Human + X: Creating Believable Aliens in Fiction

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So today I want to talk about aliens. More accurately, I want to talk about a subset of aliens.

The fictional variety.

The type of aliens that appear on the pages of science fiction novels, and in the episodes of space operas.

If real aliens exist, Hola to them too! Hope we see you guys soon. But for now, I’m gonna limit myself to the aliens created for our entertainment. AKA book and movie aliens.

In fact, now that I think about it, the points I’m about to discuss can apply to any non-human, sentient species. They don’t necessarily need to be alien, as in inhabitants of another planet. Earthly beings such as elves, dwarves, vampires, and were-animals of all sorts also qualify – although these are more likely to appear in fantasy than sci-fi.

The point is, the thingy needs to be not human, and self-aware enough to realize that it is not, and what that entails.

What Measure is an Alien?

The thing that first got me thinking about aliens was the need to create versions of them for my own stories.

You see, one thing that had always bothered me about fictional aliens was just how…human they seemed. Aliens in fantasy and sci-fi seemed to me to just be humans, plus something extra.

For example, Vulcans are humans plus excessive logic and pointy ears. Elves are pretty and wise humans. Dwarves are short and mechanically inclined humans. Werewolves are humans with sharpened senses and (sometimes) heightened aggression. You get my point. What was so alien about these aliens anyway??

Points of Difference

The problem I often seemed to encounter in fantasy and sci-fi alike was that the results of these differences were never discussed. For example, how would a race that lives for thousands of years view time? I mean, if an elven species lives for thousands of years, why would they even feel the need to go to war with humans? It’s like humans going to war with goldfish. What’s the point? The humans would die of old age by the time the elves have decided on the type of arrow to use.

Similarly, would a species that never dies consider murder a crime? If yes, then why?

How would a race that is overly dedicated to logic design clothing? Would their perception of beauty also be influenced by their preoccupation with logic, so that they see the most logical attire as the most beautiful one in the given climate? Would they even understand the concept of subjective attractiveness?

These are just some of the questions about aliens that have haunted me for quite a few years now. This affliction was only made worse when I started world-building for my own novel.

My Own Personal Alien!!

For my novel, I’d created an angel-like race called Aeriels that were essentially peaceful by nature, but had been driven – through a series of events – into a destructive war with humanity. The question then was, why were they fighting if they were so peaceful? But more importantly, why were they peaceful in the first place?

This question was easily answered by the fact that the Aeriels did not need food or water, they sustained themselves with sunlight. And they came from a world where the sun literally never set. So the Aeriels had never learned to fight because they had never needed to compete for scarce resources. It’s like if humans could survive simply by breathing air. This, of course, led to all kinds of confusion on their part when they realized the humans wanted to settle scores with a good old fashioned war!

Some Examples of Awesome Aliens in Fiction

And this is not to say that none of these questions were ever satisfactorily answered in the world of mainstream science fiction or fantasy. I once read a novel about a hive-mind species that didn’t mind if individual members of their race were killed, because to them each individual is just an extension of the planet-wide hive-mind. I mean you wouldn’t really care if somebody cut off a bit of your hair (even without your permission). Sure, you might be annoyed with them, even temporarily angry, but you wouldn’t want to send them to prison over it. That was pretty much how this species viewed the murder of its members…like cutting off bits of hair!

I also really liked the explanation given in a very popular vampire novel, for a family of vampires having a lot of money. You see, they invested in the stock market. And because they live forever, they’re basically reaping the benefits of centuries’ worth of compound interest. I thought that was quite a brilliant piece of detail. I mean, the only thing hotter than rich vampires is rich vampires who’re savvy investors, amiright?!!

The thing with alienness, of course, is that there are different varieties of it. What is it that makes an alien, alien? Therein lies the question.

The Various Types of Alienness

Of course, there’s the obvious. Those who are physically alien. If a spaceship lands on your backyard, and a creature emerges from it that has five heads and three pairs of wings, you can be reasonably sure that it is an alien.

