# How do you justify your furries?



## FanaticRat (May 19, 2012)

How do you justify there being anthropomorphic characters in your stories? Do you just throw them in there, create an entirely different universe, or what? 

This has been one of the big things holding me back from actually writing furry fiction (basically, every story I would write I would think, "Why not just use humans?"). I've been in the process of creating my own universe to justify even being there (and probably went a little overboard planning it out but whatever), but I dunno if that's just me. What do you guys do?

On that note, what do you need in a story for you to "buy" that there are furries in it?


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## Evan of Phrygia (May 19, 2012)

Don't call anthros furries. They're anthropormophic. Sentient creatures with recognizable hybrid traits. NOT a fandom.

And it's genre dependent.

Give me a genre and I can reply better


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## Fay V (May 19, 2012)

It depends on the kind of story. For my recent series I just said "fuck it" and tossed them in because the planned audience was furry. 
But then again it's not that serious. 
Just look at stuff like Kung Fu Panda. It doesnt have to be animals, but it doesn't take anything away. 

If you want some serious and dramatic story that could totally work in this universe then that's harder to accomplish. In fact, most furry explanations are pretty tired, cliche, and just detract from the story as a whole.


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## Ad Hoc (May 19, 2012)

It's an easy way to create conflict between groups in the story. Take the Redwall series: If Jacques hadn't decided to use animal species, he would have either had to use existing human races (which would have been awful considering how that issue was treated in Redwall) or create his own (which would have been a little too complex for the spirit of those stories). Anthropomorphizing particular species and assigning them to protagonist/antagonist roles is an easy way to make conflict without reinforcing stereotypes of existing human groups or complicating the setting. It's too simple for adult fiction, but works well for youth fiction. 

They can also be symbolic stand-ins for existing human groups--take Maus. There's a wide variety of reasons for that.

It can be to explore the perspective of a different species. Watership Down could have had human characters, but part of the reason it held such interest was because it was told from such a radically different than we're used to. Similar--Plague Dogs and Black Beauty really probably wouldn't have worked very well with human characters because they were meant to examine issues of animal abuse. 

And sometimes it's just for the hell of it. The Lion King was actually meant to be told with human characters (it's basically a re-telling of Hamlet), but using animals was just a fun and interesting stylistic spin.


Also yiffyyaffymurrpurr.


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## dinosaurdammit (May 19, 2012)

these threads- ugh.


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## Kluuvdar (May 19, 2012)

'Cause I want to! D:<

Edit: 
If I genuinely enjoy a story that I write, and actually think it's decent, chances are that there are other people who will too. If you like anthropomorphics and put them in a story because you think they're cool and enrich the reading, they probably will. You don't have to be a furry to like anthro things.

Edit edit: 


dinosaurdammit said:


> these threads- ugh.



You're so awesome.


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## FanaticRat (May 19, 2012)

> Don't call anthros furries. They're anthropormophic. Sentient creatures with recognizable hybrid traits. NOT a fandom.
> 
> And it's genre dependent.
> 
> Give me a genre and I can reply better



My apologies, I've been trained to use the two terms interchangeably, and I wouldn't have used either in the context of a story. As for genre, well, I don't know. Any genre. Sci-fi, fantasy are easy, I guess, but I'm more concerned with something like contemporary stories or stories without genre, I guess.



> If you want some serious and dramatic story that could totally work in this universe then that's harder to accomplish. In fact, most furry explanations are pretty tired, cliche, and just detract from the story as a whole.



I see. So what would you recommend doing? What are the explanations that irk you and you think crop up too often?



> these threads- ugh.



Once again, my apologies. I simply wanted to start a craft discussion, and admittedly I have not used these forums in forever, and only little before that, so I'm unaware if such threads are played out. I realize that ignorance is no excuse, however. Should I just ask a mod to delete it?


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## Zenia (May 19, 2012)

I am turning someones story into a comic at the moment... his explanation (since there are humans too) is that anthros are the result of genetic engineering... but that they are pretty much the lowest class of person and looked down on by many.


