{"id":18103,"date":"2023-10-05T12:44:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T17:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=18103"},"modified":"2023-10-05T12:44:05","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T17:44:05","slug":"creating-aliens-in-which-i-spend-an-entire-post-rambling-about-fictional-alien-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2023\/10\/05\/creating-aliens-in-which-i-spend-an-entire-post-rambling-about-fictional-alien-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Aliens! (In Which I Spend An Entire Post Rambling About Fictional Alien Creation)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(A photo of the Orion Nebula)<\/em><\/p>\n

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ALIENS! A icon of my brainrot; I absolutely adore aliens. While I do believe aliens\u00a0exist somewhere out in the cosmos, I\u00a0don\u2019t believe in any alien conspiracy theories (nor do I want to hear about them.) The aliens I’m interested in are the ones of fiction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I love, love, <\/span>love<\/span><\/i>, creating my own species and reading the lore of what others have made. From everything I\u2019ve seen, alien creation has practically no boundaries. Do you want to create an alien that doesn\u2019t incorporate science, or even breaks science? You can do that! The universe is endless- who knows what kind of materials are out there, and what they can do? You want an alien that is built off of science? Also great! That\u2019s absolutely amazing! You want an alien that\u2019s humanoid? Despite what others say, that\u2019s also totally possible! Convergent evolution is already a thing on earth itself! You want an alien that looks other worldly? GO FOR IT! You can make aliens that live in the sea, underground, in the sky, in deadly forests, in hot lava, space itself, and more. Your imagination can run rampant, and you should let it! There\u2019s tons of theories and ideas you can use as well. Life has evolved to be small, so what if a sentient lifeform evolved to be small? What would microscopic societies look like? Alien lifeforms could be made out of some new substance that doesn\u2019t appear alive to humans. What could arise from encountering a species like that? You also don\u2019t need to stick to \u2018bad\u2019 aliens. Aliens can be anything! Good, bad, neutral, whatever! You can even add the societal complexity humanity has to them! I, personally, really love aliens that are just as excited to discover humanity as humanity is to discover them. Positive interactions! My favorite book of all time,<\/span> Project Hail Mary <\/span><\/i>by Andy Weir, has my favorite depiction of aliens ever. Man, I love that book.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve only scratched the surface of alien creation, though. When you build aliens, you can start with a completely blank canvas. Its up to you to decide what their planet looks like, what lives on that planet, the properties of that planet, how it effects the aliens, and vice versa. You can write history from the first evolution all the way to the space age. You get to create an entirely new culture, society, language, religion, and more. Think about how your aliens properties might change how they live! If they\u2019re hyper-intelligent, what would their school systems look like? Would they hold knowledge over strength, strength over knowledge, or maybe something else? If nature is a part of a major religion, would your aliens be more hesitant to destroy it? What are the beauty standards? Are there even beauty standards? A fun exercise for this is to take human customs and reverse them. What if having eye contact is rude? What if houseguests are supposed to cook dinner instead of the host? What if you\u2019re supposed to be loud instead of quiet? <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026Okay, this is probably too many questions. I\u2019ll ask one last question, and its very important. The question is: Why? Its fun making all of these concepts, but its always good to have a reason for why your aliens are the way they are. If you have a concept you really like but can\u2019t find an answer to \u201cWhy,\u201d don\u2019t be afraid to use that concept for another alien species! I personally like to put all my species in the same universe. Here are some final parting tips for creating aliens, but you can do anything! <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n