help with Alein descriptions

[shamguy4]

Hello all,

So I am not sure how to describe an alien. He obviously isnt called an alein because in sci-fi books im guessing they are just as common as Humans.

I tried describing as thus:
I wrote
"He turned around to see Shamguy4(im the alien for now...). Shamguy4 had dark purple elastic looking skin. on his head was no hair, rather a lighter purple patch of skin that seemed to glow off the light of the room."

I need some more alien like words to describe what I am seeing but I cant seem to do this well.


He looks very human-like except for his color and claw like hands. Can i write that? Or are there better words for this?

[Nik]

Take a note-book with you, re-write a zillion times then go back and strip-mine...

You may find it easier to drop fragments of description into text. Like... he still remembered his amusement when he saw his first Terran aubergine. It was exactly his head colour before the blue binary's UV began in 2ndSpring...

Find a good thesaurus and go google...

[Blackrook]

Aliens are tricky. Do you want believable aliens, or do you want the kind of aliens you see in Star Trek?

The aliens in Star Trek are nothing more than humans with a bit of make-up to make them look different.

[The Judge]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'alien like words'. If you literally mean a word which the alien himself might use, then call the colour of his head grizxflyk by all means. But no one's going to have the faintest idea what you're talking about, so you'll still have to use the word purple or a synonym somewhere. Obviously if the alien has some feature which isn't present in humans, like tentacles or something, then if the observer knows the technical word for it, use it - but again you'll have to give a general definition such as 'tentacle-like pduves emerging from his shoulder'.

If by 'alien like words' you simply mean unusual, or esoteric, then it comes down to the character who is seeing Shamguy4. You'll be effectively describing him from that person's POV, so I'd suggest you use words which he/she would use. Obviously that's the case if the description comes within dialogue, but to my mind it should apply even in narrative. If Shamguy4 is first seen by a child, then I'd use fairly basic words and constructions eg 'Jenny looked at the alien. He was big. And purple. Like the colour of Miss Smith's dress, only more purpley even.' If he's an explorer who's had contact with the alien race before, then use different terms: 'Shamguy4 was a typical Shamguy; from the egg-plant colour of his elastic skin, to the internal glow which seemed to emanate from his bald, indigo-spotted head.'

I agree with Nik about the thesaurus. Decide on his characteristics and make a list of words which could be helpful (eg purple = lavender, amethyst, violet, plum, hue, shade, tint; claw = talon, sharp, edged, serrated) and use them as occasion demands. But beware of putting words into your characters' mouths which don't belong there. For instance, Shamguy4 might shed his skin like a snake, but there's not many people who would refer to him as undergoing ecdysis - it's a great word, but won't endear you to your readers if it's shoved in without thought or any attempt at explaining it (though coming from a scientist, or a person with a love of words, it would be interesting and could lead to some clever dialogue).

Hope this helps

J

[shamguy4]

thanks,
What I meant was words to describe what I am seeing in my head, but I guess you cant see it....

anyhow I like your ideas of using the theasuarus. Thanks!