History SoYouWantTo / WriteAnAlienInvasionStory

There are questions of tone to consider. An Alien Invasion story is science-fiction, which makes it subject to the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness. How realistic, or at least "consistent with our current understanding of science," do you want your work to be? You don't need to have perfect consistency; ''Film/BattleLosAngeles'' {{handwave}}s most of the tech but has very authentic ''military'' operations, with the invaders utilizing the same sorts of strategies and tactics that humans would in the same situation. Conversely you have ''Film/IndependenceDay'', which was frankly ridiculous on all levels but made a ''lot'' more money.

Finally, don't forget CharacterDevelopment. Any character can start out as one of these archetypes; that doesn't mean they have to end the story that way. One of the (few) storytelling beats the Creator/MichaelBay Film/TransformersFilmSeries did a good job on was chronicling the gradual evolution of Sam Witwicky (Creator/ShiaLeBeouf) from helpless, have-to-run-away-from-everything (I-mean-holy-shit-they're-100-foot-tall-robots) ActionSurvivor in the first film to accomplished BadassNormal in the third who can fight a Decepticon one-on-one, DavidVersusGoliath style, and win. It took three films -- which is only reasonable -- and was cathartic as hell when it happened.

Somewhat related to this, you can say that HumansAreBastards, if not [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the real monsters in this tale]]. You can show that for all that we demonize the alien invaders, they're not acting that much different from the ''conquistadores'' of South and Latin America, or - if you feel like launching yourself into a ''really'' deep political mess - the U.S. in Vietnam. When push comes to shove, we're NotSoDifferent, and the increasingly brutal actions of your characters against the aliens can underscore it.

A really interesting question: ''when'' is this going to happen? Traditionally these stories fall into the PossibleWar category, taking place in the PresentDay or TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (''Literature/EndersGame''), but what about the past? We've already had Film/CowboysAndAliens. How about [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights In Shining Armor]] And Aliens? Cavemen and Aliens? WoodenShipsAndIronMen And Aliens? FiveRaces And Aliens? Plenty of schlocky action movies, and maybe even some good stories, lie waiting to be discovered here.

Somewhat related to this, you can say that HumansAreBastards. You can show that for all that we demonize the alien invaders, they're not acting that much different from the ''conquistadores'' of South and Latin America, or - if you feel like launching yourself into a ''really'' deep political mess - the U.S. in Vietnam. When push comes to shove, we're NotSoDifferent, and increasingly brutal actions of your characters can underscore it.

Somewhat related to this, you can say that HumansAreBastards. You can show that for all that we demonize the alien invaders, they're not acting that much different from conquiscadors or - if you feel like launching yourself into ''really'' deep political mess - US in Vietnam. When push comes to shove, we're NotSoDifferent, and increasingly brutal actions of your characters can underscore it.

On the oposite end of the scale, you have what Website/FourChan refers to (slightly mockingly) as ''[[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Humanity_Fuck_Yeah Humanity, Fuck Yeah]]'' - long story short, humans are ''awesome''. [[HumansAreSpecial We are special]], [[HumansAreWarriors we're warriors]], and most of all, when external threat hits us, we band together and kick the hell out of external threat. With the current trend of darker stories and {{Deconstructor Fleet}}s, this can be a very uplifting aesop.

Finally, there's the question of whether you need aliens ''at all''. The UrExample of the Alien Invasion story, and one of the precursors of ScienceFiction as a whole, is ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Dorking The Battle of Dorking]]'', in which Great Britain is attacked and occupied by the horrifying StarfishAliens known as... Germans.

A really interesting question: ''when'' is this going to happen? Traditionally these stories take place in the PresentDay, or occasionally TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (''Literature/EndersGame''), but what about the past? We've already had Film/CowboysAndAliens. How about [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights In Shining Armor]] And Aliens? Cavemen and Aliens? WoodenShipsAndIronMen And Aliens? FiveRaces And Aliens? Plenty of schlocky action movies, and maybe even some good stories, lie waiting to be discovered here.

