Writing Aliens, D2D, and Covers

by

In Today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* Writing Aliens
* Affinity Publisher is a Quagmire
* According to D2D
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“The only people who see the whole picture are the ones who step outside the frame.” Salman Rushdie

Writing Aliens

Among the most difficult things for a science fiction writer to do is come up with a convincing alien species.

In fact, we most often take the easy way out and default to humanoid figures with different features: witness Klingons, Vulcans, Ferengi, and other species encountered during the voyages of the various Star Trek space ships.

Another escape-tactic trope often employed in ‘we went there’ SF is to have the alien never be visible. It isn’t INvisible either, but the humans (and readers) never actually see it.

The human visitors can hear, feel, or see the effects of the alien life form—the damage it leaves behind, for example—but they never see the actual alien.

That—along with very tall or even gigantic humanoids (or actual humans) happened a lot on Twilight Zone episodes.

Anecdotally, one of my favorite episodes was titled “To Serve Man,” and the featured aliens were tall, thin, bald humans with huge foreheads dressed in flowing robes.

A little more imaginative trope is to take what we consider a normal inanimate object—say water—and use its features to create a species of alien, as I did in The Consensus. That was great fun.

But I’m always a little stymied when I hear writers say they ‘can’t’ imagine an alien life form that isn’t based on the humanoid form.

By ‘alien life form’ I mean a species that is fully sentient as we experience sentience but one that experiences sentience in a different way than we do.

And the simple fact is, we’re not alone on this little blue ball. We’re literally surrounded by alien life forms.

  • Some insects have thousands of eyes and sense things through their antennae.
  • Cats and dogs see a different spectrum of light than we do.
  • Birds fly, and they’re ever suspicious and watchful when they’re on the ground or on a tree limb.
  • Amphibians and reptiles have their own unique qualities.
  • Take a look at tardigrades sometime.

And according to yesterday’s 1440 Digest, “Octopuses use their arms to sample the microbial populations on different surfaces, distinguishing between food, eggs, and regular objects.” (Read more about this here.)

There are traits and characteristics even within ourselves that we seldom think about: for just one example, the necessity to maintain an appropriate core temperature.

Yet even within that necessity, there are strange variances: We tend to gripe about the air temp being above 90°, yet we bathe or shower in water that’s around 110°.

Now, I’m not saying you should write about an alien planet predominantly populated by cats or snakes or water buffalo or giant ants.

I’m only saying that practically every creature (and plant) on Earth are blessed with different if not ‘better’ traits and characteristics than we have.

So who’s to say your ‘fictional’ aliens can’t possess some of those traits and characteristics?

Step out of your own homo erectus 1%, farm those ‘alien’ characteristics, give them to your aliens, then write what happens.

Affinity Publisher is a Quagmire

If anyone else out there is trying to transition to Affinity Publisher for creating something as simple as a book cover for an ebook, it’s a mess to learn.

However, eBay offers a publication that might help. Search for “Affinity Publisher for Basic Book Covers”. I ordered one. If it works, I’ll keep you apprised.

And in related news…

According to D2D

“BookCovers.com is officially live! Authors, you can choose from over 60,000 professionally designed premade book covers that won’t break the bank. If you’re a professional cover designer, setting up an online store and interacting with authors has never been easier. Click the link above to learn more.”

The above is from the monthly D2D Indie Advantage newsletter. You get it free, but only if you have an account. Sign up at Draft2Digital. Yes, even if you haven’t published anything yet.

Finally, many big-deal writers get their covers from Get Covers. Just sayin’.

Of Interest

Writing Career Camp

Donald E. Westlake’s Brutal Alter Ego

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 710

Writing of Blackwell Ops 46: Sam Granger | Still on the Ghost Trail

Day 1…… 1814 words. To date…… 1814
Day 2…… 2645 words. To date…… 4459

Fiction for June………………………. 28495
Fiction for 2025………………………. 491947
Nonfiction for June……………………. 14420
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 140570
2025 consumable words…………….. 626007

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 12
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 27
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 116
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 297
Short story collections……………………. 29

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Questions are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. But please limit yourself to the topics of writing and publishing.