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## Kluuvdar (May 19, 2012)

I'm working on a short story where platoons of soldiers have been shifted through universes into an alternate one in which magic exists. Long story short, their bodies aren't used to the magic, it does wonky things to non-magical-universe things, most of them are turned into dragon anthros, a few mammal anthros here and there, quite a few suffer heart attacks and other strange deaths. In the end it turns into a kind of fantasy steampunk mash up. They've got to live with themselves, see if they can find a way back, or if they even want to go back in their current state, etc etc etc... 
/reasontoplugmystory


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## Seas (May 19, 2012)

My approach in my scifi/fantasy setting on this subject is quite simple: species (at least most of them) evolved independently from eachother on different planets. 
Some of the varios alien species happen to look like anthropomorphic animals, but none of them are anthro versions of any specific Earth animal species.


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## BRN (May 19, 2012)

It's silly to assume there has to be justification. You build your own universe with a story - from the ground-up from your imagination, not top-down from this one we live in.


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## Smelge (May 19, 2012)

Ambiguous is good.

I have a full set of circumstances behind the characters in my comic, I know why they are there and all that. What's the point in just flat out telling people how it happend? That's just throwing away a perfectly good story arc for later.


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## M. LeRenard (May 19, 2012)

Smelge said:


> Ambiguous is good.
> 
> I have a full set of circumstances behind the characters in my comic, I know why they are there and all that. What's the point in just flat out telling people how it happend? That's just throwing away a perfectly good story arc for later.


This is how I deal with the anthros in my novel.  It's a fantasy setting, basically, so they're just kind of there and the other races and things are too.  Like, I don't feel a need to justify why I included Neanderthals, so I'm not going to justify my choice to include animal people.  I may need to justify why I chose to make the main character an animal person, but I've got excuses in the back of my head for that if anyone asks.  And that excuse, to make myself sound smart and well-read, is that he's sort of a modern take on Renart from those old medieval French stories, a set of stories I happen to really like.
Otherwise, well I have this one setting I occasionally write in wherein the only anthros (or other magical creatures) are part of a wizards' guild, and they choose alternate forms because they want to be somewhat distanced from normal human affairs so they can act as impartial judges when lending aid to those societies without magic.  So a benevolent group of almost-human wizards.
I don't know... fact is, it shouldn't matter too much as long as the story is good.  If you're writing for furries, you really don't have to give any kind of justification.  If you're writing mainstream, maybe consider at least thinking of one, I guess, but you don't have to explicitly include it in the story.  If it's holding you up from writing what you want, by all means, put anthros in the story and then justify it to yourself later.


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## Smelge (May 19, 2012)

I like world building. I'd be quite happy spending weeks meticulously crafting a universe, writing down all sorts of details, then never mention them in the comic. Hell, I was quite happy to spend almost 120 hours building a town in 3d that would never even be in my comic. I just wanted to know where the characters had come from, where they lived, family groups, and so on.


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## sunandshadow (May 20, 2012)

I don't have furries, per say, I have aliens.  If they happen to resemble an earthly animal, it is a coincidence and they are not in any way genetically connected to that animal, nor is there one alien for every kind of animal.  Or occasionally I have a mage who hybridizes or mutates human stock with the intent of creating a specialized type of servant or warrior.


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## MythRat (May 22, 2012)

For me it's dependent first on audience, second on genre. If I'm writing for furries, then obviously, I'm going to use anthros regardless of genre. If I'm writing for myself or for a more mundane audience, then how approach it depends on the genre.

Historical/Contemporary Fiction: anthros are just taken as a given, it's an assumption that they're a normal part of the world and society the way humans are.

Sci-fi: Can go one of two ways; anthros are either genetically engineered or exist as incipient species from other worlds. Sometimes if I'm feeling undecided I might use both, i.e. engineered "animals" were left (purposely or otherwise) on some other world and eventually became a sentient anthro species.

