Alien Story Ideas (List of 50+ Ideas)

Ever since humanity looked to the stars and understood what they were, we’ve forever been wondering if we’re alone in the cosmos. Perhaps, one day, we’ll find out. But until that point science fiction writers love to run with the concept of alien civilisations making contact with humanity. As the knowledge base of scientists expands, so too will imaginations the world over ponder how aliens would, could, and should exist.

In today’s article we’ll be covering alien story ideas for all the budding sci fi writers out there that are scanning the stars for their next idea!

Alien Story Ideas

To make this list easy to navigate, we’ve broken it down into a few categories (with explanations for their categorization below):

• 1 – Alien Abduction Story Ideas
• 2 – Alien Invasion Story Ideas
• 3 – Alien Communication Story Ideas
• 4 – Extra terrestrial Alien Story Ideas

Alien Abduction Story Ideas

1. Ancient Alien Sacrifices – this story idea is centred around the idea that ancient human civilisations saw aliens as ‘gods’ to sacrifice animals and people for. Why do they need sacrifices? What happens to the sacrifices? What happens if the humans refuse?
2. Panspermia – this idea is, in a way, a benevolent alien abduction idea (rather than malevolent aliens). Imagine a race of aliens that see themselves as our guardians and, knowing the planet is doomed, help us facilitate the development panspermia technology. How would human society react to such revelations?
3. The Hybrid Offspring – for this idea, you can choose to tell it from the perspective of the child or the mother (or both). The crux of the idea is that a hybrid child/alien hybrid was the indirect result of an alien abduction. What does this mean for humans? For the child? And for the mother?
4. Alien Implant – a human loses their memory for three full days. The last thing they remember is going a walk in the countryside in broad daylight. When they find themselves in a forest, they have no idea how they got there. Then they realise they have a new implant on their leg. What does it do? Why is it there? What do they do?
5. Mind Control Implant – a variation of the above alien implant idea, but it is a mind control implant. Can the person fight it? Can their friends and family help them get free? What will it take? Why is it needed for the aliens?
6. Alien Cultist – a human is abducted by aliens and comes back to Earth to lead a cult / movement. What is the cult about? What are the leader’s revelations? Is it intentional by the aliens or unintentional? What are the implications for the newly formed cult and its followers?
7. Repressed Memories – a person begins to reacquire old memories in which they realise they’ve been abducted. Will anyone believe them? What will they do? Why were they abducted?
8. The Witness – a person witnesses another person or animal being abducted. What do they do? How do they act? How will people believe them?
9. Unbelievable Secret – after a person is abducted they begin to experience severe mental disorder. The aftermath of the abduction strains all their relationships. Can they prove it happened? Will it happen again? What did the aliens do to them?
10. Split Personality Imposter – after being abducted, a person begins to experience similar symptoms to split personality, only it turns out they are controlled by aliens during one such personality. How does this impact the person afflicted? Why does it happen? What are the alien’s goals? Is the person saveable?
11. Military Cover Up – a nation’s military are aware of alien abductions and decide to monitor the abductions, and cover them up. Your main character finds out about this. What will they do? How will they approach the subject? How did they find out? Why is it happening?
12. Human Hybrid Experiment – after a comet hits Earth with biological material, scientists realise it could potentially be used to create superhumans. The government are losing a conflict and sign off the experiments (and abduct suitable candidates from their population). How does your main character fit into this? Are they the abductor or abductee?
13. The abduction problem – various people who are not previously connected all bond through the same kind of alien abduction. Each person learns they are not alone, but what are the aliens’ agenda? What can they do about it?
14. Brain harvesting – rumours spread through a small town that people are going missing and aliens are the cause. Our main character narrowly escapes abduction and finds out aliens want out brains as processors for their biological ships. What happens next?
15. Changed World – a person is abducted by aliens and upon their return, the world isn’t how they remember it. What is real? How do they get home? Is their memory different, or their reality?
16. Witness / Mutation – a person witnesses the unthinkable when a person or animal is abducted by aliens. Hours afterwards, after trying to explain it away, they investigate the abduction site. Some strange organic material touches their skin, attaches itself, and begins to mutate them. Why? What happens next?
17. Abduction Celebrity – after a public abduction in broad daylight, the world couldn’t believe reality. Then, the abductee returns. The new found fame the abduction has on them is something they are not prepared for. Are they safe from persecution? Experimentation? Will they ever have basic freedoms again?
18. Lost time – the last thing your protagonist remembers is an alien craft taking them from their home in a small town. Next thing they know they wake up in a mountain range far from home, and they are middle-aged. Will they survive? What happened to them? How will they reintegrate into society? Who will believe them?
19. The Human Singularity – after a person is abducted by aliens and cybernetically enhanced, it begins to raise questions about if they are still human, or if they are now a machine. What is consciousness? What makes a human life? Factions across the world want to kidnap the abductee and take them apart for the tech. Would it be a decommission, or a murder?
20. Abductee Time Travels – after an abductee is returned to Earth, they find that they have time travelled to the 1950s. How did this happen? Is there a way back? What did the aliens do?

