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

Fathers

Parents, especially fathers, can have a profound impact on our characters. Revealing how our characters were raised helps readers understand their goals and motivations. Sometimes, a character can act just like their parent or the exact opposite. Since my Outer Rim series is about strong women on the frontier of space, my main concern is the impact of the mothers and fathers on the female characters.

In The Pilot, Celara’s father was a drunk and a cheat. At an early age, she was left to fend for herself and her younger brother. Responsibility and honesty—opposites of her father’s behavior—became important to her. She won’t take the easy way out. When she’s accused of smuggling, it’s worse than just a false accusation, it’s like a knife to her heart. Her brother, on the other hand, took the easy route and followed in their father’s footsteps.

 Jileena, in The Chameleon, was “Daddy’s Little Girl.” She tried to please him, but always felt like she fell short. Proving that she could run his company spurs her on. When he offers her the chance to prove herself, she’s so afraid of failing she takes dangerous risks.

In The Protector, Rissa’s preacher father abandoned her at a wild, unnamed outpost, pregnant and unmarried. Her mother had left years before. Rissa vowed to always be there for her child. Losing her baby to traffickers sends her into a deep depression. Only her inner strength pulls her through and gives her the courage to protect other children from slavers.

It’s not just the women who have to fight their fathers. Jileena’s brother, Konner, refused to be their father’s clone. When he was presumed dead, he found the perfect opportunity to be his own person and live the life he wanted.

Dillan, in The Protector, struggled against his father who had planned Dillan’s life—to follow in his footsteps. Dillan’s rebellion made him take unnecessary risks until the day his best friend, Konner, died. Feeling responsible, he was determined to change, to be a responsible adult, what his father wanted him to be. But legally exploiting landowners makes him sick. He must break away to save his soul.

On the other hand, some fathers are worth emulating. In my PI mystery series, Alex wants to be just like her dad. When he retires and leaves her his investigation agency, she’s determined to prove she’s as good an investigator as he was—if not better.

Today is Launch Day for the second Alex O’Hara mystery, The Case of the Fabulous Fiance. To learn more, visit my blog. http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/2015/12/launch-day-case-of-fabulous-fiance.html

World Building: Religion in Science Fiction

by Diane Burton

This is the third time I’ve blogged here about smaller aspects of world building. Previously, I wrote about transportation and aliens.

I learned a long time ago that there are two subjects to avoid in social settings if you value peace—religion and politics. However, both have a place in world building, especially in science fiction. I’m tackling religion today. If you all don’t tar and feather me and run me out of town, I’ll be back next month to talk about politics.

Here on Earth, many inhabitants recognize a supreme being and a place of reward or punishment after we die. It’s evident in our speech, often as exclamations. Oh, God. Heavens! By God. Hell. So it will be in our stories. Think about your characters and the world they inhabit. Did their ancestors come from Earth? If so, their speech will contain many common expressions. If their origins are from somewhere else in the universe, think about how religion plays into their speech. Even more so, their lives.

I’ve been watching episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. One group of people, the Bajorans, revere The Prophets who play a large part in their lives. They believe The Prophets speak to them through others, guide them, even influence their political leaders. Consequently, the conflict between religion and duty to the Federation has played heavily in several episodes. In your world, what part does religion play, if any?

Something else to consider is whether everyone in the world you created believes the same. We don’t here on Earth so why should the inhabitants of a single planet? Unless there’s a “state” religion. Does everyone truly believe or are there dissidents who rebel against a forced state religion? Remember the Pilgrims?

Consider if your characters come from different planets, like the world I’ve built in my Outer Rim series. Since my characters either come from different planets or their immediate ancestors did, their religion-based exclamations aren’t be the same. (It sure would be easier if they were.) In The Pilot, my main characters grew up on three different planets with three different types of religion. I had to develop substitutes for “By God” (for instance) for all three. I used “By the Divine One” for the hero; “By the Matriarch’s left tit” for his buddy; and “By the Spirits” for the heroine. Those exclamations tell you a bit about who or what they worship or revere. The hero’s planet believes in a single supreme being they call the Divine One. No gender implied. On the heroine’s planet, the people revere the spirits of their ancestors. Then there’s the buddy with his irreverent exclamation. (Normally the expression is “By the Matriarch” but he was in crisis mode dodging asteroids.) On his homeworld, a female entity is venerated. Since I stay away from discussion of religious differences in my own social world, I don’t get on a soapbox in my writing either. I try to use a light touch.

Obviously, how the characters speak is a minor aspect of world building. But it was one thing my first editor impressed on me. They’re aliens, she said. They wouldn’t speak as we do. I learned my lesson. Maybe too well.

 

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

Sparks fly around the Outer Rim when rule-bound Administrator Trevarr Jovano clashes with free-spirited space pilot Celara d'Enfaden. She must deliver her cargo or lose her ship to a loanshark. Having lost her last shipment to pirates masquerading as Coalition Inspectors, Celara refuses to be duped again. Determined to make an example of those who flaunt the law, Trevarr seizes her ship. Yet, they must work together to rescue her brother and find his wife's murderer.

Diane Burton is the author of two science fiction romance series, Switched and The Outer Rim. Currently she is working on the third book in The Outer Rim series about strong women on the frontier of space. Diane is a regular contributor here on the 13^th of the month, on The Roses of Prose on the 8^th and 30^th, and every Monday on her own blog: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com

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