One issue many, if not most, science fiction writers will face is creating realistic aliens. Just slapping on pointy ears or a wrinkly forehead isn’t good enough. How do you make an alien creature seem convincing and believable?
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Biology and Environment
Biology and environment are closely connected. Realistic aliens should have bodies specifically adapted for their home worlds. What challenges would the environment pose to developing life? What type of life would evolve in an alien world?
Your first task is to determine which is more important to your story: the alien or the environment? If you have a specific alien in mind, then use the alien’s biological makeup to determine what sort of environment would produce it. If your story is mainly about the environment, then use the environment to establish what kinds of life would be likely to evolve there.
But how do you do that? Say I’m writing a story about an asteroid heading for earth and the astronauts on a mission to destroy it with an atomic bomb. I’ve already researched asteroids and written half the story, but now I decide I want the astronauts to find intelligent life. Intelligent life living on the asteroid would make the astronauts reconsider destroying it and make the story much more interesting.
Since I can’t change the asteroid to something else, I will work from the environment to determine what kind of life the astronauts might find. An asteroid would pose many problems for an organism to overcome. For example, there is no atmosphere, and no sun to provide heat. What if the aliens lived underground? That might provide some protection from radiation. There could also be frozen water underground which would help them survive.
Since the aliens live underground, they would be blind, relying instead on their sense of touch to get around. But what about heat? Perhaps this asteroid passes by several stars in its light-years-long orbit. When the asteroid is close enough to a star, the aliens are active, but the rest of the time they go into a long hibernation period.
Alien Cultures
With intelligent aliens, biology and environment also affect the alien’s culture.
Religion
My asteroid aliens use deathlike hibernation to survive the cold. To these aliens, death and resurrection are natural, not a miracle. A religion like Christianity would not develop in their world.
Imagine these aliens are conscious during hibernation. How would being frozen for most of their lives affect their view of the supernatural? Perhaps these aliens spend their hibernation period praying that the God of Warmth will return and thaw their world. While frozen, the aliens would be unable to communicate. They might rely on their god for a sense of companionship during this time.
Your aliens’ religion might be their response to a hostile environment. They might depend upon a deity to protect them from predators or natural disasters. They might look to the gods for food. What do your aliens eat? Are they agricultural? Do they raise animals for food? What about parasites? Would a species of intelligent parasites view their host as a god?
Language
The asteroid aliens live in a world with no light and no atmosphere, and all the water is frozen. Without liquid water or air, there is no way to transmit sound from one alien to another. So, they cannot use sound or visual cues to communicate. Their language would be entirely based on touch. They would be unable to communicate with the astronauts. Even if one of the astronauts understood their touch-language, what would he say? The aliens, being blind and deaf, would have a very limited vocabulary, at least from the astronaut’s perspective. The language gap would be immense!
What would the asteroid aliens talk about? Probably much of their conversation would involve hibernation. They would have special words for the “frozen time” and for the reunion period after the thaw when they get reacquainted with their friends. They would have many words for “frozen water” and “dirt,” but none for “star” or “sky.”
Imagine a species of aquatic aliens. How would living under water affect how they communicate? Many deep sea creatures have bioluminescence. Perhaps our fishy aliens communicate via light shows, with different combinations of flashes and colors forming different words.
French musician Jean-François Sudre created an artificial language called “Solresol”. His language has seven syllables to match the heptatonic musical scale. However, a writer could convert the notes into the seven colors of the rainbow and use Solresol as the basis of a color-based alien language.
What about your aliens? Do they have multiple languages, or is one tongue spoken worldwide? Languages develop in geographical isolation, so if your planet has multiple islands or land separated by mountains, there would probably be more than one language, at least at first. Even if your aliens all speak the same language, individuals have their own unique way of speaking. The way an individual speaks depends upon education, occupation, gender, social class, and many other factors.
What about when two alien species meet? When two groups who speak different languages meet, the result depends upon the length of the meeting and how often it happens, and the status of the two groups. Two equal groups will interact differently if one culture is more advanced or has a stronger economy or military.
When two equal cultures meet, they might become bilingual, speaking both languages. Or the businessmen and traders might use a separate language as a means of communication, rather like the way English is used today.
If two unequal cultures meet, the people in the less advanced culture might learn a simplified version of the other’s language, called a “pidgin.” The less advanced culture might lose their language entirely, completely switching to the other’s language. Or they might become bilingual, with a “high” and a “low” language. The high language might be used for business and the low only spoken at home. Would realistic aliens adapt to our language, or would we adapt to theirs? It may depend on which culture develops faster than light technology (and antimatter bombs) first.
A big part of communication is nonverbal. Realistic aliens would likely have different body plans than humans. The more your aliens’ physiology differs, the weirder their gestures, facial expressions, and body language would seem to humans.
