# How did you come up with your fursona?



## JoeStrike (Oct 25, 2016)

Hi, your friendly neighborhood greymuzzle here...

I'm writing _Furry Nation_, the first book tracing our fandom's birth and growth and connecting it to the human instinct that's been around forever to anthropomorphize animals. (website: furrynation.com ) It will published next fall by Cleis Press.

I'm writing this for the general public, not just furs. The book will also cover mainstream, non-furry anthropomorphism in movies like _Guardians of the Galaxy_, TV shows like _Bojack Horseman_, Broadway musicals like _Cats_, novels featuring anthro characters, anthro art in museums and art galleries... (I've been talking to a lot of the people who create mainstream anthro-themed works; some are cool about furry, others don't want to be associated with us in any way whatsoever.)

There's _tons_ of non-furry anthro stuff out there, and the point I want to make is that furry is part of something much bigger and much older than most people realize. 

Anyway, I'd like to add the voices of as many furs as possible to the book; I'm going to be starting a few threads on the subject, beginning with this one. If anyone wants to contact me personally, just PM me via my JoeStrike or Comus FA pages. 

Okay, to get back where I started from...

*How did you come up with your fursona, its species and its name? Was it spontaneous out of your own brain or inspired by something you came across elsewhere? (Pop culture, mythology, etc.) *

If your story is interesting enough to go into the book I'll contact you to make sure it's okay and maybe ask a follow-up question or two. 

Thanx much, everyone!


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## Tetrachroma (Oct 25, 2016)

I wish I could paraphrase, but there's way too much to cover here. I previously made a post going in-depth about it.

_Very_ in-depth;

forums.furaffinity.net: How My 'Sona Came to Be


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## JoeStrike (Oct 25, 2016)

Tetrachroma said:


> I wish I could paraphrase, but there's way too much to cover here. I previously made a post going in-depth about it.
> 
> _Very_ in-depth;
> 
> forums.furaffinity.net: How My 'Sona Came to Be


Hey thanx - heading there right now...


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## RileyTheOtter (Oct 25, 2016)

My sona came about as a result of my personality, and something I've always felt a strong connection since I was a kid. It is a wolf and tiger hybrid. The wolf comes from the strong connection to canines in general that I've always had for as long as I can remember. Unlike most, I happen to be therian. Specifically the kind of therian that believes I was a wolf in a past life, i'm still trying to nail down the exact species but I do know it's a species of wolf. I could go into further detail if you want, but I won't here because it won't make much sense to most and others will judge me as crazy for it. (If they don't already for being as open about being a therian as I am) The tiger is half is because not only have I felt a strong connection to them to, but also because it's a direct contradiction to the wolf half, and I consider myself a walking contradiction. (like my sona) I can give you the full answer in a PM if you want it.


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## BlueWorrior (Oct 25, 2016)

My fursona's name (Danni Taw) takes my middle name, Daniel and the welsh word for quiet, Tawel, so the name is a combination of who I am and where I'm from.
Danni's a husky, because I just really love huskies. simple as that, really. I was gonna go for a wolf but I changed it because Danni doesn't really inherit many wolf-like characteristics.
He's pretty much a distillation of who I am,taking my good and bad traits and exaggerating them: Danni is kind, understanding, sensitive and creative, but also lazy, clumsy and very emotional.
I haven't put that much time in developing his character because i'm still fairly new to the fandom, but I feel, at least for now, he represents me fairly well.


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## Rant (Oct 25, 2016)

Well my Pheodra here (Phoenix/Dragon) Al'Di'Natch (Egyptian for Thunderstorms) was an evolution over the last 15 years.

It was a hot mess when I started. See me and a few other 12 year olds loved Spyro the dragon and Dragons in general. I wanted to be a red dragon but another kid pitched a fit because there can't be two red dragons, he was more "special" and deserved it. So Natchy was a red backed, blue fronted dragon and looks pretty noobish. Later I kept going back to it and changing the design until I was more satisfied with it. It became feathered, more organically designed. Because I have a deep love of birds I chose the Swollowtailed Kite Eagle as the bird base, mixed in velociraptor for a more 'realistic' dragon form, the Phoenix has fire related abilities that I figured would pair well a fire dragon. Personality wise she is very much like me, or the me I want to be. I use her a mask to say and do the things I can't do irl. Shes not a superpowered fursona like many dragons you see, she's full of faults and weakness. She's more human than I am at times.