Fantasy: Anthros are either treated as an assumption like I do with 'real world' fiction, are a "special" species created by some god or other, or constructs which is basically just a magical rather than scientific version of genetic engineering.

My 'sona falls into that last one. She's a construct created by dark sorcerers to serve their god but rebelled to follow her own path.
Honestly the only reason I bother with justification at all is because I've studied for far too long and it's made my brain overly rational, and if I don't find some way to make it work, it bugs the crap out of me. So whenever I come up with an idea, my first thought is "Yeah, but how does that work? The laws of physics aren't a matter of convenience, y'know." >.< it's actually very annoying.


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## ANTIcarrot (May 26, 2012)

"There's nothing so stupid that humans won't do it at least once."
-Terry Pratchett

Once a civilisation has the ability to create novel life forms, or robots/cyborgs that approximate that ability (either by engineering or magic) then after a few centuries have passed, the probability of the existance of some kind of anthropomorphic species becomes infinite.


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## Kluuvdar (May 26, 2012)

ANTIcarrot said:


> "There's nothing so stupid that humans won't do it at least once."
> -Terry Pratchett



You're my new favorite person.



> Once a civilisation has the ability to create novel life forms, or robots/cyborgs that approximate that ability (either by engineering or magic) then after a few centuries have passed, the probability of the existance of some kind of anthropomorphic species becomes infinite.



Based on the fact that we haven't all blown each other up by then.


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## Mullerornis (May 26, 2012)

Generally I just introduce anthropomorphic species. I like consistency and plausibility, so I rarely create anthropomorphic characters without rhyme or reason.


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## Iudicium_86 (May 28, 2012)

Because humans are so overdone.

But if you'd really like to know about my own story's canon, pretty much think of it an just an alternate reality since my character's ancestry traces back to middle ages and the crusades and many historical events are the same as what we know in our real-world timeline. But if you want an explanation of why all the species and anthro creatures...

Evolution had many more branches. Like how humans can be traced back to a a more primitive form that relates to apes and other simians, in my world, that same sort of process ended up getting applied to canids, felids, reptiles, avians, etc. So instead of sentient hominids/simians, my story's world ended up with sentient [various species].


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## Randolph (May 28, 2012)

This is Tides said:


> Don't call anthros furries. They're anthropormophic. Sentient creatures with recognizable hybrid traits. NOT a fandom.



*THANK YOU*


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## Skappy (May 28, 2012)

Ad Hoc said:


> It's an easy way to create conflict between groups in the story. Take the Redwall series: If Jacques hadn't decided to use animal species, he would have either had to use existing human races (which would have been awful considering how that issue was treated in Redwall) or create his own (which would have been a little too complex for the spirit of those stories). Anthropomorphizing particular species and assigning them to protagonist/antagonist roles is an easy way to make conflict without reinforcing stereotypes of existing human groups or complicating the setting. It's too simple for adult fiction, but works well for youth fiction.
> 
> They can also be symbolic stand-ins for existing human groups--take Maus. There's a wide variety of reasons for that.
> 
> ...



That's a brilliant explanation. 
I agree whole heartedly.


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## Reito (May 28, 2012)

The same reason Gundam has always been about giant robots

because they're cool


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## Mullerornis (May 31, 2012)

I thought Gundam had giant robots because it's fucking unoriginal.


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## FlynnCoyote (Jun 1, 2012)

Use whatever justification you feel the most comfortable with. 

Ambiguously avoiding the issue is the easiest route, but you can use genetic engineering or magic to explain it if you really feel the need to.


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## Akelu (Jun 1, 2012)

Smelge said:


> What's the point in just flat out telling people how it happend? That's just throwing away a perfectly good story arc for later.



