I first became interested in transformations when I read "Choose your own Adventure" books as a kid. I was attracted to writing from a young age as well, and bee interested in a variety of genres, including science fiction, historical fiction, psychology, the religion/atheism debate, and politics.
When I started writing online much later, I never thought of myself as a transformation writer, even though many of my stories contained transformations and transformation concepts. My main attraction the idea of writing online was that I wanted to express my unconventional ideas and connect with others on that level, which was important to me due to my social isolation at that time.
My first ever transformation story was a gender change fanfic, but I thought of it as just another piece of erotica. When I started writing weight gain stories, I initially thought of them as "BBW appreciation" stories. Ultimately, I designed this site around the concept of transformations because I came to realize that it was the heart of many, if not most, of my ideas. Additionally, an attraction to the idea of transformations serve as a focal point for a veritable community of specific interests, many of which I share.
While I don't have a particular transformation that I like writing best, there are two aspects of a good transformation idea that are present in stories that I enjoy reading and writing the best: one, I enjoy good imagery. To me, a story can succeed solely on the basis of a pleasing paragraph or even just one very vivid sentence. The second aspect is the change in relationships that occurs as a result of transformations, especially if the transformation allows for the exploration of hidden or especially forbidden desires. Probably my most explicit exploration of this theme is "Relationship Realignment," which partly explains why it was my favorite story to write.
How do you decide what story you are going to put up on here and which you want to publish?
I post about 90% of the stories I write to this site. In general, there has to be a specific reason for me to avoid putting something up, the default for me is to post it.
What constitutes my reasons not to post certain stories? There are a few factors. One is if I've been specifically asked to not post a commission I've done by the person who requested it. Two, some stories I do are multi-part and I generally prefer not to post that type of story unless its completed. Three, some stories I plan on editing or expanding in the future, so I want to make sure to release them when they are ready. Very occasionally I feel like the subject matter of a story doesn't quite fit with my overall vision for the site.
I would love to see more age progression tales. Midlife Crisis was great, as was the ebook.
Age Progression is my second most requested theme after Weight Gain. It is a transformation motif in which I'm very confident. I plan on releasing another age progression themed ebook in the next few weeks - a special holiday themed story I've been thinking about for quite a while now.
If you want to know more about my thoughts on Age Progression as a genre, check out my blog post on the genre in depth from a few months back.
I've noticed that a lot of your stories have very, very... Bright endings, even if the nature of the change itself is a downgrade. Do you prefer doing endings like that, and why? It may just be me, but darker endings do seem more... Pleasing.
Generally I prefer happy endings to sad ones in part because I prefer not to think of transformations as a punishment. That being said, I do prefer that the happy endings to be somewhat unconventional. I remember reading a Goosebumps "Choose Your Own Adventure" that expressed this perfectly. The book was called "Shop Till you Drop...Dead!" and featured a scene in which you are battling a giant gorilla in a haunted mall. One choice is to use a magic spell, and if you botch it, you transform into a gorilla monster as well (the description of this was extremely well done). The ending concludes by saying that the other gorilla purses its lips and reaches out towards you lovingly, so at least you won't be lonely. No matter how bad things get, there is always a bright side.
I'm not totally adverse to dark endings but I still think there ought to be some compensation for the person involved. For example, if a character becomes evil and corrupted, they should at least get a chance to enjoy being bad.
Where do you get your ideas?
The singe most inspirational experience for me is to read a story which has a fantastic basic concept but wasn't properly executed or never was finished. This leads me to want to try my own hand at it in hopes of "doing the idea justice."
I think most people have had similar experiences. Who hasn't seem a good movie or read an interesting book that had a disappointing ending? We've all thought about what we would have written instead.
The rest of my ideas I get from just daydreaming. Unlike a lot of other writers, I get minimal inspiration from just wandering around in the world and observing people.