Scenes of global destruction are a staple of alien invasion stories. Cities are ravaged and destroyed to any point between smoking, holey skyscrapes and large crater where a sprawling metropolises used to be. MonumentalDamage abounds. Planes and fighers fall out of the sky like flies and people and places are strafed.

Make sure that the aliens invade for logical reasons. One of the main flaws of ''{{Film/Signs}}'' is that the aliens are allergic to water, and yet they invade a planet mostly covered in water with high amounts of presipitations while ''walking around completely naked''. Also, try to ensure that your characters are likable. The latter two adaptations of ''Body Snatchers'' make the characters so unlikable that you may cheer for the pod people to win.

TheEveryman is often a good protagonist, just someone who ends up getting caught up in the global devastations. Your usual reader or viewer has the highest chance to sympathise with character like this and see himself in him. If you decide on this archetype, he's unlikely to be a {{Badass}} who takes aliens down with rocket launchers and hand-to-hand comabt - more along the lines of ActionSurvivor. This also limits the scope of your work, but if you don't want to focus on military operations and global scale, that's the right man for you.

You'll want to put some thought as to the scope of your story. How many aliens are arriving? Stories have revolved around entire armies (''Film/BattleLosAngeles'') and sole survivors (''Film/{{ET}}''). Additionally, there's the question of how ''much'' of the invasion you're going to depict. The ''Film/RedDawn'' films may involve a large-scale invasion of American soil by foreign powers, but mostly focus on one cell of TheResistance, with little news about the rest of the country getting in or out.

One big subversion is to turn the tables emotionally. One of the advantages of an Alien Invasion story is that the defenders--human beings--almost automatically have the audience on their side, because they (the audience) should be able to see themselves in the defenders. But why ''are'' the invaders invading? And what happens if they lose? ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', essentially a fantasy version of an Alien Invasion story, pulled a massive PlotTwist by revealing that the BigBad, Dhaos, had invaded to secure precious resources ({{mana}} specifically), without which his world would wither and die. Though he became a WellIntentionedExtremist along the way (the humans of Phantasia had begun too wreak ecological havoc with {{Magitech}}, and he decided to wipe them out), the heroes acknowledged that defeating him didn't necessarily make them good people, and that they were condemning the citizens of this other world to death by saving their own. (Fortunately, a DeusExMachina helped elevate the emotional tone of the ending.) Most Alien Invasion stories are very clear about the consequences if we humans lose, but what are the consequences if we ''win''?

Bare necessities from the first group: EarthIsABattlefield, of course. If you want to make your story big, go for ApocalypseWow and BigBadassBattleSequence as the beginning and/or finale. If you aim for shorter story, try EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion. Remember that in such conflict, humans will have HomeFieldAdvantage. At some point, however, they might feel like they're fighting a HopelessWar. If USA is part of your story, then of course they'll turn into InvadedStatesOfAmerica. Unless you set your story in the countryside, much of the story will be UrbanWarfare. Humanity's first line of defense from invader from above are likely to be fighter planes, so be sure to include FighterLaunchingSequence. SensorSuspense works both in air and on the ground. For extra awesome points you can have EpicShipOnShipAction, OldSchoolDogfighting and EpicTankOnTankAction between human and alien tech.

Bare necessities from the first group: EarthIsABattlefield, of course. If you want to make your story big, go for ApocalypseWow and BigBadassBattleSequence as the beginning and/or finale. If you aim for shorter story, try EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion. Remember that in such conflict, humans will have HomeFieldAdvantage. They're certainly At some point, however, they might feel like they're fighting a HopelessWar. If USA is part of your story, then of course they'll turn into InvadedStatesOfAmerica. Unless you set your story in the countryside, take a long, good look at UrbanWarfare. Humanity's first line of defense from invader from above are likely to be fighter planes, so be sure to include FighterLaunchingSequence. SensorSuspense works both in air and on the ground. For extra awesome points you can have EpicShipOnShipAction, OldSchoolDogfighting and EpicTankOnTankAction between human and alien tech.

If you make your story in more graphic medium, use SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic and BombersOnTheScreen both to cut budget and explain all that's happening without tedious expospeak.

