Okay, I love cat people. Cherryh’s lion people in the Chanur series are awesome. But we have to admit that cat- and dog-based aliens and fantasy races are a little bit overdone.

At the same time, using animals to inspire aliens is a great way to avoid the trap of using somebody else’s culture, and an easy shortcut to something non-human but still relatable.

(Really alien aliens don’t make good protagonists, after all).

So, here are some things to think about along those lines.