I completely agree.  I just started by building a good background for my characters.  I mean they should be your main focus from the beginning.  If you lack good characters then what's the point?  It should come in later and be something that throws your audience/characters for a loop.  There is nothing better in a story than that, "Whhaaaaat!" moment.  To answer your question though.  I decided to make it more of a creation conundrum.  In my story the main eight characters are transported to an anthro world.  The journey transforms them into different animals.  The thing is that they don't know anything about anthros and they have to figure out their "wild side".  The "why" and everything it involves is answered through the progession of the story and characters.  Basically you have a lot of thinking to do.


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## Faustus (Jun 1, 2012)

Why bother to justify things? Does Tolkien justify why there are elves in his world? Nope. Do we ever hear about why there are talking otters in the SpellSinger series, or chatty polar bears in His Dark Materials? If a piece of information is not relevant to the plot of your story, or of interest in explaining the motivations or backstory of any of its characters, you do not need to mention it and in fact it may be damaging to the story's integrity.

Of course there are examples of such exposition in popular fiction - CS Lewis explains the origin of the talking animals of Narnia in 'the Magician's Nephew', I think it was, but in this case the exposition is important to the story because it explains also the origins and motivation of the Witch-Queen Jadis.

So before you include ANY exposition in your story, stop and think: 'Does this have any bearing on the plot? Has it had any direct, tangible effect on a major character? Why would the reader be interested, rather than distracted, by this information?'

-F


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## Kakiookami (Jun 1, 2012)

Even though my book contain both human and an anthropomorphic people in it, i treat them as equal beings.

I won;t know how the audience will take it, but i am tired of so many books with just humans. With different races that looks quite difference, but so slimiler to Human's, i can integrate them throughout the whole story without having to go to extreme leaght's. Also by having animal character's, it helps me to develop relationships for them.


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## DragonTalon (Jun 8, 2012)

Depends on the setting, but for me the only reasonable explanation was it was done by some sort of intelligence.

If set on Earth, genetic tinkering is the obvious way to go.  Either by humans or visiting aliens.

In a fantasy world, such as my current story, I tend to go with it having been done by magic.  A god or wizards or some powerful being decided to uplift all sorts of animals to full intelligence.  

Either way, I prefer it to have been non-natural.  Just seems too hard to really believe human-like development it could happen all at once to species not even closely related to the primate branch.


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## soutthpaw (Jun 8, 2012)

This is Tides said:


> Don't call anthros furries. They're anthropormophic. Sentient creatures with recognizable hybrid traits. NOT a fandom.
> 
> And it's genre dependent.
> 
> Give me a genre and I can reply better


Disagree,  anthros can be furry and vice-versa.   Both are still sentinent species.  Don't think of it as black or white.    Think as a spectrum.   Furry on ones side and anthro on the other.  Then all anthros fit somewhere on the spectrum.     There is not a large therian/anthro fandom so lots of folks that are more toward the therian side still consider theselves Furry (myself included).  Don't let someone's personal view of sementics derail your creativity.     
Try taking anthros out of stories or movies and replace them with humans.....might help u see their benefits.   Or take common funnies...   the unique features of species adss to the story.   Get fuzzy, Garfield,  both dog vs cat personalities.   Shermans lagoon..


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## Ty Rufus (Jun 9, 2012)

In my story I've introduced few races that are very similar in appearance to creatures on Earth. There is the Kitsu, a vulpine race with traits based on kitsune lore and a Greek/Chinese society. Powerful and wise. Or the Silvi, a canid race that could best be described as folves (fox/wolf hybrid), bearing traits of both. Or maybe the Pyrics...near-humans with the traits of a phoenix.

I suppose my justification for using furries/anthros and not just humans is because I want the reader to understand that the universe is massive, and while there are differences we are not so divided. Perhaps evolution in my universe has flowed ways that result in sentient life that's more humanoid, but instead of just primates other animals have gotten their shot. Besides...aliens/anthros/furries/whatever you can best identify them...it adds flavor to the story. X3


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## â™¥Mirandaâ™¥ (Jun 10, 2012)

I've only really used anthropomorphic characters twice

The first time (Steam) was for romantic reasons, there were strong ties with the romantic movement throughout that piece (exoticism, revering of "nature", negative light on "establishment", etc.), so I thought the justification of "mans return to nature" done in a kind of literal sense through animal characters might be a sneaky way of getting furries in there.

