Fantastic realms: Explore extraterrestrial life in your SF

Loving THE ALIEN

Explore extraterrestrial life in your science-fiction with advice from

The question of whether life exists on other planets has long been a source of fascination and speculation, with the worlds of science and technology continuing the search and thinkers and philosophers examining what it means for us denizens of Earth. And of course, that makes it a great area for science-fiction to explore, from tales of first contact to darker invasion storylines to far-flung future tales of aliens and humans mixing freely in a wider intergalactic society. But how do you develop convincing and wellrealised aliens to feature within your story? In this piece, we ’ll take a look at the extraterrestrial question from its many angles.

First contact Even if your story is set far beyond the time humans and aliens first came into contact, there ’ s a lot to be said for considering what the initial encounter would be like. You may wish to consider it a sort of ‘future history ’ , where that first meeting sets the tone for what comes afterwards. Of course society on Earth may be a little different depending on when you are actually setting the story, but I would suggest the following questions would be well worth considering. You may not even get the chance to use the answers to all of them within your story, but even if you don ’ t it will enrich the story regardless. • How was that first contact made? Was it a direct meeting or communication by technological means? • Who was able to make contact with who? • Was the initial contact kept quiet by governments, etc – or was the contact made in a way that was impossible to keep quiet from the public? • What was the reaction from the scientific community? • What was the reaction of the media? • What was the reaction on social media? • Was the initial contact seen as peaceful or not? Was there any threat given, or was there a perceived threat? • What were the first meetings like between alien and human? How might those have played out? • What were the wishes of the aliens as stated? And was there another desire or drive underneath that at all?

Humanoids from outer space A common conundrum for sciencefiction writers wishing to include aliens within their stories is the consideration of just how ‘humanlike ’ these beings should be. In essence, this boils down to a debate of reality vs readability. It ’ s fair to assume that any extraterrestrials we may ever come to encounter are likely to look pretty different to us, and are liable to feed, breathe and communicate in ways that are going to perhaps be completely unfathomable. However that provides a huge barrier to many of the stories you might tell. If there ’ s no method by which you can have a conversation, no face or body language signals to call upon and generally no way to even know which part of the alien you should be talking to, how can you get a complex story over? The solution could be to create a simpler story, an alien invasion that casts the new visitors as an ‘ other ’ to be fought against, or a quiet invasion by subterfuge, stealth and assimilation. You could indeed build the complications of understanding and being understood into the tale – the movie Arrival, based on Ted Chiang ’ s The Story of Your Life, is a truly fascinating exploration of this, not to mention Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Or we go the third way, and something that is often seen in SF –we develop species of aliens that are distinctly humanoid, but do have some differences that serve to set them apart from people. It ’ s impossible to count the number of SF books and franchises that have gone down this road, and there is a definite expediency to doing it, provided you feel as though you can depend on the readers ’ suspension

of disbelief. You might even consider other options – the aliens could be vastly divergent from us, but still have some mechanism to talk to humanity – the old ‘ universal communicator ’ trick – or maybe communication is through another recognisable medium besides speech. Sign language has featured in some alien stories, and I think that ’ s an interesting possibility for something a bit different.

Rules, rules, rules Now here ’ s a word I’ ve used a few times in these articles, but I’ m afraid it bears repeating here. If you consider any of the non-human creatures in fantasy as an example – your dragons, elves, goblins, etc – there are always rules that govern their behaviour, things they can and cannot do. And the same would have to go for any alien species you throw into a sciencefiction. Now putting this together might not be too bad a job if your story focuses on one particular type of interplanetary being. You might even have a story with a lot of ‘background’ aliens that are just there for visual flavour – I’ m thinking in particular of Star Wars ’ Mos Eisley cantina, where we actually meet precious few of its clientele – and as such you don ’ t need to get into this kind of depth.

With that said, if you are featuring many different types of aliens, spending some time considering how things are going to function among them as well as between them will have real value – and let ’ s not forget the humans in the mix too. There might be alien races that are warlike or peaceful. Some will have religion and others won ’ t, some will have more advanced tech than others, some may have skills in particular areas that others don ’ t. If your story is going to feature numerous types of aliens it is going to be well worth asking yourself the following: • What is their speciality – what are their skills, or what resources do they have that could be sought after? • What are their needs – are there things that these aliens require they cannot do or cannot find for

themselves? • Do they work with humans and/or other aliens? Are they on friendly terms? • Are they happy to trade with other species? • Are they at war with human and/or other aliens, or is there tension just waiting to develop? • Do they tend to live in their own cities, or on their own planets, or do they freely mix with humans or other types of aliens? • What are their politics like – how is their society structured? Does that sit well or sit badly with humans and/or other aliens?

Tech-yes or tech-no? The assumption in most SF stories is that aliens are liable to have a technology far beyond our own –though maybe that ’ s an assumption that ties more to where we are in 2022 than where we might be in the future. If you look at the advance of human technology over even the last fifty years, the thought of where we could be in another half a century is mind-boggling. So yes, you could well have an alien species with incredible technology at its fingertips – and this does also provide a firm opportunity for you not to have to explain the workings of it, because it ’ s liable to simply be so incomprehensible to human minds as to be meaningless. There does need to be some sort of limit to this, as you don ’ t want the tech available to eventually become sort of deus ex machina and an easy out for characters in any given situation. Equally you could go the other way, which is rarer, and explore alien creatures that are less advanced than humanity – imagine flipping that oft-seen equation on its head and having people lording it over these newly-encountered extraterrestrials with our remarkable devices. What would happen in that instance?

Less is more Yes, I am aware that what has come before probably poses more questions than it does answers – though as a writer it ’ s by tackling these questions that we often find the heart of a story. With all the above said, it ’ s also very important to consider what you actually need to put into the story, and what is going to become relevant. You may well develop a rich and wellconsidered culture for your aliens –and I would suggest you do. However not all of that is going to be pertinent to the story, so knowing what to leave out and what to include can be a fine art for an author. You could of course use the odd extra flourish for a bit more flavour, but why start exploring rabbit holes that you know don ’ t lead anywhere that matters for the story?

The habit is not to think of that work as ‘ wasted’ – everything you do that adds detail to the aliens will make them seem far more realistic to a reader, just by virtue of you knowing all about them and having the extra confidence in what you are saying. This background will help you deliver a lot of nuance, which is pivotal to immersing a reader in a story.

Aliens as a trope have inhabited science-fiction in many forms, and it ’ s hard to come up with a truly universal view on how they tend to be used. We have brazen and quiet alien invasion stories, stories of humans going on galactic extraterrestrial pilgrimages, tales of communication and trade and trying to find peace… However, what is universal is the need to think deeply about these new beings that you are creating. You could lapse back into old clichés, but so many ideas have been done time and time again that your story is liable to feel stale for employing them. With the questions above, you should be able to develop something that not only feels complete and also well-realised, but also gives you the scope to take your story in a different direction. It might be the case that the alien comes first, and you can use that as the foundation for a story, or the plotline arrives first and you need to inject some aliens into it to make it function. Depth and preplanning can go a long way however it all takes shape.