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## ChapterAquila92 (Oct 26, 2016)

When I really started developing my fursona back in 2007, the one goal I had in mind was to establish it as a symbolic reflection of the individual I am in real life. Granted, I was a teenager still in high school at the time, but even when I look back in hindsight as an adult I feel as if the fursona I developed still holds its accuracy today.

Initially, I went with a kentrosaurus cyborg whose bionic arm and eye were the result of some injury that I've never quite fully explained to this day. The more I thought about it though, the more I found that the defensive nature of that prehistoric herbivore didn't really suit me all that well. Around that time, I wound up discovering Dungeons & Dragons with a few friends, and through that I became fascinated with at least some of the aspects regarding bronze dragons as described in the v3.5 Monster Manual. Inquisitive, fascinated by warfare, a desire for order... it left a pretty strong impression on an intelligent, structured army brat like myself, to say the least.

The bionics, and the injuries that they made up for, were initially an expression of how far I was willing to push myself in order to accomplish whatever I wanted to do, and how far I was willing to go in order to overcome obstacles that could hinder that progress. I still hold by this mentality today - hence why the bionics are still present on my fursona - but the symbolism now extends into my advocacy for the ethical forms of transhumanism as well; I see a lot of good that can come out of the technologies involved with the ideology, but I'm aware of the risks posed by their abuse as well and therefore want to do what I can to mitigate those risks.

In essence, my fursona is a pro-human transhuman by default, as am I by extension.


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## The Technovorous Cats. (Oct 26, 2016)

I currently have two fursonas. Dana and Tylar are Technovorous. As you might already have figured out, they eat technology. My first thought of this was from my stories I wrote a while back. Biometallic life forms aren't that popular of a subject to think about. Many think of Artificial Intelligence and androids when metal is brought up. To know that one falls under this category, a few aspects must be taken into consideration. 1. A main component in the construct must be a metal. 2. Must be seen as sentient. 3. Must be accepted as alive in association with the human anatomy or anatomy of other species. From these specifications, Dana and Tylar were born. Consumption of metals could be stored within the body, or outside of the body in metallic deposites in the shape desired. Self repair from stored components seemed likely in the form of cell reproduction in biological constructs.Other components would be filtered as seen fit. From what I've wrote so far, I think I've gone overboard. The explanation stands for itself. I hope this was helpful in any way answering your question.


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## Deleted member 82554 (Oct 26, 2016)

My real fursona, not the one you see here is a reflection of me, for the most part. Although, the one I use here is open to speculation and justifiable.


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## Somnium (Oct 26, 2016)

I wanted to be special


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## Guilleum2 (Oct 31, 2016)

I have no idea where it came from. I was just doodling one day and I said YES THAT'S IT.


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## nerdbat (Oct 31, 2016)

I like green color, and my friends say I'm kind of an ass sometimes, so the almighty Greenbutt was born.
Really hope it'll get into a book, btw


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## KitSly (Oct 31, 2016)

I have always liked reptiles and two of my favorites are Iguanas and Komodo Dragons. So when I redid my fursona, I knew he would be a hybrid of the two, and when I found out about Blue Iguanas, that was it.


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## Cyco-Dude (Nov 1, 2016)

we'll say it was inspired by a real animal. *coughlookoverontheleftcough*


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## EdgyMemeLord0 (Nov 1, 2016)

Well, I am not that kind of good when it comes to something where you have to be creative and imagine a few things... So I sat down, thought about what my favourite animal might be so I came up with a dog, and well, my favourite breed is the Shiba inu...  then I basically thought about my two favourite colors and well, grey and blue came into my mind... Also, he kind a doesn't have a name  (yet) so I think I should be more creative....
Well, that's the story of my fursona....


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## Sergei Sóhomo (Nov 1, 2016)

I am me


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## Shameful_Cole (Nov 1, 2016)

By accident while attempting art.