Alien Invasion Story Ideas

21. Classic Alien Invasion – may as well start with the classic alien invasion idea! Aliens suddenly, without prior warning, start landing on Earth and razing everything in sight. Who is your character? How will they survive? Will they chose to fight? Where is safe?
22. Alien Espionage – this idea is, basically, about aliens planting spies among the population. Depending on how crazy you are, you may believe this is a reality in the real world. But as far as fiction goes, this is a great way to mix the alien invasion trope with the classic spy thriller trope. Why did the aliens invade? How do they blend in? What’s their agenda? To what extent have they placed agents in our society?
23. Political Subterfuge – this idea is similar to the espionage idea. However, the premise is that a human nation’s government (say, for example, Russia, the US, or Japan) is aware of the aliens. The aliens are assisting the government in subterfuge to tip the scales of international politics in that nation’s favour and the aliens help with espionage against other nations. Do the aliens have another agenda? What do the aliens get out of it? How does your character come into the equation?
24. Political False Flag Subterfuge – this idea is very similar to the political subterfuge idea, however, the nation in question fakes the alien contact or alien attack. Why would they do this? How does it benefit them? Does it help them annex other nations or rally them under their political banner against enemy nations? How does your main character play into this?
25. Botched First Contact – aliens attempt to make peaceful first contact with humanity, only humanity takes an aggressive stance. In the civil unrest alien contact creates, the alien ambassador is killed. Does this trigger an invasion? Are people’s fears justified? What role does the main character play?
26. Passive Aggressive First Contact – aliens come to Earth as ambassadors to inform humanity of their pending annexation. Humanity can submit peacefully or choose to fight what is described as a futile effort. What does humanity do? Is the alien threat insurmountable? What role does the main character play?
27. Tactical Annexation – aliens make first contact with Earth by bombing government seats of power around the globe. Representatives from the aliens then make verbal contact and announce Earth has been annexed for an alien empire. Humanity now serves the empire’s needs and the aliens begin installing local governors. What do your characters do?
28. Tree Stealers – with trees providing wood, one of the rarest commodities in the galaxy, aliens invade Earth and begin harvesting trees across the planet. Humanity is hesitant to step in until the ecosystem (and us) are threatened by the harvesting. What happens next?
29. Bio-bomb – aliens have studied humanity for decades and finally, they’ve developed a bio-weapon. Dropping it on populated areas releases deadly, unknown bacteria. For some it kills and for other it mutates them into abominations. How does humanity respond? How does it survive? How do your characters come into play?
30. Psychic Warning – this idea is a mix of both the alien abduction trope and the invasion trope; with an emphasis on the invasion. After a person has been abducted, for some reason unknown to them, they are psychically linked to an alien. They learn of a pending invasion. How will they warn people? Who will take them seriously? What do they do?
31. Dimensional Invaders – alien soldiers begin appearing through portals from another dimension. They appear at random, slaughter, and leave. How does humanity cope? How can they fight the unseen?
32. Parallel Universe Invaders – after annexing a parallel version of Earth, aliens need to expand and invade across the parallel divide to do so. As it turns out, worlds that can support life are exceptionally rare in the universe.
33. Environmental Extremists – after learning what humanity is doing to one of the rare ‘garden worlds’ of the galaxy, a faction of extremist aliens invade in order to control humanity and save Earth. But are they the only faction of this alien species? Will humanity be able to repel them?

