How to Create a Believable Alien Planet

In a previous posting, I discussed a method for designing an alien species. During that explanation, I touched base on five major criteria of their life: appearance, personality, name, environment, and technology. Each of these topics was spoken of only in a brief way, so expect to see more in-depth descriptions of them in future posts.

For this installment of my blog, I will explain how to create an extraterrestrial world and the solar system it is situated in. Whether you are a science fiction writer or just enjoy world-building as a hobby, I hope this post will interest you.

Visualizing the terrain

The landscape of your alien planet is a very important aspect of its design. If you are writing about this new world, be sure to describe the terrain. Is the planet desert-covered? Is it mountainous? What plant life grows there? These are all questions a reader wants answers to. As an example, I will discuss the planet Spandro from my science fiction novel, A Month Well Spent.

Spandro has several climate regions, much like our own Earth. However, due to its near-horizontal rotational axis and its placement in a triple star system, the planet has no clear equatorial line. The planet also has an irregular orbit around the three stars. As Kintroc said in A Month Well Spent, “Spandro weaves between the stars in a pattern that looks similar to if one had the figure eight symbol, but added another flower petal to it.” This is the sort of detail a science fiction writer must understand about their creations. As I see it, the more knowledge an author has on their planets, the better. No harm can come in thinking about your worlds, and how they work.

Spandro’s southernmost region is so icy that not much can survive there. The only life is that of the most hardy, low-growing mosses.

That last statement is rather typical of a cold-weather area. There are never many interesting creatures that live in these most wasteland-like regions. For that reason, I decided to put a spin on this idea. I added the Arysmal tribe to the Far South.

This brings up an important point I cannot stress too much: don’t always follow the patterns of Earth when creating an alien land. If you do, it will lend an unrealistic air to your story. Although your planet is not real, it must be believable. Design your own life forms, with their own characteristics.

Spandro’s other climate regions include the mountainous East, and the broiling North where the Cantaqil tribe lives. In the east is the capital city of Windud, which is in a deep valley. On Spandro, one sometimes feels like the mountains continue forever on all sides of them.

I will not include animal live as terrain, but in my opinion, plants do fall under this category. In the following paragraphs, some of Spandro’s native wildlife will be listed and described.

Animal Life

Ventrillodae – Of course, these are mentioned first. As anyone who read A Month Well Spent already knows, Ventrillodae are the gray-skinned entities who inhabit the planet Spandro. Roughly five feet tall, they are the equivalent of humans, and the primary settlers of the land. They build cities of metal covered houses and shops, and in the capital, Windud, is a stone temple. The Ventrillodae also live on the other four planets in Spandro’s solar system.

Cantaqil – As mentioned above, these dwell in the northern region of Spandro, as opposed to the versatile Ventrillodae who inhabit the rest of the planet. Cantaqil are around eight to ten feet tall, with red-colored skin and ruddy facial features. Their faces are vaguely circular, and they have long arms and legs with powerful muscles. A Cantaqil has hard, thick skin on its back to prevent damage from the harsh northern sun.

Ristopeds – They are the evil beings in Spandro and the surrounding worlds. Ristopeds appear similar to Ventrillodae, but they are taller and have distinctive yellow eyes. These terrifying creatures originally called the planet Ralztnet their home, but several moved to Spandro, where they lurk around and torment innocent Ventrillodae.

These are the three main species on Spandro. Of course there are many other sorts of living things there, including some flying creatures in the south. However, Ventrillodae, Cantaqil, and Ristopeds are the ones mentioned most frequently in my books.

As you can probably tell, a lot of planning goes into creating an alien world. It is not as simple as naming your character and his home. Next, I will discuss what is probably the most important part of designing your planet. Where are the regions, cities, and landmarks situated?

A Map

Arguably, drawing a map is the best way to familiarize yourself with the details of your alien planet, such as major settlements, bodies of water (if this liquid is present), and prominent mountain ranges. At the beginning of this post is a map of Spandro I created using the Inkscape vector graphic software.

Note the area marked ‘Unknown’ at the far northern section of the map. I added this region to create suspense for readers. If there is a place on your planet that is undiscovered and unexplored, readers will be interested to see what is there.

A map provides great visuals for the author of a science fiction book. As you create new cities and regions of the planet, add them to the map.

Of course, this can also be helpful if your story is set on Earth. Drawing the layout of streets in an imaginary town or even designing the floor plan of your main character’s house can be helpful.

The Solar System

It is also useful to think about the solar system your planet is part of. Are there other planets with life? Obviously, if your book takes place on Mars, it is not necessary to invent a solar system.

Spandro is part of the triple star system Iota Samoaritei, home of the three Zaniiq stars. It shares this solar system with four other planets. As I already said, the planets orbit the stars in an abstract way that somewhat resembles the symbol for infinity, or a figure eight, but ‘with an extra flower petal added to it’. This is an example of using your own imagination to create something interesting for the reader. In a multi-star system, the planets might be expected to travel around all the stars as a cluster, but incorporating an abnormal orbit can be intriguing. It is your planet, and your solar system, so you can choose the layout. As long as it stays believable, anything can be written.

This is my end of my speech. I hope this gave you some tips on how to create an alien planet. If you have anything else to add, submit a comment in the box below. I am by no means a professional writer, just a teenage

r who enjoys the hobby, so I could learn a lot from some of you. In the meantime, I need to prepare for future books, and future posts.