Fox Face
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FoxFaceStories Q&A - Answers!
🕑 Added 2024-04-16 22:53:56 +0000 UTCHello everyone, thanks for the questions and messages regarding me and my work. See below for my answers. If you have any more questions or follow ups, I'll answer them in the comments below.
How did you get into tg and tf?
I guess everyone has that curiousity about what life is like on 'the other side', and it just stemmed from there. I'm not trans personally, but there is that fascinating notion of what it would be for a member of one sex - usually a man - to become the other, and deal with sex, gender roles, expectations, clothing, etc. Seeking stuff out online only got me more interested, and from there I began writing! Pretty boring origin story, right?
Why FoxFaceStories? I mean, why that username?
Oh, this is super lame. When I joined Patreon, the symbol I chose from the ones available was the fox face. I was writing stories, so I just made it FoxFaceStories. I wish I hadn't, because other creators have much more recognisable names. But it's mine now and I'll keep it!
Can you describe your writing process for me? You write so much so how do you do it? Is this your main job?
My main job is actually in retail, haha! As for my writing process, I get up early each morning and write, write, write. I've gotten into a good rhythm with it. So before shift work I generally can produce 3000 words in around 2 hours, with some time for editing/proofreading.
I try to write every single day. There will be exceptions, but my general rule is that I get only one day off a week. Anything else I have to make up. So when I do a bit of writing at night I can get another 2000 words done, leaving me with approximately 5000 words in total.
Other parts of my writing process are largely determined by commissions and what people want. Most of the time the 'tracks' are laid down for me, so I can be inventive as I wish but the main skeleton is there for me to follow. Stuff I write from my own imagination completely takes a bit longer, though Meteor Woman was a fast write despite its length.
When you write these commissions how do you proceed into making it a story ? If starting a fanfiction story and I have issues with making the chapters longer and better. Do you have any tips or suggestions how to be a good writer and not to sound passive in the writing style or how to make the talking of people sound more believable?
I used to do detailed plans with my early commissions, but after writing a long time I just have a 'feel' for how a story should generally fit within a wordspace. I always get the following details though:
the overall plot
the feel of the story (e.g. humiliation, wish fulfilment, romance)
what the characters look like.
individual scenes that a commissioner might want
From there, I keep the notes on the same document and refer to them as I write.
As for the second part of your question, I find that longer doesn't actually equal better. Writing a lot of shorter stories helps you work with your pacing, and from there you can write longer stuff that doesn't dawdle and go nowhere. Avoid interior monologue for a while, it bogs things down until you get comfortable with pacing and can return to it.
As for people talking believably, I tend to just listen to how people actually talk. I've been complimented on my dialogue before, but I still have my stumbles. My biggest suggestion is to read books with lots of dialogue from ordinary people - Stephen King is great for that!
Favorite and least favorite stories that you’ve written?
Favourite: Meteor Woman, because I love superhero stories, haha. I'm a big DC fan, so I tried to put lots of references in it. I also had a blast writing Alien Life because I like sci-fi. I think my absolute favourite I've ever written would have to be Happy Wife, Happy Life. I like stories where two best friends are forced to be in a relationship and have to adapt, usually ending in pregnancy. This was a fun spin where the man literally drags out a whiteboard to do a 'positives, negatives, interesting' chart about his partner becoming his wife. It was a fun spin, I thought. It was meant to be a 1k mini-story and ended up around 10k or something haha.
Least Favoute: definitely New Music in the Hood. I feel I never really tackled the subject matter well, and music is outside my specialty so the story was always dancing around that. The race change aspect is something I'm happy to write but I didn't like how I captured it here. Glad people enjoy it though, and the prompt was good; I just didn't feel like I pulled it off.
Not a least favourite since I rather like it, but Programmed for Love has been really hard to write. A lot of balls in the air on that one.
What are your favorite couples that you’ve wrote?
The pairing from Happy Wife, Happy Life, definitely. I feel like I captured a real relationship dynamic there, despite the bizarre origins of it. The back and forth jokes and the like followed by mutual affection.
Where/how did you come up with Lumin’s syndrome?
I take no credit for this. My long-time commissioner of some of my favourite stories, Jack Mackenzie, came up with it. It worked so well that it kept on being part of commissions, and then with his permission, other people commissioned stories on it as well! It became its own extended universe by accident!
How old are you? (If you don’t mind me asking)
Old enough.
Are there any TF stories you wish you could write?
Great question. I feel like I've written everything under the sun. More historical TGs, I guess? I'd love to do something where two friends get sucked back in time to the 1950's and one has to be the classic housewife. I've done that as a mini-story, but it holds real promise, I think.
I also feel like a good mermaid story could be on the cards. Or another insect girl broodmother type - been a while since I've done that!
What's your favorite genre to write for? (stuff like scifi, fantasy, noir, etc)
Superhero personally. It lends itself surprisingly well to TG fiction. The idealised bodies, the powers, the skintight outfits, the romance, the drama, love interests, etc. My second favourite is probably historical - stuff like Across the Rhine and Viking Woman. I'm happy to do more accurate historical like the former (spread of Christianity date error aside) or the more vague quasi-historical like the latter.
Sci-fi is one of my favourites, but it relies on rules more than other genres, so it can be tricky sometimes. I still love it, but it can be taxing.
Are there any stories you're particularly proud of (or ones you wish were better in execution)?
I'm very happy with Lake Otherside and Meteor Woman, as well as Bessica. I think a lot of my mini-stories get the execution I desire. I think Turning into My Girlfriend's Mom was among my best; judging from how many patrons signed up to read it I think I succeeded in the MILF story aspect!