Alien Communication Story Ideas

34. Big Cosmic Siblings – aliens make contact with Earth. They are friendly, things are going well. However, the governments of Earth can’t cooperate together and with the visitors. And with riots and ‘human first’ movements threatening violence against the newcomers, the aliens’ benevolence may not last forever. How do your characters play into this? What are their roles?
35. The Believer – while playing a virtual reality game, aliens make contact with an avid believer in UFOs and life in the universe. The aliens are scientists. They reach out to them in order to request they can study the main protagonist. What happens next? Will anyone believe them? Is your protagonist even allowed to divulge the aliens’ existence?
36. Alien Gift Giver – after an alien becomes stranded on Earth, your main character helps it get what it needs to get home. To thank your character for their help they leave them with a gift that changes their life (and possibly could change the world) forever. What was the gift? What does it do?
37. Shapeshifting Leader – an alien has walked among us for generations, shapeshifting into different political and military leaders. They are discovered by your main character. Their agenda is unknown but believed to be benevolent. What happens next?
38. Psychic helper – when your main character gets into politics, the last advisor they expected to get was an alien telepath. Your character doesn’t know who, what, or where they are. All they know is the alien’s advice is working. But what is their agenda? And why are they helping your character?
39. Intergalactic Peacekeepers – the US and Russia are on the brink of Nuclear war. Aliens decide to step in to de-escalate the issue. However, not everybody believes they have our best interests at the heart of everything they do. Are they really looking out for us? How do the nations of the world react? Will humans ever have autonomy again?
40. Galactic Peacekeepers – when two warring alien factions clash, Earth becomes a point of contention between the two warring empires. Earth, and humanity, become a key player in maintaining galactic peace. But how? And why?
41. The Exchange – alien exo-sociologists land on Earth to engage in a culture exchange, but they only reveal themselves to your main characters. Why? And can your characters help them in their research without being found out? What are the consequences if they do get found out?
42. Stellar Traders – when Earth is discovered by an alien trade ship, they establish first contact to strike up trade relations. They need one of the galaxy’s rarest materials, a material that Earth and humanity has in abundance; timber. Who leads the trade talks? Do all humans see eye-to-eye in dealing with these seemingly benevolent traders?
43. Galactic Refugees – after their homeworld is destroyed, an alien race seeks refuge on Earth. They establish first contact and seem friendly, but unwilling to leave. What happens next? Who are your main characters? How do they play into the narrative?
44. Inter-dimensional Neighbours – it is the middle of the lunch time rush in downtown Chicago when a strange portal opens up in the middle of the road. Through it steps a humanoid, very similar but also very different from us. At the same time, the Cold War tensions are running high, and the US military thinks the Russians have attacked. The aliens come in peace and, ironically, to aid humanity on a path towards enlightenment. To do so they offer their own home (another version of Earth from another dimension) to the poor, desperate, ill, and downtrodden that need a better life. But soon, the rich and powerful want a place of their own on ‘the other side’. Can the aliens help the peace effort? Will their offer be viable? How do your main characters play into this?
45. First Contact – when aliens come to Earth, they intend to establish contact with the dominant species. To everybody’es surprise, this isn’t humanity. Using a strange form of communication humans can only describe as ‘out of tune music’ the aliens make contact with trees; completely disregarding humanity. How do humans respond to this? Is this a revelation of who the true ‘top of the food chain’ beings are on Earth and a huge revelation about the dynamics of life on Earth (and our ignorance of it)? Or is it a horrible mistake by our visitors from the stars?