Consider what words or linguistic features the aliens’ language has that the human language lacks, and vice versa. Differences in vocabulary and language features are a great opportunity for miscommunication and story conflict. According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, our language limits our thought processes and shapes how we view the world. This idea has proven to be fertile ground for science fiction stories.
These differences affect language transfer, how the features of one language are applied to another. How would realistic aliens’ native language affect the way they speak English? Spend some time considering the unique aspects of your aliens’ language, and their dialogue will sound more distinct and interesting.
If the aliens’ language lacks articles like Russian, they may drop “a” or “the” from their sentences. “Give me ride to moon.”
Double negatives may be perfectly acceptable in the aliens’ language. French, Russian, Polish, and Greek have negative concord, a language feature where double negatives are used to intensify a negative statement. If your aliens’ language has negative concord, they might say “I don’t know nothing about no alien invasion.”
The aliens might come from a culture with different politeness rules, and may have a difficult time adjusting to the “causal” culture of humans. Many human workplaces have abandoned suits and ties, and even allow underlings to address the Mighty Corporate Leader by his first name, instead of bowing and averting their gaze!
If the aliens’ language has different levels of formality, such as the formal and informal “you” in Russian or Spanish or honorific speech in Japanese, the aliens might find everyday English uncomfortably informal. They might insert titles or honorifics whenever they speak to a coworker or superior, even when it’s unnecessary. “Mister David Porter, most respected Assistant Manager of the Marketing Department, where shall we dine for lunch?”
In the aliens’ culture, speaking directly to a superior might be considered rude. As a result, they might speak in an overly cautious or softened way. “If it is not too much trouble, Mister David, may I ask you to consider if my work is of sufficient quality to deserve a raise?”
What about extra linguistic features? Humans love telling jokes that take advantage of the vagueness of language, exploiting words with multiple meanings and sentences that can be interpreted in different ways. If the alien language was far more precise than any earth language, with little to no vagueness, realistic aliens might not understand our humor. They might find human language endlessly frustrating. Humans use the word “hate” to express how they feel about littering, their boss, their ex, violent criminals, and genocidal dictators. It’s the same word, but the emotion behind the word is vastly different in each case.
Realistic aliens may have major biological or psychological differences from humans, making communicating even more difficult. If your aliens get their energy through photosynthesis, they might not have any words for “food”. How would they react to seeing a human eat, an action they have no words to describe? Aliens may have different senses than humans, and lack words for colors or temperatures. Aliens that live underground may lack words for weather patterns. Silicon-based aliens or energy beings may have life experiences so different from humans’ that clear communication is nearly impossible.
Imagine a species of aliens who are all mentally linked, with the ability to share memories. Their language might never develop evidentials. In linguistics, “evidentials” are grammatical elements that explain the evidence for a statement. English does this through phrases like “I saw”, “I think”, “they said”, and so on. In other languages, evidentials are suffixes tacked onto words. However, these aliens would be no need to verbalize the evidence for a statement when they can just show it by sharing a memory.
Humans lack telepathic abilities and could not share memories with the aliens. Communication would be verbal or written. Humans would have no way of knowing if a statement from the aliens were a fact, an educated guess, or an unfounded opinion.
An alien species with a more intimate form of telepathy – say, a hive mind – might speak a language without clusivity. Clusivity is a grammatical distinction between inclusive we (you and I and maybe our friends) and exclusive we (my friends and I but not you). To a hive mind, “we” is always inclusive because the hive mind is all there is on the planet. However, if they encounter a species with individuality, communication becomes difficult.
The Space Marines come to attack the hive mind. The General announces, “Surrender immediately or we will destroy you!” But to the hive mind, the sentence sounds different. “Surrender immediately or my soldiers and I and also you will destroy you!” How can this human threaten to make the hive mind take part in its own destruction? Do the humans have some sort of mind control technology? So confusing!
Art
Again, the asteroid aliens are blind and deaf. If they developed an art form, it would be tactile. They would probably excel at sculpture. They could use their hibernation period to plan an artistic piece in their mind, waiting for the active period when they could finally commit it to stone.
What kind of art would realistic aliens develop if they saw heat, rather than light? What about aliens who communicated via smell? What kind of art would a species of sentient trees create? Could you create art if you were immobile?
Biology has a profound effect on art. Human standards of beauty are closely connected to biology. Scientists say that the faces humans find the most attractive are the most likely to be healthy and fertile. Many men are attracted to women with large breasts, which scientists say is evolution prompting them to choose a mate who can breastfeed many children. What standards of beauty would realistic aliens develop? What sorts of biological advances would they look for in a mate? What would they consider sexy?
