Author's Intuition: The Learning Writer ~ Alien · 11:56pm Sep 17th, 2016
Welcome everyone to another round of, Author’s Intuition: The Learning Writer. What we have for you today is a subject that I believe most of you will enjoy. A monster that’s so terrifying that it sends chills down the spines of most fearless people. It can tear you apart without a shred of hesitation and harvest your body in use of creating more of itself. What we’ll be discussing today is how this creature was made, what are its strengths, weaknesses, and how it can be used in literature. Without further adieu, let’s get dive right into it’s long cranium and pick out what makes this thing tick.
Alien
Introduction
Our favorite movie monster came to existence in the year 1979. Ever since the first movie it has been recognized as one of those unmistakable creatures that have freaked out many. It continues to thrive in our modern day culture as a movie monster that can still haunt people’s dreams.
History
The Xenomorph, or classified by Weyland-Yutani as XX121, is a species of Extraterrestrial. The origin of this being is rather… complicated. Ideas range from the Xenomorph having a world of its own, known as Xenomorph Prime, or Proteus. Not much evidence to go on there. Another idea is that the “Space Jockeys” created these creatures through bio-engineering. Again, the idea of its creation varies between the two.
What is known is the fact that they were first discovered by the Weyland-Yutani commercial vessel, the Nostromo. There the crew discovered an alien ship, and proceeded to send three of its members to investigate. As you all know, that ended well. After the disastrous encounter, followed by the death of most of the crew, only one person survived. Ellen Ripley. But to stem from our favorite horror film heroine, we return to the Xenomorph.
Following this, Weyland-Yutani did everything in their power to apprehend said Xenomorphs. Which in this case, cost the lives of many people. The Xenomorph itself in the movies was finally obtained. (Speaking of movies, Alien III, and, Alien: Resurrection, may get canonically removed when the fifth Alien movie comes out).
To continue on. In the game universe, Weyland-Yutani does end up achieving such a feat. However, each game foretells that they only have the Xenomorph in their grasp for so long. That is due because the inevitable happens. The Xenomorphs make a jailbreak. The history of this creature is… sort of all over the place. It’s not necessarily confusing, nor is the story itself hard to follow. What is hard to discern is the origin of this creature. Then again, we may never fully understand it. Which actually sounds better then having unlocked all of its mysteries.
Horror Aspect
The Xenomorph is known for being one of the more terrifying movie monsters. Not just for its looks (but let’s be honest, that is a face that only a mother could love).
But in both its killing power, frightening strength, and even the horrendous way it comes into the world. To be honest, that’s the one thing that made this creature so terrifying. That it is born into the world by having a host body get impregnated by a Facehugger. It then only takes a half hour or less after this process for the host to die and for a Chestburster to be born.
It than only takes an hour for this thing to get to its full grown height before it is fully ready to start killing everything in its path. It is still a terrifying creature of today, but now more celebrated for its fame as a killing machine rather than the horror it brought to audiences in the late 70’s.
What Went Wrong?
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the name of the Xenomorph has been ruined. The reason why the horror aspect of it lessened was the creation of the sequel to Alien, Aliens. So what did Aliens do to the Xenomorph. It turned this once terrifying creature that stalked the shadows, to an army of mindless drones that die in such a face pace, they may as well be lemmings throwing themselves off a cliff.
Again, I don’t necessarily feel like the Xenomorph was completely changed because of this. But nowadays, more or less, they’re treated as canon fodder creatures that hardly represent the threat they once did in the first Alien movie. Like the movies, Alien: Resurrection, and games such as Aliens: Colonial Marines, and Aliens vs Predator 1-3 have shown, they are, more or less, killed in such a speed that it makes me wonder if anyone takes into account how they truly can be deadly. (And no. I’m not going to claim all these types of facts because that sets up for a time that will have me spend more arguing than anything else).
Use in Stories
Now this is the important part of what I’ve been getting to. How the use of this creature has been in stories. It’s been… somewhat of an unsuccessful introduction. Let me see here… displaced Xenomorphs. That being some person turning into one. That or there are stories that just seem to abuse the Alien in ways that seem unfitting for it to even be used.
Hell. I’ve seen far worse fics that use the Alien. There was another displaced one that hasn't been worked on since 2013 called, Alien: Thoughts and a New Mind by Da Spy There was this really weird one called, The Journey to the Xenomorph Temple by Sonic Dash 123. What did I not like about these two? The first was a displaced story in theory, but followed the same idea as that of a displaced story. And as most people that seem to agree, displaced stories aren't always the greatest and or most creative. The second one was odd because it made the girls act like this creature was so interesting that they even watched a pony die from a chestburster like it was the Equestrian Games. I didn't move onward after that because the characterization ruined it for me.
