Have any of you began a fluffy story liking your fluffies, but by the end, you’ve spent so much time drawing/writing them being so overly cute and sweet that you just hate them?
Cuz I have. In the beginning I liked Henrietta and Periwinkle. I thought they were good tragic characters. After drawing them be all lovey dovey and having the perfect fluffy life, I now hate them. Like they are the first fluffies I’ve done that I’ve wanted to go full on Gr1m_1 gore abuse on rather than just sadbox. But that wouldn’t fit the themes of their stories, and I think their ending is very fitting, so it’s staying as is.
Anyway, just curious if any other creators have had an experience like this where you began liking your creations and were just disgusted with them by the end.
Edit: From the comments, I think people are misinterpreting what I’m saying. I’m not saying I hate fluffies and I’m sick of this fandom or anything. I mean character specific. Like I thought Henrietta and Periwinkle were cute little fluffies. Good balance of sweet and caring without being squee. But them living the perfect fluffy life pushed them past the point of “cute aggression” for me. Which I thought was interesting. I figured they wouldn’t get to that point because of their traumatic pasts. But despite that, they still triggered the “cute aggression” phenomenon in me, despite “earning” their happiness through previous suffering and inustice. Just surprised is all.
I think I’ve encountered so many stories of unlikeable fluffies that, no, I don’t. Granted, my stories tend to be one-shots and I try to keep them to a singular narrative, but I also have been too familiar with characters deviating from their intended intention that I wouldn’t go that far. Heck, if anything, I’d be more attached to my characters, whether they were human or fluffy (or whatever).
And heck, I think there is nothing wrong with going with a happy ending. As I’ve said before, I think this fandom has too much shock content thats done for the sake of shock. Of course, artists and authors are free to do what they want to do. But I would like people to reconsider. That’s just my two cents though.
It’s not so much that I hate my characters as that I recognize that it’s human nature to be cruel, and even sadistic, towards outsiders. We think we’re trained out of this as children and then happily think that we’re good people while cruelty and sadism towards outsiders becomes official policy. So naturally 95% of humans will only experience fluffies as meat, with another 4% experiencing fluffies as pets (“tolerated outsiders”) and another 1% enjoying fluffies as objects of torture.
You might think that I hate almost everyone and you would be correct.
I don’t think every human is outright cruel or sadistic, having worked with enough people. Yes, there is a darkness in Man’s heart, but I am also certain there is a light. And I’ve seen group efforts succeed enough times that I fervently believe in the need for balance, at the very least.
And while there are bound to be a lot of people we hate, I don’t believe in hating everyone
Well, to be fair, @FluffiesAreFood was talking about outsiders. I think there’s a nugget of truth behind it. With technology, the world has become much much smaller, so there are far fewer “outsiders”. But consider human civilization just 2 centuries ago. Trusting an outsider could cost you your livelihood, your life, or the life of your family/clan. I think it is human nature to be distrusting and uneven in our actions towards others. I disagree with sadistic, I think most people are good people. But cruel, unfair, mean? Yeah, those are all things we need to overcome. Natural man and all that. I believe the vast majority of people learn to be better as they grow up. But saying it isn’t inherent is like saying human aren’t inherently omnivores because some people choose to be vegans, you know?
I had a character named trash (creative name I know). I has abused him since my first post, but then I became committed to giving them a happy ending. Then I got in a rut, none of my drawing had turned out how I wanted. I just sat there drawing the same happy face over and over and over until I despised the idea of trash ever getting a happy ending. I may change my thoughts on that later but for now I just can’t stand them.
I haven’t really done long overarching comics, but I can see how drawing a happy ending too long can have that effect. Much respect for staying faithful to the mood of the story through it all.
I haven’t worked with a fluffy character long enough to feel any particular way about them yet. I can see myself getting fed-up or bored if it’s just straight cutesie happy shit for too long though.
Have you considered drawing non-canon abuse of your characters to sort of purge those feelings? Like “well I drew Henrietta being too happy for too long, time to draw her in a iron maiden”
Lol. Then I fall into weird branching paths like with Hickory and never get anything done. Imma gonna stick to one-shots like the pin-cushion foal, Bubblegum, and the Nurse-Fluff for the next little while
i agree with @ShrugBox , though i get kinda attached to them because plan wayy to many than i write because i get unmotivated to continue, though i tend to imagine them in abuse/hugbox situations, the contrary of what they’re going through in my mental sketches
If my opinion is to count, let em be, and find your next objective with new goals, try to make it more horrible of a start til it reaches a happier ending… But that’s my own thoughts
I think that for some people, the pure saccharine aspect of giving a Fluffy nothing but a perfect life starts to drain on them. For me, I know that life is never all sweetness and joy. Things get sick, people get upset and misdirect their anger, things just happen sometimes. You need that balance of affection, love, and happiness, but still have a little bitterness, sadness, and misery to help keep it feeling real. It doesn’t have to be abuse, but it just needs to balance the good.
That is what I ran into with “Overcast”. I loved Rain, but I couldn’t help wanting to include moments of suffering to help with all the love and happiness. I didn’t hate him, but I grew tired of the peace and it made that part of my brain that revels in the misery of something pure to start twitching. Then again, that is why I enjoy my other story “Despair”. I could have the love, affection, and attention of my Fluffies in the story, but balance it with tears, misery, and pain.
There was another story from the Booru that I enjoyed, I forgot the name of it, but it had a derped filly named Suzie that had to be taught that any act of affection had to be earned by a degree of suffering that she had to accept. A pet required her to let him pinch her ear, a hug required a prick of a needle, and so on. That story really resonated with me. It perfectly gave a loving story of an owner and his Fluffy, but also added in a degree of abuse that just made it perfect.
I’ve actually had quite the opposite happen more often than not. I usually end up growing to love characters I hated. In my second story, “Derpy Daycare”, I began writing the main character Mitchell as a complete asshole and it sucked. Then I’d spent enough time writing him that he went from an asshole to a normal, snarky, teenager. I couldn’t bring myself to give him the bad ending I’d originally planned for him, I had to give him the alternate ending I had shelved.
Then, with my third story, “Sawbones”, writing the main character Dr. Lane was a total slog. In chapter two, writing him became so goddamn fun as I was able to spend more time growing him into his own.
So, I believe that what you are experiencing is a good thing.
This means that the story took on a “life of its own” and that you, in your creativity, were able to understand it.
It is something like the author’s famous theory of death.
=x
Okay, I’m not a base to set an example, but when I write the stories, it often becomes completely different from what I originally thought; or I simply change some elements to see how everything will develop and keep my imagination, as well as my desire to write, always renewed… (But it is difficult to write with work, college and the fact of having to translate for put here … but it’s worth it)
