So for context, in my little story universe, my female alien OC named Amelia is assimilating to Earth and human culture and still sometimes gets confused over or doesn't understand some certain human emotions, especially when it comes to this particular boy, my male human OC named Reilly. I'm talking like those funny feelings you get when you got a crush on/really like someone. How should I perfectly describe those feelings she experiences when she's around and with this boy but she doesn't really quite understand it or why like from a non-human perspective?
This is either a simple question I am over complicating, or a complicated question I am over simplifying, either way I apologize but I want to do my best to answer it... or suggest how a writer should approach it. Basically it comes down to two separate things, world building and description. Humans in general don't do a great job at describing their feelings for attractions. It's where we get the famous "Do you like him or do you like LIKE him?" If you were talking to an alien what would 2 likes tell them about attraction that 1 like didn't? We as humans (probably just Westerners) know what that means. So for starters, even if you assume Aliens feel attraction the same way as humans, chances are they would describe it in more detail. Just something to be aware of/consider. Second (World building)... when people get crushes they will often say they get "butterflies in the stomach" I use this example specifically because I've never felt that so it's a weird saying to me. So First, even if an alien felt (I assume) tingling in their abdomen area, they would likely either describe it as literally as a tingle in their abdomen, or a different colorful metaphor "It feels like sprouting flowers in my belly" And that's assuming their biological symptoms of attraction are the same as ours (and given the symptoms aren't the same for each human, why would aliens feel that at all) Maybe aliens with crushes get cramps in their neck or really cold hands. Long story short the easy answer is figure out how she literally feel, you don't have to describe all of it, but you should have a grasp of it, and when describing it subtly reference areas where her feelings are different than those of humans. Again maybe it's more complicated or maybe it's more simple than all of that, but that's
About the butterflies in the stomach thing... so my female OC tends to take some things literally (I kinda based her a little bit off of myself as I sometimes take certain things quite literally, thanks a lot autism lol). So if this boy told her he had butterflies in his stomach, she'd probably be like "Eww why would you eat caterpillars? That's so gross!" But when she's with this boy, she definitely gets that sweet fluttery-like feeling in her stomach. So maybe the sprouting flowers in her stomach could be like her equivalent of the human boy experiencing butterflies in his stomach when he's with her. She does know her heart does beat faster when she's around him. When or how could I subtly reference areas when her feelings are different than those of humans?
Aliens are alien. There is nothing that says they have to think or feel like humans do. For an author that means you can do what you like.
It's a matter of you figuring out what you want to say with the story (probably something about human feelings) and then figuring out how to design your alien characters in order to make the point. In the original Star Trek (you've probably never seen, it, a bit before your time) they contrasted Captain Kirk with all his emotions and unpredictability against the calm and rational Mister Spock, who was half Vulcan. Vulcans have no emotions and are essentially computers of pure rationality, but being half human, Spock actually did have feelings that he tried to hide and got upset if people noticed them. So it made for some interesting stories. The best moments were always when Spock was pretending to be purely rational, but it's clear he was responding from his hidden human emotions.
I've only watched a little bit of the OG, but yeah, that's an interesting point. It's still a heavy work in progress though
I would start by deciding on the culture of your alien species and how they (collectively) treat romance. It could be similar to earth/humans romance, but you need to spice it up culturally so that their understanding sounds foreign to the humans if that makes sense. There's an anime I watched that kinda depicts this rather well. It features alien catgirls who don't know anything about humans or their culture. There's actually a couple of funny scenes that happen as a result of the aliens 'studying' humans through manga. The humans are amused and just go 'they don't have a clue do they?' kinda, but not in a rude way. All I'm saying is you might want to decide how your aliens treat romance, before you decide how your main character alien reacts to it. Especially since they'll potentially be moderately confused/intrigued/disturbed about how humans treat romance. In one of my projects I have a race of Kitsunes. Their concept of romance is a tiny bit different and is a bit more uh 'free' than ours (basically they have 'mates' and they have 'soulmates' it's complicated) but it doesn't take them long to adapt to how humans treat it, especially the Kitsune who aren't part of the 'hive mind' mental state. (Some kitsune use 'we/us' to describe themselves, regardless of gender, some clans are literally mentally/spiritually connected.)
Smart idea. See, Amelia in personality and action would be quite similar to Buddy from Elf or even Star Butterfly from Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, because both come from different planets (Buddy's actually a human in the North Pole, I know that's still Earth, but still you probably get my point) and learn to assimilate to Earth and its culture, often with hilarious results. And maybe even like Eggs from The Boxtrolls, to an extent. If anything, she's most likely confused and intrigued. I don't think she'd really be disturbed by the feelings she eventually experiences for Reilly. Probably more confused, if anything. Like she'd be confused to why her heart beats faster when she's around him or why she feels butterflies in her stomach (or whatever alien equivalent of that feeling) only around him and no-one else. But she'd be loving it since she clearly likes him As to how the alien species she is treats romance, I'm still working on that aspect. I'm not exactly sure how her species treat.
Sounds like you got a clear picture, having an idea of the characters is good. I'm in a similar boat with my main character who is technically a different species. (even though they're basically just magic humans with fox tails/ears) She's so used to how Kitsune do things that the way humans do things confuse her. One human catches her intrigue (since it's an opposites attract story it's a good while before she has the character growth moment realizing that she's in love with him) and she quickly devotes most of her free time trying to understand humans. There's absolutely going to be some confusion between the two though.
See, I don't even what type of alien species Amelia is, just that she has a funny tail and long rabbit-like ears and pink skin and human-like blonde hair. Pretty much the majority of humans, especially girls (not in a lesbian way lol) intrigue her, because she wants to be like the other girls, even if they're not aliens. I guess in a way, with the human boy, it's somewhat of an opposites attract kinda thing because Reilly's a young human man (he's supposed to be around 19-20 at this time) and she's a young alien girl (about 19 years old). I'm trying to think of how to write or describe the character growth moment where she realizes she's falling in love with him). No doubt there will be confusion between them, trying to think of potential ideas or moments where this happens