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## Sergei Sóhomo (Nov 1, 2016)

Shameful_Cole said:


> By accident while attempting art.



Wow I didn't know you were a freak of nature


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## Shameful_Cole (Nov 1, 2016)

Sergei Sóhomo said:


> Wow I didn't know you were a freak of nature


Yeah something like that.


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## Yakamaru (Nov 1, 2016)

I like wolves. I also like anthros.

Anthro + Wolf = My Fursona born. Simple.


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## Inzoreno (Nov 1, 2016)

I don't remember exactly when I first decided to create a fursona, but I can tell you he started out as a red fox kitsune that basically was just an exact reflection of myself. I really did not actually use him for a whole lot and only ever got one piece of art of him: www.deviantart.com: Shinobi-no-kitsune Commission

So for years he mostly sat idle until around 2014 when I decided to completely revamp my fursona. See, in 2012 I began to do volunteer work at the Carolina Raptor Center and as such I began to develop a great affection towards owls. So, I eventually decided to change my fursona to reflect my new love. I chose the Great Horned Owl as a species because 1) They are fairly rare for fursona species, 2) They had become one of my favorite, if not THE favorite species and 3) In 2014 I was given the opportunity to work directly with one at the center. I chose to stick with a more realistic color scheme for him as, in general, I much prefer a more realistic coloration for characters so they feel like they could better fit reality. I ended up commissioning the artist Tuke to do the first piece and it has since served as the basis for the rest of the artwork.


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## Star Dancer (Nov 3, 2016)

Being new to furry fandom I spent a few months just reading books and folklore coming up with something that I wanted to be viewed as. I read a lot of fantasy novels and also play a lot of videogames like Elder Scrolls etc. so it had to be something Fantastic. I came up with my character by taking aspects of my culture and combining it with my interests and hobbies. My fursona's name (Namida) means Star Dancer in my native tongue. I personally love dancing and music and studying space and ancient history so that was all included in choosing her name. Her species (Dragon-Lynx) is based off of a mythological creature called the Mishiwbhizu in Ojibwe folklore. I'm sure when I create a second it won't be nearly as in-depth but I wanted my furst to be very special.


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## tucakeane (Nov 3, 2016)

Struggled to come up with one for years. Guess I was either uninspired or just couldn't settle on one specific sona.

But saw Lucaloo selling an adoptable terrorbird (toucan/raptor hybrid) and it was instant <3 <3 <3 so I had to pick him up.


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## MaximusLupis (Nov 4, 2016)

Was trying to make a webcomic back in my freshman year of high school with a bunch of OCs I came up with.

Main character was something I drew on a whiteboard one morning when thinking of a Yorkshire Terrier with hipster glasses (remember that meme)

anyways, I decided that the yellow fur looked horrible, switched to monochrome and the way I had started drawing him after a while he looked more like a Scottish terrier then anything else.

I later decided to use it as a character I would use for online interaction as opposed to my previous Sonic with hipster glasses sprite

It caught on, and considering I was gonna use the character to project my opinions in this world I was building at the time it was perfect to represent myself in online stuff.

I only started calling it a sona after I actually accepted the fact that I was, in fact, a furry.


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## JoeStrike (Nov 5, 2016)

Abyssalrider said:


> My sona came about as a result of my personality, and something I've always felt a strong connection since I was a kid. It is a wolf and tiger hybrid. The wolf comes from the strong connection to canines in general that I've always had for as long as I can remember. Unlike most, I happen to be therian. Specifically the kind of therian that believes I was a wolf in a past life, i'm still trying to nail down the exact species but I do know it's a species of wolf. I could go into further detail if you want, but I won't here because it won't make much sense to most and others will judge me as crazy for it. (If they don't already for being as open about being a therian as I am) The tiger is half is because not only have I felt a strong connection to them to, but also because it's a direct contradiction to the wolf half, and I consider myself a walking contradiction. (like my sona) I can give you the full answer in a PM if you want it.



Yeah I'd def'ly like to hear more about your fursona - you can PM me via my JoeStrike FA page.