Alien Politics
What sort of political system do your aliens have? If you are focused on writing the most realistic aliens you can, you may feel like an earth-style government is the best option. Very often, science fiction will depict “primitive” aliens as living under a monarchy or tribal government, and more “advanced” aliens as practicing some variation of socialism. However, if you would like to be more unique, there are countless other options. Some of the rarer forms of government include:
- Anarchy – A lack of government. There are many types of anarchism, including anarcho-socialism, anarcho-capitalism, and anarcho-syndicalism. They are all different, but they all hate government and enjoy accusing each other of not being “real anarchists.” If your aliens are anarchists, they might not understand the concept of government and simply have alternative ways of organizing, such as an all-knowing AI, or they may be unified in a psychic hive mind and have no need for any other form of organizing.
- Confederation – A union of sovereign states. If the states are only partially self-governing, they may be known as a federation. The European Union is a modern example of a confederation, and the United States was a confederation for a few years until the signing of the Constitution. In science fiction, the most common examples of confederations or similar unions of other governments are interplanetary confederations.
- Theocracy – Rule by a god or deity. Unless you are writing science fantasy, a theocracy in your story is unlikely to involve a god who is physically present and ruling directly. A more realistic theocracy may involve rule by a priesthood, a politician turned cult leader, corporate church leaders, or even nuns turned violent warlords. Your alien theocracy might even worship a powerful animal they have mistaken for a god, some tentacled horror living deep in a cave.
- Kleptocracy – Rule by thieves. In a kleptocracy, the wealthy leaders are embezzling or otherwise stealing from their citizens. Wait, this was supposed to be a list of rare forms of government…
- Noocracy – Rule by the wisest. This is an idea promoted by Plato, and I believe it remains hypothetical. If your aliens practice noocracy, how do they determine the wisest among them? Do they have elections, or is wisdom proven by psychic abilities, a brainwave test, or some other sci-fi means?
- Technocracy – Rule by experts. Leaders are selected based on their expertise in a given area. This is similar to a meritocracy. In science fiction, “technocracy” is also used to refer to rule by literal technology, such as an AI or robot overlords.
- Timocracy – Rule by property owners. Your alien government might only permit people who own land, spaceships, androids, or other important property to vote and hold political office.
- Kakistocracy – Rule by the worst. This is a term used by critics of governments, not an actual system of government, but your aliens might decide to try it. Perhaps they believe that government is a necessary evil and only the most evil among them are fit to rule. If they have many enemy planets, they may wish to elect mad scientists, super villains, and others judged evil enough to keep them safe from the rest of the galaxy.
When you are choosing a form of government, your aliens’ technology and even biology may come into play. Your aliens could be citizens of “states” that only exist in the digital realm, with a list of subscribers instead of borders. They may have a whole separate “country” for AIs, uploaded minds, and other digital beings. If your aliens have some psychic abilities, they may transfer to a new host body when they die, and retain their political power for centuries.
Other Tips for Writing More Realistic Aliens
Alien History
It might be helpful to write a short history of your alien world. Outline the major wars, scientific discoveries, important artists, anything that is likely to affect your aliens’ culture and the development of your story. Their culture affects how they view other alien species, and their motivation for exploring space, fighting wars, conquering worlds, and more.
For more realistic aliens, remember that the most well-known stories in history are those written by the winners, the dominant culture or class. Your alien society may have hundreds of lesser-known cultures, but if they do not have the power to spread the word about their history and struggles, few people might ever know.
Alien Technology
Realistic aliens’ bodies and environment affect the technology they develop. Humans accomplished a lot with their opposable thumbs. Can aliens without hands develop technology? What kind of technology would aliens with flippers develop? Or hooves? What about giant amoebas? What kind of natural resources are available on your alien world? Is the environment harsh, making it hard to build? What kinds of technology would your aliens develop to defend themselves against predators or natural disasters?
It’s also important to consider the motivation behind developing their technology. If your aliens live in a world with harsh conditions and death waiting around every corner, they may only develop technology for survival. But if they are fairly comfortable with a knowledge-based economy, your aliens may develop a kind of digital hedonism, with technology no one actually needs but everyone on their planet wants: robotic companions, virtual reality worlds where every wish is granted, even buttons directly wired into their brains’ pleasure centers.
Aliens and Individuality
Unless your characters always view the aliens from afar, it’s important to make each alien a unique individual. Don’t resort to stereotyping your aliens. Don’t assure your reader that “all Martians are warlike” or “everyone from Venus is secretive and mysterious.” Realistic aliens should be just as unique as human characters.
Tell me what you think. What details do you include when you’re writing realistic aliens? Leave a comment below.
Need to do more research? Check out my Research Sites for Writers page, with links to help you learn about everything from animals to spaceships to robots.
