Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Bizarre Animals

Most of these I've seen. Some are relatively harmless. And then there are the others. Still, it's a cool list.

For those of you reading this blog as a writing class, here is your assignment:
1) Pick any two animals from the list.
2) Mix and match their features into an alien species.
3) Devise an evolutionarily plausible scenario to support those features.
4) Write a short story or poem about your victims alien species.
Tags: nature, photography, science fiction, writing
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  • 5 comments
browngirl

browngirl

March 10 2009, 14:14:18 UTC 12 years ago

That? Is a great assignment. Some random day I may even return here with a finished project.

*wanders off, contemplating between the tasks of my day*
ysabetwordsmith

Yay!

ysabetwordsmith

March 10 2009, 15:45:52 UTC 12 years ago

I'm glad you like it.

I should probably add, in case some people don't know how to derive plot from setting and character, that these are some ways of getting a story out of the assignment:

1) Humans look at the aliens and go "Aaaa!" or "Aw, how cute!" or some other response based on their own instincts and the aliens' appearance, instead of observing the aliens' behavior. This is just about guaranteed to cause some kind of problem.

2) The environment poses a challenge. Any time you have an environment twisting creatures into weird shapes just to survive it, you have opportunity for conflict. Rememeber that the environment itself is allowed to be an antagonist in fiction, preventing characters from achieving their goals.

3) No body is perfect; all of them have limitations. Look at the physical shape of the aliens to figure out what they can and cannot do. Things they can do that humans can't will help them past obstacles. Things they can't do that humans can will hinder them, and may upset them, especially if humans are present. Other limitations may also apply, unique to their situation. Any of that can inspire a story.
mtrose2

heh

mtrose2

March 10 2009, 15:10:25 UTC 12 years ago

"Write a short story or poem about your victims alien species."

That is so you.
fayanora

fayanora

March 10 2009, 23:27:28 UTC 12 years ago

I'm having too much fun writing from the point of view of a machine intelligence right now to bother with that. I may have my muse back! Yesterday I started a story inspired by a conversation you and I had about a week ago. (There's a post about it at my LJ, by the way.)
corivax

corivax

March 11 2009, 22:59:08 UTC 12 years ago

That list seems to be a combination of "has evolved to do interesting things" and "is funny looking." The former is much more interesting than the latter. :) For example, they fail to note a lot of the stranger things about the vampire squid, like the way it "stuns" prey by glowing at it, or the way it hides its own shadow by shining its lights into it...