Are you looking for imaginative alien writing prompts for your next writing project? Here’s a list of alien story ideas to tickle the minds of any middle-schoolers, high school students, NaNoWriMo warriors or any seasoned writers alike!
Read on for prompts like a lone astronaut who must fight an alien hijacker, to a retiree who must fight the aliens infiltrating the minds of his peers!
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The Definition of Alien
Alien life or extraterrestrial life, is life form that possibly exists outside of Earth and does not originate from Earth. Although studies are in progress, no conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life has yet been found.
However, that does not curb humans’ fascination with the speculation of the existence of alien life forms. In fact, since antiquity, various Christian writers and early thinkers have discussed this idea. In turn, it continues to fuel the general public’s interest in this matter. As a matter of fact, 75% of Americans believe in the presence of extraterrestrial life.
The question, then, is…
Why Do Alien Stories Fascinate Us?
We are fascinated by alien stories due to our curiosity and desire to comprehend that which we cannot explain, in this case, our lack of understanding about the greater universe and what’s potentially out there.
Our fascination with aliens also stems from the fact that we love the comparison between us and ‘them’. Fermilab Don Lincoln opined about it here, and we quote:
When we talk about the more intelligent extraterrestrials, we’re really holding a mirror up to ourselves… If we didn’t see ourselves in the vision, we wouldn’t find them [aliens] nearly as fascinating.
Alien Writing Prompts and Story Ideas
So, without further ado! Here are some prompts that will inspire you to write about space and its potential sentient alien inhabitants. Please note that the genders in these writing prompts are just placeholders.
Alien Prompts: Space Adventures
1. On her way to an uncharted planet, a lone astronaut must contend with an alien hijacking the ship to kill and then impersonate her for the purpose of infiltrating Earth.
2. Following an astronaut’s discovery that an alien technology could extend life expectancy by taking it from similar species, she lures her colleagues into the alien planet with the intention of sucking their lives to extend her own.
3. When a group of human explorers arrive at an alien planet, they find that the aliens are pitting them against each other in a wicked game of survival ala Hunger Game.
4. After experiencing one engine failure after another, a group of astronauts must attempt to harness the power of a dragon-like alien form to bring them back to earth despite the language barrier.
Aliens Amongst Us Prompts
1. A retiree relocates to a sleepy beach town only to find that his new friends, fellow senior citizens in that small city, are hosts to alien entities, which explains why they seem to have extraordinary longevity despite their ages.
2. A dying alien bestows his human savior an extraordinary, twisted ability, which incites fear and suspicions from the people around them.
3. After learning that his late husband was an alien, a newly-widowed elderly lady has to endure gruesome space travel to carry out his last will, which is to return his remains to his folks a few light years away from Earth.
4. An alien gets stranded in the house of a lonely housewife, and camouflages themselves as one of the lady’s many plants.
5. The aliens, aware of humankind’s obsession with their cellphones, invent a virus to sap human’s energy every time they use their devices, which they then use to power up their alien ships.
6. Aliens begin colonizing Earth in order to gain a monopoly on marijuana production, as it cannot grow anywhere else in the galaxy except on Earth.
7. Or what about aliens who introduce to humans a new type of hallucinogenic substance and get humans addicted to it in order to control them?
Alien Picture Prompts
Let the pictures below inspire you. What kind of alien stories are they trying to tell you?
(Please click on the image for more information.)
Some ideas:
1. Tiny aliens who disguise themselves as fairies to steal humans’ lifeforces.
2. Or aliens who steal our bees in order to pollinate the plants of their native planet.
(Please click on the image for more information.)
Some ideas:
1. A war is brewing between humans and an invading alien race in which the winner takes all, but it’s a war fought with intelligent strategies and tactics rather than weapons.
2. Or write about two feuding alien races who wage war against each other with the Earth on the stake.
More?
Here are some other posts that you might find interesting:
- Surreal Writing Prompts
- Deep Dark Fantasy Story Ideas
- Futuristic Story Ideas
- 9 Inspiring Hero Story Ideas
Or browse our Story Ideas & Writing Prompts category for more ideas!
Have any question or feedback? Feel free to contact me here. Until next time!
