Science Fiction Writing: First Contact
Some ideas on how to write a first contact scenario
Culture Shock
I love first contact stories in Science Fiction. They help to challenge your own beliefs and worldview, which, for most of us, are traditionally western.
Think about the moment when one culture first encounters another.
For example: think about the first encounter between the Spanish Conquistadors and the Aztecs.
· The Aztecs had prophesied the return of their white-skinned, bearded god Quetzalcoatl. They thought that Hernando Cortes was him.
· The Aztecs had never seen horses before and thought that the men and beasts were one creature.
· The Aztecs had never seen such huge sailing ships as the Spanish galleons. Scouts reported that they had seen moving mountains.
· The Spanish had never seen such splendour as the mighty Aztec Empire. They believed they had entered a fairy-tale realm. Some believed they had found Atlantis.
· They were horrified by the human sacrifices. They believed that the feathered serpent that the Aztecs worshiped was the devil.
· The Aztec Day of the Dead, and their reverence for skulls, was seen by the Spanish as a morbid preoccupation with death.