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## Jin-Lust-4-Sin (Nov 6, 2016)

My fursona takes a kangaroo form mainly because kangaroos they look adorable to me ; pictures of the little kids poking their head out of their mother's pouch just melt my heart 
Another reason is that they can stand on their tail and use their legs to defend themselves with kicks ; that's so my favorite
But the main reason behind my fursona being a demon, a creature of the darkness, is a long story...


Spoiler: According to my parents...



Before I was born, my parents went to see a fortune-teller to ask about my future. He said that I'd be a blessing to the family's wealth... and I was, indeed. My parents managed to earn a lot, almost impossible to believe. However, for 3 years straight, after my birth, I cried every night, non-stop. Yeah, 3 years in a row, every single night. My parents had no idea what was wrong with me, though, and couldn't make me stop ; I only fell asleep when it was dawn in the next day. My parents took me to a temple and asked the monks to request help from the spirits of the other world to watch over me. However, the crying didn't stop until I was around 3 years old.

Oh yeah, my dad also told me that I'm a son of a lord of the underworld... yes, very hard and vague to explain, I know, but it's not a part of any religion at all, it's just a concept of Vietnamese spiritual culture, nothing blasphemous, so... yeah.

I also notice something strange whenever I go to temples and pagodas with my parents : as soon as I enter the room, I always get a slight but strange dizzy and blurry feeling for no apparent reason, but it immediately ends as soon as I get out.

Strange, too, that I also notice that I usually bring "luck" to the shops or stores that I come in (though not very obvious to notice at first) : for the whole day, I just enter the shop once, and the shopkeeper(s) would get more customers than usual, which essentially mean "temporarily improved business", at least for that day. I guess that's one reason why so many shopkeepers still remember me and welcome me, even after years of me ...

Then, there was a time when I suffer from sleep paralysis a lot... every time I went to sleep, I slowly started to feel my entire body become stuck and immobilized. Usually, I only felt that I couldn't move, as if something was crushing down on me, but occasionally I also felt like I saw vague and random hallucinations that I couldn't understand why.

Another weird thing is that I don't like daylight. Nope. I even feel exhausted when out in the sun (like a vampire, LOL). However, I really enjoy the cloudy and dark sky, especially when it's raining.


All these personal cues are my reasons to make my fursona reflect what I am : someone that... has something to do with the underworld. One way or another.


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## MM13 (Nov 6, 2016)

My first fursona -  a "were-grinch" named Growler was inspired by my love of yeti or grinch-type creatures (you know,  the furred humanoid monster type) -  it was also a nod to Rick Baker who did the makeup for the live-action Grinch movie and most notably was responsible for the makeup in American Werewolf In London.  Originally was meant to be a more villainous character but I decided to make him the protagonist instead.  Unfortunately most people on certain forums made fun of this character as well as the character before it which was a similar yeti type monster based on the late John Candy.   Seems to me it was a classic misunderstanding of Poe's Law since they didn't know that it was supposed to be satirical.

As for my koala-girl character,  well I have a toy koala (a beanie baby) named Mel - which is supposed to be male but I made my Mel female instead and made her a koala-girl.


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## Reyna Malone (Nov 13, 2016)

My name is Reyna Malone and my fursona is half Irish Fox and Half Appalachian Wolf.
I decided to make a canine fursona because I can act very puppy-like in real life. When I feel affectionate, I randomly hug people; If I smell interesting food, perfume, flowers, or practcaly any distinct scent, I tend to sniff the air like a dog; and when I get excited, I get jumpy and start talking really loudly, like a jumping, barking puppy. I also love dogs. I have a pet dog, and if a dog walks within twenty feet of me, I will usually run over and pet it (unless something prevents me from doing that). If there were such a thing as a crazy dog lady, I'd grow up to be one.
The species comes from my family. I have one parent who is from Ireland, and half of my family lives there, so I visit Ireland every other summer. My other parent was raised in upstate New York just miles from the base of the Appalachians, and the other half of my family lives in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. I visit them more often, because driving is easier than a six hour transatlantic flight. Both of my parents lived near Shenandoah when they were dating, but now we move all around the country because of my dad's job. My fursona's species is a nod to my family/my cultural heratige.
My fursona's name is also part of my family history. The first name, Reyna, is because I'm part Italian (from my american parent: their ancestors came from heavily Russian parts of Poland, Slovakia, and Northern Italy through Elis Island before settling in and around Pittsburg), and Malone is from the song "Molly Malone", because my Irish parent was born and raised in Dublin.
The physical aspects, such as being pear-shaped and short, are based on my actual physique. I chose layered black hair, scarlet ears, pinkish-tan fur, and a tail that is black on top and scarlet on the bottom simply because it looks really cool.