That’s not even the worst one. You wanna know which story I thought was the worst one so far? Combine both of those but leave out the displaced story theme. Extraterrestrial by Mr.Devastation101. This story single-mindedly followed the same concept as the first Alien movie. However, barely into the first chapter and I’m already wanting to stop reading and go rewatch the old movie just to feel better. The author killed the characters off like they were canon fodder. The deaths weren’t even that interesting nor did I feel any sympathy or sadness. I was also very... very bored reading this story. I won't go into further detail because I already reviewed this story. Therefore, I've already said my peace.
And now there’s a sequel to it? Oh wait. It’s not. It’s just some kind of… odd alternate idea to the story. But the point still stands. The author, MrDevastation101’s original story was filled with inconsistencies, terrible characterizations, predictable setting, and pretty much a copy paste of the original story with only minor adjustments. Oh wait… it is a story that’ll keep it alive? I can’t… I give up. I give up on any hope that a story will represent the Xenomorph correctly. Thank you for putting this doubt on me, Mr. Devastation101. I thank you for ruining my dreams as well as the other stories here. Not only did you seemingly just ignore your own story's progression, but you brought a character back that you had previously killed off in the beginning. It was also the very first character you killed, Fluttershy. Not that that has any importance to why I am frustrated beyond all belief.
...I don’t see any other story even coming close to representing the Xenomorph correctly. But am I trying to say that I’ve done the best? Of course not. I will never declare myself as a superior author because I know not to step to a level as low as this. I will not compare my own stories to anybody else's.
But I will do my best to give others an idea on how they might think of some way to do it in their own unique way, by at least giving some advice after writing about a creature such a long while. So one good way to start off when you write about this creature is in a way like this. The best approach a Xenomorph has is its stealth. But even then some people mistake that the Xenomorph will somehow alert its victims to its presence as soon as it surprises them. That’s not the case. Only something like a Predator would be able to have some clue as to where it is at. A person or pony? You might as well give them super hearing or something. Sure ponies can hear better than humans, but there’s a reason why the XX121 is good at getting the jump its victims.
Now for writing one Xenomorph? Don’t let it be chaotic and cause mass destruction. That’s one wrong thing to do. It should pick off the town or crew members one by one. That’s what made it such a huge threat in the first movie. Show it as little as possible, but make its appearance a big impact on the character its killing and or scene it is in. Don’t let it just cause mass mayhem because that is not what an Xenomorph is supposed to do.
In the better bet, one Xenomorph could be killed easily if there is only one. Now do take note that an Xenomorph isn’t weak even if it doesn’t get the jump on its victims. It’s physically powerful, stronger than a Polar Bear and possibly even stronger than an African Elephant. (And those animals are pretty strong). It’s as fast as a Cheetah and has a striking velocity faster than most animals on the planet). Even one swipe of its clawed hands can cut a person’s neck open with ease. Another problem is that author’s seem to forget that these creature’s chitinous armor is a lot tougher than it looks. So don’t let the Xenomorph die in one hit.
So that begs the question, how do you write a story where there are multiple? Easy. Don’t make them stupid. They work as a team. Don’t make any of them weaker than another. They are all of the same strength. Same speed. Same mind. So don’t make any of them die easily. They’re all very tough. It’s a little more complicated if you’re dealing with a Praetorian and Queen because than you have to factor how much is it going to take to kill them. More so a problem for the Queen then the Praetorian.
But other then that, it’s more or less, something that is a little easy to fix. To make a story that’s good at showing an Xenomorph? Now that’s a little different. Again, not everyone is going to be good at making one. I’ve only seen another one done right, that being the Alien story, Isolation, by the author, Shadowfall. But that’s all that I can really come up with. Just to note, that everything I say isn’t exactly something to follow to the letter. All of this is up for interpretation and everyone will have their own ideas. And most of all, it takes effort to make a story. So don’t half-ass anything. Don’t cut corners and you should be okay. Other then that, I thank you for reading and shall see you all later!
That picture in the "Horror Aspect" section... was, hands down, one of the best bits of dark humor I've ever seen.
Excellent choice! And it was interesting to learn more about this creature.
4214779 Thank you! Now if you ever decide to make a story about the Alien, you can at least take the advice, edit it into your own thought process, and see what you do with your own influence and ideas.
And yeah, the Xenomorph has a face only a mother can love. 