First Contact Narratives: Writing the Encounter with the Unknown
AUD 620
Programme
What this masterclass covers
Course Program
-
Week 1 — The encounter structure
How first contact narratives are typically organised, and where that organisation creates problems. Mapping the scenario against your own project.
-
Week 2 — Human assumptions on the page
What your point-of-view character takes for granted. Techniques for making implicit assumptions visible to the reader without authorial intrusion.
-
Week 3 — Writing the other perspective
Constructing a non-human consciousness that is genuinely different. Exercises drawn from cognitive linguistics and ethology research.
-
Week 4 — Communication and failure
Misunderstanding as narrative engine. How to write scenes where communication partially fails without making the scene frustrating to read.
-
Week 5 — Stakes and consequence
What the encounter means for both parties. Avoiding the trap of treating the alien as a mirror for human concerns alone.
-
Week 6 — Revision workshop
Each participant brings a revised scene. Group feedback focused on whether the otherness reads as genuine.
About this material
Skills developed through this programme
The first contact story is a useful lens for almost every problem in science fiction writing. It forces the writer to answer hard questions: what does your human character actually assume? What does the alien want, and how would it communicate that want? What gets lost in translation, and what does that loss reveal?
This course uses the first contact scenario as a technical exercise in perspective and difference. The goal is not to write a particular kind of story, but to develop skills that transfer across the genre.
The central problem
Most first contact fiction fails because the alien is just a human in a different body. Writing genuine otherness without making the character unreadable is a craft problem, not a philosophical one. The sessions treat it as such.
Instructor Callum Osei has written extensively in the genre and holds a background in cognitive linguistics. His approach draws on research into animal cognition and communication theory — not as academic content, but as a source of concrete writing techniques.
Format
Six weekly sessions of 90 minutes each, combining instruction and workshop. Participants submit short pieces between sessions. The group is kept small so that feedback stays substantive.
This material has been viewed 299 times. See the full learning programme for related topics.