Bare necessities from the first group: EarthIsABattlefield, of course. If you want to make your story big, go for ApocalypseWow and BigBadassBattleSequence as the beginning and/or finale. If you aim for shorter story, try EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion. Remember that in such conflict, humans will have HomeFieldAdvantage. They're certainly At some point, however, they might feel like they're fighting a HopelessWar. If USA is part of your story, then of course they'll turn into InvadedStatesOfAmerica. Unless you set your story in the countryside, take a long, good look at UrbanWarfare. Humanity's first line of defense from invader from above are likely to be fighter planes, so be sure to include FigherLaunchingSequence. SensorSuspense works both in air and on the ground. For extra awesome points you can have EpicShipToShipCombat, OldSchoolDogfighting and EpicTankOnTankAction between human and alien tech.

Scenes of global destruction are a staple of alien invasion stories. Cities are ravaged and destroyed to any point between smoking, holey skyscrapes to large crater where a sprawling metropolis used to be. MonumentalDamage abounds. Planes and fighers fall out of the sky like flies and people and places are strafed.

Closer to the ground, you can show your aliens mowing down soldiers, civilians or both. In fight, humans will likely make use of as much cover as is available, while aliens either NoSell them and just go through the bullets or use cover themselves. In hand-to-hand, it's nice to show humans as somewhat inferior in terms of strength. Show aliens smacking them around a few times like it's nothing. Have humans be GuileHero to aliens' TheBrute.

Out of combat, have your characters play deadly hide-and-seek with aliens, trying to sneak by the enemy they have no chance to match. Those are scenes that work the best at night and if done correctly, they can be more nerve-wrecking memorable than a dozen shootouts.

Remember to include lots of StuffBlowingUp. People love that in any story.

For another variety of a fail, a good lesson on importance of {{Foreshadowing}} and keeping to your rules in story is ''Literature/OutOfTheDark''. While a SoOkayItsAverage book overall, a combination of UnexpectedGenreShift and really good RedHerring resulted in a TwistEnding DeusExMachina of epic proportions. Read it, if only to see what went wrong.

ScienceHero is usually a member of supporting cast rather than the main character. Him and his lab-mates are working on cracking the secrets of BizzareAlienBiology and how to turn it against the invaders. He's the one to sprout TechnoBabble and provide the story with AppliedPhlebotinum or more down-to-eath method of taking down the invaders. He's also the one to function as MrExposition, speculating on alien origins, setting down the rules of the 'verse for the readers and provide MissionControl. If you want to focus on "why" rather than "how" or you prefer more though-out approach to fending hordes of aliens, this character is for you.

Make sure that the aliens invade for logical reasons. One of the main flaws of ''{{Film/Signs}}'' is that the aliens are allergic to water, and yet they invade a planet mostly covered in water with high amounts of presipitations while ''walking around completely naked''. Also, try to ensure that your characters are likable. The latter two adaptations of ''Body Snatchers'' make the characters so unlikable that you may cheer for the pod people to win.

As to aliens' masks, today most go for FacelessGoons approach, where all enemies look identical. You can take this in many different ways - perhaps they're {{The Blank}}s, or maybe there's some humanlike, yet [[RageHelm foreboding]] or {{Uncanny Valley}}ish quality to them. On the other hand, if you're feeling creative, make each mask different. Why? Perhaps it denotes the clan this particular warrior comes from, or calls for favor to aliens' chosen god, or maybe aliens are painting their masks for quick identification on the battlefield, or just to stand out. Going beyond FacelessGoons can flesh out your aliens' culture. On the other hand, if your aliens have terrifying faces by themselves, you can throw helmets away completely and scare your humans with mandibles or MoreTeethThanOsmondFamily.

Go for SceneryGorn - nothing underscores the threat and evilness of aliens like showing cities blown to smithreens or villages slaughtered and burned in the wake of invaders' raiding party. Some gratuitous MonumentalDamange is fine and dandy, but don't overdo it too much - headless Miss Liberty and falling Golden Gate bridge are so cliche many of us would probably be surprised to find the two of them intact in RealLife.