Then there is psychological alienness, which is slightly more subtle. A creature that does not consider lying a problem because it can read people’s minds. Or, like I said above, a creature that doesn’t think murder is wrong because it cannot die.

The thing about depicting profound psychological differences is that they would also lead to differences in motivation and goals. Much of what humans do (working, socializing, etc.) is at a fundamental level geared towards survival. The survival of the individual and his tribe. So how would a species behave that is not motivated by the need to survive, because it cannot die?

Psychological differences can also arise from physical differences. To take the example above, would a creature with five heads be more intelligent, or would it have multiple personalities? If it has a brain inside each of those heads, would those brains always work in tandem with one another, or might they sometimes be in conflict? Would a hive-mind be capable of understanding the value of an individual life?

Finally, there are cultural differences. Cultural differences are a culmination of both physical and psychological differences. Cultures are created by the individuals of a species. For instance, humans have a culture that considers stealing a crime, because we value the concept of personal wealth. Would a being belonging to a hive mind even comprehend the concept of stealing?

On the other hand, would a race that relies exclusively on logic, consider it illegal to steal from someone who has something in excess, and would therefore not really miss the thing that was stolen? I mean logically, if a person who earns a hundred bucks a day were to steal another hundred from someone who earns a thousand a day, then the theft would effectively double his income while only making a small dent of 10% on the income of the person from whom the money was stolen.

From a purely logical point of view, might that not just be seen as efficient allocation of resources? If it was, then might we have a culture of hyper logical beings that actually encourage stealing as a form of income redistribution for efficient resource allocation? Or would that responsibility fall to the government in the form of tax collection? What might Vulcans have to say about that idea?

I once watched a movie about aliens that could see the future. They also looked like octopuses and had multiple legs/tentacles. They wrote in a circular script, where they began to write from two ends with both hands at the same time. The sentence ended in a perfect circle, with both hands meeting at exactly the same place.

Now imagine trying to write one sentence with both hands at once, your left hand starting at the beginning of the sentence and your right hand starting at the end. You’d have to calculate to perfection, exactly how fast both of your hands would write, how much space each letter in the sentence would require, and how many words each of your hands will be able to write before it meets the other one in the middle. Moreover, you will also have to know before you begin a sentence exactly how you’re planning to end it.

When you think about it, isn’t that language and script the natural consequence of a culture that can look into the future, just as tools are the natural consequence of a culture that has opposable thumbs?

The Problem of Relating to Truly Alien Aliens

The problem with writing truly alien aliens, of course, is that they’re not very relatable. It’s one thing to have a morally grey protagonist, but how do you deal with a morally orange love-interest? Black and white characters might well be boring, but if the spectrum of your character’s morality starts at bright pink and ends at fluorescent green, readers might have a bit of a hard time trying to understand their motivations, much less relate to them.

And I suppose that is one of the major reasons why writers and movie makers choose to create aliens that are basically: Human + X.

Because they’re relatable, and it’s hard to get readers to care about a character who is difficult to relate to on a fundamental level. Most people seek early on to establish a connection with the characters that they are reading about (or watching, for that matter).

And that connection is hard to come by when you’re trying to imagine a creature that has access to the memories, thoughts, and experiences of every member of its species that has ever been born – as would be the case for a hive mind. How would a being like that think or act? And as a very human writer with a very limited ambit of accumulated experience and knowledge, how can you even begin to depict such a creature?

How, for that matter, can you accurately guess the emotional conflicts of an immortal being, when you yourself are very mortal, as is everyone else you know? Personally, I would think immortal vampires would struggle far more with culture shock than any romantic angst. I mean, my grandmother can’t stop talking about how different things were in ‘her time’, and she wasn’t even alive a hundred years ago. Can you imagine how much worse it would be if you lived for a thousand years?!

Well, those are just my ideas, anyway. You can, of course, think differently. Let me know in the comments below what kind of aliens you’d like to see in science fiction and fantasy!