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## Reyna Malone (Nov 13, 2016)

A little aditional info, if so desired:
The species also comes from my parents personalities. My American-born parent is outspoken, loves to sing, and is VERY much the "alpha" of our house: what they say is 95% what happens, and everyone just listens to them and does what they say. My Irish-born parent is on the small side, introverted, avoids fights, enjoys strategy based games and activities, and moves very quickly. The family members on both sides exibit many similar traits to the respective parents.


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## Tao (Nov 13, 2016)

I chose an animal that I like best, the two colors I like best, and otherwise modeled my fursona after my real life self. Same physical stats, same dress and hairstyle. Other than being an orange and blue rabbit, my fursona is pretty much me.


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## FerretXing (Nov 14, 2016)

Well the story behind my fursona ir kind of boring, as I own a pet ferret iI chose a ferret fursona, nothing fancy like neon colors, bioluminescence and similar things because I never got into liking those kind of accessories.


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## Bearlinq (Nov 16, 2016)

My fursona is an African Wild Dog and Sharkdog crossbreed named Yvelle. Surprisingly, as I originally planned for my fursona to be a bear as I maaay have a slight obsession with the Ursine family .. ? (Shocker, I know, given my username lmao)

My sona came to be what she is today because of a secret santa I had participated in a few years ago. We were required to give our partners at least one custom made character and my partner gave me this _gorgeous _AWD x Sharkdog design that they had custom ordered from one of my favorite artists. I couldn't believe it when I saw her, still can't honestly, and had fallen in love with her ever since. Despite her design being rather.. uh.. Pain in the ass-ish to draw. Either way, I love her so much and I'm forever going to be grateful for the person who gave her to me !

At first, Yvelle wasn't meant to be my fursona. She just started off as a really well liked main character of mine, then once her bio was fully fleshed out, I sort of fell more in love if it was even possible at that point. Yvelle's personality, compared to mine, is completely different, but that doesn't change the fact that I have a huge emotional bond with her as a character. Sure that might sound silly to say but, honestly, Yvelle has acted as sort of a way to vent/blow off steam via drawing/writing/etc and I think that's where I decided I wanted her to represent me. We both have our differences, yes, but even with my first fursona (who was a disaster, we don't talk about him), I never wanted a character that was me in every way, shape, and form.

Total, I have 4 characters that I consider "Sonas". My Persona, fursona, Ventsona, and Ponysona. While my persona is the most accurate one that describes me, he's also more of an inspiration as well. Even with his flaws, he's what I want to be as a person. My ventsona and ponysona are pretty similar in that the ventsona started off as being my struggles, my fears, just my emotionally unstable mind in general and my ponysona is similar but different. (that totally makes sense.) Over time, I realized the ventsona also became the personification of that little voice in my head that says hurting myself is a good idea. In short, I have a love/hate relationship with that character. He's proved to be therapeutic at times, believe it or not. As for my ponysona, Glitch Hop, to sum her up, she's a broken "glitched" robo-pone who disobeyed the scientists who created her, essentially forcing herself to go against her coding and programming. In retrospect, that may reference my own life in the past and present to an extent.

All in all, these characters, including past fursonas I've had, have always had little pieces of myself while still also having their own characteristics to them, if that makes any sense. They've been so fun to develop, share with my friends, get ideas for, all that good fun stuff. It's probably silly to get so emotionally attached to these characters, they're just pixels on a screen after all, but regardless, I love them and they've helped me through so much. I wouldn't give them up for the world.


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