TheEveryman is often a good protagonist, just someone who ends up getting caught up in the global devastations. Scientist and military character tropes are also encouraged.

A really interesting question: ''when'' is this going to happen? Traditionally these stories take place InThePresentDay, or occasionally TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (''Literature/EndersGame''), but what about the past? We've already had Film/CowboysVsAliens. How about [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights In Shining Armor]] vs Aliens? Cavemen Vs Aliens? WoodenShipsAndIronMen Vs Aliens? FiveRaces Vs Aliens? Plenty of schlocky action movies, and maybe even some good stories, lie waiting to be discovered here.

Any armor or spacesuits that the aliens may require.

From human side, you can go for "humans are awesome", "humans are struggling" or "humans are helpless", which fit in at the most recognizable points of SlidingScaleOfCynicismVersusIdealism. ''Film/IndependanceDay'' is the "awesome" and most idealistic variety. At first, aliens hurt us badly, but when we get our bearings, we proceed to hurt them worse with little actual problems. "Struggling" version, however, sits squarely in the middle of the scale and while humans are capable of fighting back, in this world you need to EarnYourHappyEnding. "Helpless" on the other hand, lends itself for more depressing stories, even though technically it would probably be more realistic. Aliens ''are'' more advanced and the best Man can do against them is to form LaResistance and hope that opportunity to destroy the invaders will present itself.

The most basic outline is, of course, that aliens invade the Earth and man must defend himself. However, there's a lot of flexibility here. Will your story follow a global defense, jumping from POV to POV in attempt to chronicle a world-wide war? Will you present your readers just a small cut of the story, showing soldiers warring against the invaders in just one country/region? Or perhaps you're going to show struggles of small, isolated base which has lost contact with the rest of the world and has no idea if anyone but them is fighting anymore? You can also eschew the military completely in favor of showing a group of civillians who try to survive and find sense in the world that has just gone made.

Another possibility is to set your story ''after'' the invasion. Have mankind won, then, or have they lost? If we lost, then the main focus of the story is usually on LaResistance, but why don't make your hero TheQuisling who aids the invader (now occupier) out of fear, chance at personal gain, or simply because he believes that aliens are better managers than people? If we lost, on the other hand, then perhaps we need to fins a way to live with alien survivors, or we're hunting those survivors down, or maybe we're setting into space to deliver inverted alien invasion to our attackers?

The invasion doesn't have to be global. Perhaps your "invaders" are a bunch of really homicidal aliens which have crashed their ship right outside of some god-forgotten town and decide to invade it to kill everyone. In this case, you should take a good look at HorrorTropes.

There are many rarer motifs your alien invader could "wear" - demonic appearance or scary masks hiting at {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}} Culture, avian aliens, reptilian aliens, perhaps even SpaceElves. Given how recently most alien invasion stories has been aiming at something between mammals and insectoids, mostly everything would be a breath of fresh air here.

!!'''The Epic Fails'''

!!Tips
It is important to decide WHY these aliens are invading the Earth. Perhaps they have fled their destroyed homeworld and are looking to colonize a new planet? Or is the Earth home to an extremely rare mineral they require? Or do they just happen to find Earthling brains especially tasty? Decide the reason that these aliens have come to Earth. It is also important to decide what your aliens look like. In alien invasion movies, rubber forehead aliens are rare, but they tend to be humanoid. Why not be original and make them starfish aliens? It is also important to decide on people's reactions to the aliens. What are the government planning to do now that a mysterious spaceship has arrived in Earth orbit? Do they try and make contact, or do they leave it alone? Once again, the choice is yours.

You should try to make your characters likeable, and make the audience care about them. It is important to decide how the movie ends. Who wins, humanity or the invading aliens? Decide if you're rooting for a happy ending, a sad ending or a bittersweet ending.

Above all, have fun!

One of the oldest subgenres of science fiction is the alien invasion subgenre. Monsters from another planet come to Earth to eat our brains/mine our planet/terraform and colonize the Earth. If you're looking to write an alien invasion story, keep reading.