Love Aliens? By Diane Burton

Since I write science fiction romance (usually lumped in with paranormal romance), I don’t do ghosts, dragons, or vampires. My creatures are aliens. Not creepy ones, mind you. I’m not into scary. (I still haven’t watched Alien). Still, I love the costumes kids wear on Halloween. I wonder how many Reys, Kylo Rens, or Stormtroopers we’ll see this year.

  

The main characters in my SFR stories are human. Some of the secondary or tertiary characters aren’t. Characters can have purple skin and curly, indigo hair or resembling a Tasmanian Devil, like the ones in Switched. What about reptilians?  Think T-Rex with longer, stronger arms. That’s how I see some of the henchmen in The Pilot (An Outer Rim Novel: Book 1).

One of my favorite TV shows last year was Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge where creature designers created puppets and animatronic characters competing to win a place with J.H.’s Creature Shop. That’s the place where designers created the aliens for Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and—my favorite—Farscape.

Farscape had such amazing aliens I can’t imagine trying to describe them for a story. It would take pages to accurately describe Ka D’Argo or Pilot. The adage of a picture being worth a thousand words is certainly true here.

In my stories, I can’t use a whole page to describe a creature. Readers will skim or close the book. Instead, the reader gets a brief comment or two, enough to imagine the character. A couple of weeks ago, at the Alpena (MI) Book Festival, I met the most amazing graphic artists. Not only do they write great science fiction, they illustrate the stories, too. I stand in awe of those who can draw. Painting a picture with words seems pale in comparison.

While building the worlds in my Switched and Outer Rim series, I made a conscious decision that the inhabitants of the various planets would look different. Even the human ones. Keeping all of them straight necessitated detailed notes. Not only did they look different, they had different religions, expressions, and mannerisms. Did this enhance the stories? I hope so. Our own world is diverse. Surely those who lived on different planets would also be. Do all the aliens celebrate diversity? That would be amazing…and probably impossible. Racism, ignorance, fear, suspicion. We know them well. Why would the future be any different? We can hope our main characters, at least, would not only be tolerant but embrace the diversity of others.

Switched: Kidnapped by aliens? By mistake?

When wise-cracking Jessie Wyndom is beamed from her farmhouse in Ann Arbor, MI aboard an Alliance starship, she meets a regular Mr. Spock. Captain Marcus Viator's well-organized life is turned upside down by a free-spirited Terran. Fate brings them together. Treachery tears them apart.

The Pilot: There’s no place like home . . . and he just confiscated hers. 

Life on the frontier of space is hard enough so when pirates stole Celara d'Enfaden's cargo, she vowed not to be tricked again. Determined to make an example out of indie pilots who disobey orders, Coalition Administrator Trevarr Jovano impounds Celara’s starship and cargo. If he backs down, he’ll lose respect. If she can’t deliver her cargo, she’ll default on her loan and lose her only home—her ship. More important than her ship, though, is her brother. To rescue him from a galactic gangster, she’ll even work with Jovano who is bent on avenging his wife’s murder.

Both Switched and The Pilot are on sale for 99 cents. See my Amazon author page

Sesame Street, Muppets, and Farscape by Diane Burton

Do you remember the first time you saw Sesame Street? Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo. Were they real to you? What about the Muppet Show? The Muppet Movie?

They have one major thing in common. They are all fabulous creatures from the imagination of Jim Henson. Creatures as real as the actors who play with them.

How does Farscape fit in? It was produced by Jim Henson Production. Rigel and Pilot (animatronic puppets) were created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The alien makeup and prosthetics were made by the Jim Henson Company. Whether it was the clever makeup, the superb acting, or a combination of both, the bizarre-looking aliens were as believable as the humans.

Last summer, my husband and I were fascinated by the TV show “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge” where contestants vied for a job with the Creature Shop by creating puppets and animatronics. The judging emphasized originality and creativity, of course, but also believability.

That is the key—creating believable characters. In our stories, our job is to create believable characters. It doesn’t matter if they are humanoid or alien. What they look like is secondary to believability. What is the character’s goal? In Farscape, Rigel wants to return home to rule again. John Crichton wants to return to Earth. The story revolves around why they can’t.

In my new science fiction romance THE PROTECTOR, Rissa Dix runs a tavern in a remote colony on the frontier. Although most of the characters who frequent the tavern are humanoid, one alien in particular stands out. Nakus. Here’s a short excerpt that shows his disposition, character, and what he looks like.

Only a couple of customers remained, including that no-good Nakus who groused about everything. He didn’t like the food. Too salty. He didn’t like the liquor. Watered down. He didn’t like the vids. Too many repeats.

He slopped some of his watered down chokiris on her beautiful naurem bar top—the one she’d flown all the way to a remote outpost on Balderan to rescue from some idiot who didn’t recognize what lay beneath grime and dirt. If Nakus ruined the finish, she would finish him.

As Kiran wiped up the mess, he glanced at the short, round Kruferian, “Need a bib?”

Rissa strolled behind the bar to Kiran. “Has Nakus paid for anything?”

“Nope,” he muttered.

“Get his credits then cut him off.”