I wish I had done South of the Border a little better. I'm happy with it, but I missed a good opportunity for Amarissa and Josefina to connect to their new cultures as a learning experience. The race change aspect could have been deeper in that way, more genuine.
Do you find it hard to toe the line with race change stuff? Do you want to do better in the future?
Yes and yes. I'm happy to write most race change, but I try to steer clear of anything offensive. But that's hard because of the nature of the kink, so I play it by ear and don't always succeed. I definitely have improved, but my focus going forward is to not just outline darker-skinned characters as distinct from the norm - because they're not! Also to go further into what it actually means to be in a new culture, rather than simply focusing on issues that are literally skin-deep. You can't please everyone with race change, but it's not going away, but I aim to keep improving how I tackle it.
Have you ever considered taking one of your longer stories and releasing it as an e-book to generate additional revenue, perhaps with some commissioned art for it?
I absolutely have, and I've been absolutely lazy with it. I might get it started on Amazon or something some day, but commissioning art can be expensive, so I'd probably use free-for-use stuff initially like so many others do. Is there a demand for this? You tell me! I don't know!
Do you have any creators in the tg space you look to for inspiration?
I first came into contact with TG fiction I loved with Tseudo-Nimm's 'Witchy Ex-Girlfriend', which remains one of my favourite stories. One of my own first stories, 'Perfect Girlfriend,' was heavily inspired by it. As for other creators, I love TheSpiralledEye's stuff. She and I sometimes chat about our mutual inspirations. I also like Anon Allsop's stuff on Fictionmania. Some good historical TG fiction there.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
It's pretty obvious I'm a Dungeons & Dragons player, haha! So that's one thing. I also like reading a lot, so I tend to operate in the fantasy and sci-fi space. I also do painting, just for me. It's cathartic and lets me settle down from writing. Outside of the home I love visiting cafes and socialising with friends in that space.
Would you be interested in doing more stories with Amazonian/Muscular women transformations?
Yep! Absolutely! I love a good buff, tough woman, hence why orc women tend to pop up in my stories when they can. I just need more people to cough up the money for them! Definitely down for Amazonian women - and one story is coming next month that fits the bill!
What story was the hardest to write?
I won't give a direct answer here. Instead, I'll talk about the nature of commissions. The hardest stories to write are the ones where a commissioner is incredibly vague about details despite my urging for them, and then changes their mind a lot or comes up with details after I've written half the story. Basically, the hardest stories to write are ones where I'm given very little to work with and then told that I didn't give them what they wanted. Thankfully, I've not had a commission like that in a long, long time.
What characters did you have the most fun writing?
Kara from Meteor Woman. I had a blast tackling a superheroine story, and it was even better for the fact that the guy she used to be was kind of schlubby and anti-heroic. Well, he was a burglar, so it was a redemption arc as well. I tried to make it a more genuinely tension-laced story at times, and I think I succeeded, while keeping the comic book cheese and transformation kink in there.
If you could hang out with one transformee from one of your stories who would you choose and why?
None of them! I'm serious. It's like when actors are asked about watching their own movies, and they don't because it's too weird. I guess I'd like to hang out with one of the wish-granters in my stories who aren't mischievous in their dealings. I could wish for a few extra zeroes in the bank account, haha!
Feel free to ask any further questions and I'll answer below.
Comments
Camden Levy
Are there any elements from your stories that come from your own life or experiences?
Camden Levy
Favorite Superhero?
Fox Face
That's a really good question Scarlett R! As someone who is not trans, but finds TG fiction a real fascination (one would hope so, since I write so much of it, haha!), I suppose the answer lies in it being the ultimate exploration of something different. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and all that: so how cool and weird and wonderful and amusing and embarrassing would it be to suddenly find yourself on the other side, and even having to play out your part, clothing and behaviours and manners and all? I love to write the affirming and wholesome stuff, but I also find enjoyment in the karmic 'chauvinist finds out what it's like' sort of sense. It's pretty obvious that a lot of my stuff has a kind of 'embarrassment/submissive' kink, if that makes sense. E.g. Stuck as My Best Friend's Babymama is not a really deserved fate, she kind of just has to get used to it and enjoy the rabid sex and babymaking that comes with it. Pregnancy is kind of fascinating because it's something only women can do and no man can understand, and it's both a beautiful and terrifying thing. It has the appeal of being a secondary change too - first a guy becomes a gorgeous woman, and now he's pregnant! I hope that answers your question. It definitely comes less from a place of desiring a transition for me than a genuine curiosity for the other side. There's also a dom/sub element to it that's at the heart of a lot of fetish stuff everywhere.
Scarlett R
Idk if this is a weird question sorry and I get it if you’re not comfy with it but ig do you ever get jealous of your characters? and what makes TG more interesting than any other “stranger in a strange land” plot scenario to you? I know for a lot of trans creators and viewers including myself we see it as affirming, wholesome, and genvy lol but I’m curious to hear a cis person’s perspective on the concept. I really love your work!
Fox Face
I generally just let the story go to the length it needs. I have a broad plan, but sometimes left turns or ideas I come up with along the way make it go longer. Meteor Woman I planned for 40-50k though, and generally I have a 'stopping point' when it comes to the word limit that I aim for. Sometimes it's a discovery process!
Matt Sampson
When you set out to write a longer story like Meteor Woman, do you know how many chapters you’re aiming for up front? Or do you just write until the story finds its way to its own conclusion?