The second time was a bit more tenuous (The Duke of Shattered Glass). Foremost it was to establish a whimsical tone, to kind of set up the more fantastic things that happen later on in the work, and also it's used to accent the conflict between the captain and a specific sailor. The captain is an incompetent seaman (blame feudalism), and the sailor is more than capable on the ocean, it makes sense that the captain is a cat and the sailor is an otter.

Furries are very easy to work into pieces of literature, because at it's heart it's just a specific form of personification, which has to be one of the most flexible literary tools ever. You can use it to convey ANYTHING (For example, I recently wrote a prose piece that personified everything that it described, to convey a sense of paranoia. Everything is a person out to get the narrator)


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## KigRatel (Jun 10, 2012)

I'm actually having a hard time thinking of reasons for having an all-anthro cast of characters in a contemporary setting. I have this idea for a story at the back of my mind; a horror story, no less, and I know so far that it takes place in a contemporary setting, with anthros pretty much acting as stand-ins for human beings. I want to come up with a justification but... I... can't... seem to think of one.


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## â™¥Mirandaâ™¥ (Jun 11, 2012)

KigRatel said:


> I'm actually having a hard time thinking of reasons for having an all-anthro cast of characters in a contemporary setting. I have this idea for a story at the back of my mind; a horror story, no less, and I know so far that it takes place in a contemporary setting, with anthros pretty much acting as stand-ins for human beings. I want to come up with a justification but... I... can't... seem to think of one.



Make them all BoHo and you can call your piece a "post-modern analysis of the romantic movement"


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## KigRatel (Jun 11, 2012)

Tybalt Maxwell said:


> Make them all BoHo and you can call your piece a "post-modern analysis of the romantic movement"



Umm... what? What's "BoHo" mean?


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## Shouden (Jun 12, 2012)

For me, I have two universes: in one, my anthro characters evolved into a humanoid form when humans left the planet of Eden, in the other, they're created through a scientific breakthrough using a machine to combine the a human with an animal. The former, is a creative, but round about way of doing it. It let's me play with idea of an entire planet that's NOT Earth and has allowed for some artistic freedom. The latter is pretty simple and there's really no need to explain it any further. It does, however, get hard to justify the "why not just use humans" aspect. But I do like the fact that...they're still animals. They can still smell, see and hear things humans can't. With the latter universe, my main characters are cops, so these inhuman senses come in very handy and I'm mentioning them a lot. For my Cityscape Universe, my main characters are superheroes, so their heightened scenes aren't necessarily needed and thus it's a little harder to justify anthros beyond "It's a planet of anthros."

My Cityscape series is much more like Blacksad: It's a universe of anthros. Do they NEED to be anthros? No. But it's fun. Guardian Angels is much more comic-booky. Having a machine that combines humans and animals into one is definitely something you'd expect from a more sci-fi comic series.


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## â™¥Mirandaâ™¥ (Jun 13, 2012)

KigRatel said:


> Umm... what? What's "BoHo" mean?



Bohemian

Think Ke$ha

(^Solid fucking advice no matter what your problem is)

But of course I'm not being serious

Except for those parenthesis. Obey


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## Earth Rio (Jun 23, 2012)

Well, I enjoy writing fiction with humans in it, but it's relatively easy to use anthropomorhic mythical creatures. Take werewolves, for instance: I choose to make them more anthro than animal, complete with talking and a sane mind. Lycanpires (were-vamp mixes I created) are like the werewolves of legend, but still majorly anthro (despite height). I also am planning to give Kero the cat and Frostrun the rat also human-like personalities.

Also, when it comes to furry stories, I go with any that are good.


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