every genre that are just accepted. Sci Fi has FTL travel, fantasy has magic, and anthropomorphic fiction, as a meta genre, adds to that mix anthropomorphic animals.
Judge the story based on plot, character development, pacing, and all the criteria that you'd judge any other story by. If you can't look past the 'no origin story', well, it just seems like a very narrow viewpoint for someone reviewing furry literature, when, as I have repeatedly said, not every story requires it.
I agree with some of the most prolific writers in our fandom when I say that we have moved on past that need. This is furry fiction as a meta genre unto itself. Every story does not need an explanation of where furries came from or why they exist. If it is germane to the story being told, sure, it can be revealed in the narrative, but usually it is trite or feels wedged in. As an example, while Alflor and I disagree on the 'furry' nature of Redwall, mr. Jacques does not offer us a reason why the world is populated only by animals, how they use swords and knives, how they wear clothes....the story carries itself and the world around it.
That we don't explain where the furries came from is not a flaw in a story. It is simply not relevant to the story at hand. Unless it is critical for the reader to understand that backstory, the reader will, or should, be able to accept the characters for what they are as presented. Now I will agree that I prefer to see animal characteristics at play, wolves and foxes with stronger sense of smell, tigers having to work to keep their claws retracted, etc., but those are sauce for the goose.
I'm not saying that there's no place for that sort of information either. If it is necessary and done well, it can be fine. I'm only saying that it isn't always necessary.
I've been catching up on a long backlog of anthro fiction, and of all the published works I've read, only Common and Precious offers an explanation for furries, and even then it's about the same length as the preface to the Star Wars novel, explaining the rise of the empire. And it matters because we're set on a distant world very different from Earth and the reader needed that information to parse everything else in the proper context.
In a short story, you don't have that kind of luxury or time. And it would get very tedious to see a snippet of text in EVERY short story that would tell us "okay, these furries are made by science.". "these furries are aliens." "these furries are magic" or "these furries are millions of years down the evolutionary train tracks". Those are pretty much the four furry origin stories and there isn't so much in them that we need to be told about it in every story or every novel. There are so many things in every genre that are just accepted. Sci Fi has FTL travel, fantasy has magic, and anthropomorphic fiction, as a meta genre, adds to that mix anthropomorphic animals.
Judge the story based on plot, character development, pacing, and all the criteria that you'd judge any other story by. If you can't look past the 'no origin story', well, it just seems like a very narrow viewpoint for someone reviewing furry literature, when, as I have repeatedly said, not every story requires it.