Usually light on his feet, Kiran lumbered—an intimidation trick he’d perfected—over to Nakus. “Time to pay up.”

“In a min.” Nakus wasn’t easily intimidated. “Not finished with my drink. Damn lousy liquor in this place.”

Rissa rolled her eyes. “Yet you come here every night.”

“Not like I have a whole lot of choices.” Nakus swallowed the last few drops in his glass.

“Pay up, Nakus,” Kiran repeated.

“Put it on my account.” The short Kruferian started to slide off the stool.

Kiran reached across the bar and grabbed the front of Nakus’ shirt. “Not so fast. You don’t have an account here anymore.”

“Since when?” Indignation rose in his voice.

Rissa ambled closer. “Since you don’t pay your bills unless I threaten to have Chief Kaminga throw you in the lock-up.”

“Give a hard-working guy a break, will ya, Dix?”

“You? Hard working? Hah. And I’ve told you enough times my name is pronounced Deece. You must be hard of hearing.”

“Or so stupid he can’t remember,” Kiran added as he released Nakus.

“I’m not going to sit here and be insulted.” He slid off the stool, tripped on a rung, and landed on his well-padded rear. “I’m hurt. Lousy stools. I should sue for personal injury.”

“Fat chance getting a lawyer to come here and take your case.” Rissa rounded the end of the bar. “I have had enough of your bellyaching, Nakus.” She grabbed the back of his belt and his collar and lifted him off the floor. “I don’t need your business.”

“Wait,” Kiran called as she hauled the dark-skinned Kruferian toward the outer door. “He hasn’t paid.”

“I’ll collect from Fortuna,” Rissa said over her shoulder. “She’ll take it out of his wages.”

“You can’t do that.” Nakus wriggled and slapped air because his too-short arms couldn’t reach her.

“I can and I will. I don’t tolerate freeloaders.”

Kiran strode ahead of her and opened the door. “Want me to dump his sorry ass out in the street, Boss?”

“I got it.” Like hoisting a keg of ale, she hefted the Kruferian a little higher and heaved him out onto the dusty path that passed for a street.

Nakus rolled several times before scrambling to his wide, flat feet. “I’ll get you for that, Dicks.”

She was sure he deliberately mispronounced her name. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before, you cheapskate.”

He brushed off his baggy trousers, shot her a rude gesture, and waddled across to the boardwalk in front of Fortuna’s. A group of miners who’d watched his humiliation laughed and hurled insults at the little Kruferian. That only added to his indignation.

He shook his fist at her. “I mean it, Dicks. You haven’t seen the last of me.”

Blurb:

After tavern owner Rissa Dix rescues two girls from a slave ship, she must rally the townsfolk to prevent traffickers from returning. Mining heir Dillan Rusteran has loved her for years. Little do they know that by rescuing more children they're tangling with a trafficking ring that puts Rissa in danger.

THE PROTECTOR (An Outer Rim Novel) is available at:

Amazon ~ iTunes ~ Kobo ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Smashwords

 Whether your characters are human, alien, shifter, angel, vampire, etc., remember they need to be "real" to your reader. But first, they need to be real to you.

World Building: Aliens

Last month, I wrote about considering transportation in building your world. Thanks to watching all four seasons of “Farscape” I came up with the idea for this post. Nonhuman characters.

Somehow, I missed “Farscape” the first time around (1999 to 2003). I saw some reruns and couldn’t make heads nor tails of the premise. When I found all the episodes on Amazon Prime, I figured why not watch.

Aside from the major plot line—and American astronaut gets sucked through a wormhole, ends up across the universe, and strives to get home—and the romance between the astronaut and a humanoid, I became fascinated by the aliens. I don’t always pay attention to credits (shame on me) so it was a few episodes before I realized one of the producers was Brian Henson (Jim Henson’s son). Hubs and I were fascinated last year by the reality show “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge.” So it was no wonder that makeup of the characters on “Farscape” were so well crafted.

And were there a lot of alien characters! I can’t imagine having so many different species in a novel if you had to describe each one. In a television show or a movie, this isn’t that big of a problem. But in a novel? If you don’t want to confuse your readers, you would almost need a cast of characters at the beginning.

A fun exercise I thought of while watching “Farscape” was trying to figure out why the aliens looked the way they did. What type of environment did they come from? What was their planet like? Did their culture or religion determine their makeup and clothing? Were they warriors or peacemakers? Conquerors or slaves? What physical features were prized? What personality characteristics?

Whether you write sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary or historical novels, you build the world your characters inhabit. Those characters have backgrounds. We all develop the history of our main characters. We can’t skimp on the secondary or tertiary characters. If you give them a name, you need to know their background. The reader doesn’t need to know everything the writer knows. Think of character development as an iceberg. Ten percent above water (what the reader gets) and ninety percent below water (what the writer knows).

I found so much I could use in my science fiction romances, I considered the time watching “Farscape” research. What a lot of ideas.

I’m participating in the Love at First Sight Valentine’s Day Author Blog Hop, sharing a little bit about my characters from The Pilot, the first book in my Outer Rim series. The Hop runs through Saturday. If you want to have some fun, come on over. http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/2015/02/love-at-first-sight-valentines-day.html