Just wanting some help here. I’ve been a fluffy fan for quite a few years and am wanting to dip my toes into writing stuff seriously. I’m just looking for some feedback on the ideas here and am open to suggestions.
The basic idea is just some lad who opened up a mill out of his own home. Seemed like a decent way to make money which could be right/wrong.
As for the character I don’t know if it should be anon or a named fellow. Also 1st/2nd/3rd person perspectives. I lean towards 3rd personally.
This is a job so it’s gonna be light on the hugbox with some more frequent abuse/light-abuse stuff. Occasional weirdbox for fun comedic bits (very dry humor)
But I digress. The fluffies would be kept in pens outside (how do we keep them safe from the elements/theft aside from simple fencing and structures to sleep in.) Males/females are separated and breeding/child rearing is done inside in a safe room.
Walk in buyers are welcome but I would assume good colors/alicorns are sold/auctioned online. Smarties get wiped out as you’d expect. Unsellable colored males are set as work fluffies with menial tasks (I know there’d be a food sled to push)
This is getting long so feel free to hash stuff out below, appreciate it!
I originally wanted to do a pet shop idea as they used to be my favorite genre. I just turned towards a home operation later. Easier to involve feral herds?
Might also include a dog based on my own. Sheltie, a natural herder but never nips. Great dog! Of course fluffs would be terrified but she’d likely never tear into them.
First and second person would only be named if they interact with other people.
how do we keep them safe from the elements/theft aside from simple fencing and structures to sleep in
Same way you do with rabbits. Heating pads, quality fencing with cameras that are real or fake depending on likelihood of break-ins. Unless you’re breeding Alicorns or high value patterns, unique breeds, or specialized behavior successfully then theft shouldn’t be much of an issue given an abuser can find them anywhere and buy them for less than a gum ball. Spite would have to factor in, and for that there’s always a character who’s well-versed in Stand Your Ground laws. You can get the gist of it here, and know that Fluffverse is likely even more loosely regulated in vigilante concerns.
Smarties get wiped out as you’d expect.
You using all Smarties as Hellgremlins, or utilizing them as herd leaders? How rare?
Could do a family business idea. Write two characters, one the rancher and the other maintaining the shop during the day. Siblings, parent and child, spouses. Maybe just longterm friends.
Easier to involve feral herds?
Depends how you consider their genetics to work. Some people use the idea colors are random based on some arbitrary starting values, and the more litters the more will be brown or dingy like the womb somehow runs out of pigment or some shit. In that case mixing in Ferals for cheapness would be valuable, or at least males if they are never allowed to help rear. If they can learn rather than just be dumb organic robots then ferals can pass on bad habits for pets, meaning female ferals would not be a good idea to use. Using Smarty-friends to police them and ensure good behavior would alleviate concern, and even allow males to interact with their young by being able to see and hear them through the gap between the male and female/maternity pens.
Some writers make males somehow not half of the genetics. Only females get killed for producing unwanted colors, males are basically fine so long as their cock works and they don’t get defiant or attached. When the story is intended as abuse then males suffer if they are too gentle or ever want to see their young.
If lineage matters because the genetics are not random and Fluffy breeding is a science rather than an art, then mixing would only be a way to prevent inbreeding too much and only with rigorous genetic inspections and having test batches to see what they are passing on and if its recessive or dominant.
As for smarties, they’d just be little assholes. Making demands, beating up others, disobeying rules. I just remember some old things following a trend that it’s hard to de-smarty a fluffy. So it would be easier to whack the occasional one.
As for how often. I would think any one litter of fluffs has potential for one smarty. The best baby gets a big head. If you don’t stop that then you have a potential smarty.
Honestly don’t know what a hell gremlin is. I’ve heard it but haven’t looked into it
Smarty became synonymous with Hellgremlin, but the general idea is they are just the alpha. Like how some dogs will just always kind of be bossy and protective of their “pack” of humans and other animals, and be aggressive towards newcomers.
Newer writing seems to be returning to the distinction between Smarties and Smarty-friends, the latter being possibly due to good rearing which is why industrial mills, ferals, and dumbass new owners don’t produce them. The former possibly due to genetic mutation or being designated a Bestest and thus spoiled. Though Bestest is sometimes presented as how a Smarty comes into being. Sometimes Smarties are genetic and will always come from Smarties (which makes no sense to me given they are culled by humans and die due to arrogant stupidity in the wild).
Coined to describe how more and more Fluffies were all presented as nasty little fuckers nobody could love, used often now to describe ones that are just evil or a jerk for whatever reason.
Became synonymous with Smarty, but some people write them in such a way that a Smarty is simply the leader of a Hellgremlin herd, others distinguish Hellgremlin Smarties from Smarty-friends.
Big thing is setting expectations for your starting point. A newbie can get lots wrong, but that makes for interesting reading. Are they full time at this or part time?
One scenario that’s used is that there’s super common fluffies (cheap) and higher end ones (expensive but still not as bad as purebred dogs and cats), but the real money is in the toys and upkeep. So a low volume breeder could work with a local carpenter/craftsman to make custom toys and furniture for the fluffies as add-ons. Got a bunch of local farmers? Fresh but irregular shaped produce would be great for Fluffies (friend of mine subscribes to a service giving her all sorts of good but not “store normal” veggies and adores it). Local person with a commercial kitchen could even make high-end kibble, personalized to order (minimum order being in the tens of pounds/kilos). A singer could record custom lullabies for foals.
Very much a quality versus quantity scenario, and a way to get a diverse cast as well.