Extra Terrestrial Alien Story Ideas

46. Black Hole Dwellers – a rogue planet gets locked into a geostationary orbit around a black hole, at a distance far enough to maintain its structure but close enough it’ll never escape. It was once dead, frozen and lifeless. However, millions of years after it found itself stuck in orbit, life is flourishing. A whole society of beings now calls this extreme environment home. How do they live? What extreme biology is needed for their ever-day survival? How does their society and culture evolve as a direct result? How would such a society ever hope to see the stars?
47. Jupiter Rising – for the longest time, the lower layers of Juipter’s atmosphere was their home; however, as technology progressed they were able to get closer and closer to the surface without the lower pressures killing them. Soon, their scientists claim, they would be able to reach ‘the surface’. What would they find when they get there? How would such a society exist? What would beings that developed in such an environment be like?
48. Sentient Stone – as a collective, they formed whole planets. As individuals, whole spans and regions of planets. Where does sentience begin and where does it end? And what ever will they do with the parasitic beings called ‘humans’ that inhabit their skin? As the turn of the centuries come and go, they slowly begin manifesting microscopic beings of their own to hunt and kill these ‘humans’ once and for all. But that isn’t considering the larger war at hand in the local area. The gassers – with small rocky cores – want domination over their lifegiver; the central star. What are they willing to do to them to get it? What does a war between sentient planets look like? How will both the macro and the micro survive?
49. The Variant – your main character is a shifter; a condition caused by a rare genetic mutation that causes them to phase through walls and solid matter. Since the dawn of the Great Council, Shifters have been outlawed; there’s nowhere in the seven systems they can call home. Destined to die, what will your main character do? Their safety net of their home and parents are gone after a horrific accident. How will they protect their secret? Where will they go and who will help them?
50. The Logic Plague – the automoteons have lived in peace for thousands of years. Steel, iron, and carbon are in abundance across the local system group, and ‘work’ has been delegated to non-sentient machines. But a darkness is upon the horizon. The first automoteon super-intelligence (and leader) has predicted a logic plague. When the mind itself can become compromised and iron shells host to a logic bomb virus, who will save them from extinction? The very key to their immortality soon becomes a threat to their survival. What can sentient machines do when both the mind and their matter are not safe?
51. The Mistaken God – a galactic bounty hunter crash lands on a planet. Just their luck, the atmosphere is mostly hydrogen, oxygen and carbon based. But when a local tribe of unknown and uncontacted beings surround his ship, they are quickly thrust into a situation nothing could have prepared them for. A strange mystic foretold of their coming and now, among these strange and formless beings, they are regarded as a god. Will they ever see home again? Do they ever want to leave?
52. Rule of the Fungi – a motionless planet does not always mean lifeless, nor does it mean there’s no eyes and minds. On the surface, all one would see in swampland. Below the surface sentient life thrives. Huge fungi networks span the entire planet; a planet at war. Each fungal entity owns their own parcel of land; some larger, some smaller, all determined by access to resources and the ability to out-grow one another. In a war fought across decades, one fungal group is on the threat of extinction. Their core resource is under threat from a larger fungi which threatens to sink its roots in over the course of the next seven years. Do they dare grow deeper in search of resources where no fungi has gone before? Or do they take their fight from defensive to offensive, risk it all, and grow upwards for their survival?
53. Generational Living– life in space was never going to be easy, but nobody anticipated it would be this hard. Thankfully, the only resource they needed was a ship full of liquid nitrogen; the substance they breathe and metabolise for fuel. Their generational ship (a moon sized ship consisting of a full ‘sea’ of the stuff) parted from Sigma-4 a decade ago to escape the rapid expansion of their star. They were on track to escape the supernova, if their politics lasted that long. Running a ship of millions in one ‘sea’ would come with its challenges and none greater than the fringe liberation group wanting more autonomy and less rules. But having a ship no larger than a small moon made such a fringe threat hard to find and eliminate. Your main character has been tasked with exactly that in mind.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed our extensive and detailed list on alien story ideas for all you budding sci fi writers out there! This took a little bit longer to put together than we first anticipated, but we wanted a list that’ll fuel your creativity and didn’t want a thin list of generic ideas.

To this end, feel free to use these ideas and build your own worlds and stories.

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