Bonjour Mon Cheri

I remember it all…

Walking into the airport, hand in hand, sad smiles covering our faces. I knew it was an impossible problem we were about to face that had no good solution. You were leaving, bags and ticket in hand, ready to set off on a new adventure. And that was just the way it was going to be. There was going to be no conversation, no convincing you to stay, and no long distance. There was no pretending like we didn’t see this end coming from miles away (or months before). At least, that’s the way you wanted it to be, and that’s the way it went down. And I have blamed you ever since. 

“Okay, I know I told you I’m an alien and everything but I swear to god if you try to get me to say ‘greetings earthling’ I will punch you. Of course no one says that! What is this an ‘80s film!”

There’s this new kid in my school and they’re pretty weird. Not the cliche kind of weird, as in they actually don’t know how to fully operate as a human being and I think they might be an alien. 

“What am I if I fall in love with a being from a different planet? … No, i’m just wondering of course.”

“Uhm, hey, long story short I’m not from around here and there are people (with guns) chasing after me please please please let me hide in your house?” 

“I don’t know what would’ve been worse, me finding a bear in my kitchen at 4AM eating all my food or a cute alien eating all my food at 4AM.”

“Are all humans this cute?”

“I got hunted down and dragged out of hiding and now I’m in some scary lab (pretty sure I’m about to be dissected) but just before the operation this scientist came in to check everything was alright, wait what you’re unhooking me from the machine now we’re running away out of the science lab. man, maybe humans aren’t that shitty afterall.” 

“We crashlanded on Earth and despite being rivals we’re too scared to think straight and we keep clinging onto each other for dear life, oh god those humans think we’re a couple, quick you zogloid kiss me before they realise anythi— damn, you actually did it.”

“You’re my alien friend and I’ve decided to run you through all the human things you don’t understand, starting with films. I decided to pick Star Trek and I can’t get over the fact how you’re so fixated on the screen and characters, omg you’re adorable.”

(Alternatively) “You’re my alien friend and I’ve decided to run you through all the human things you don’t understand, starting with films. I decided to pick Star Trek and honestly I’m about to lose it because all you’ve been doing throughout the whole film is rant about how it’s so inaccurate and how that would never happen and watching you get so (adorably) angry about it is a lot more entertaining that watching the film.” 

“I was meant to only come to Earth to get information about humans so my race could figure out how to dominate the planet but I think I’m falling in love with my test subject, shit.”

“I don’t understand human emotions or motives but who the sparax made you cry I’m GOING TO HUNT THEM DOWN AND KILL THEM — too much?”

“I was always taught that humans were really horrible creatures, but something must be wrong with your DNA because you’re the most adorable, funny human I’ve ever seen… did I say that outloud?”

“Dude, just because I come from a different planet doesn’t mean I can’t understand English. Yes this does mean I did understand that comment you made about my butt.”

Firstly, know that it’s okay to write short chapters! There’s no actual requirement for how long they have to be. Of course, if you’d still like them to be longer, that’s alright. (I myself like to have chapters range from anywhere between 1500 to 3500 words, but that’s also totally arbitrary)

A few ways to make your story longer include:

1) Setting details. One way to make your story a bit lengthier is by making note of the world your characters are interacting with. You don’t need to give us piles and piles of detail about the crown molding in the middle of a conversation, but having an idea of the setting can bulk things up. I actually have a post about describing interiors here which should help!

2) Body language. Another way to include more to the story is to have more details about the character’s body language. I’m not saying telling us every single thing they do, but you can take simple concepts and turn them into longer ideas. For example, you can go from “She wasn’t sure.” to “She shifted her weight from one side to the other. There were a number of ways that things could go. Running her fingers through her hair, she ran numbers on how man different ways this could end up. She wasn’t certain on any of them.” These cover the same general idea, but one is much more extended. Which also actually brings me to my next point…

3) Consider integrating more of your character’s thoughts. This is a personal thing I do often in my writing style; although, I also write in third person limited almost exclusively (which is basically first person, but with third person pronouns). You can easily work it in really any POV, though. Not only will this take up more space, it’ll give us greater insight into your character who they really are; if their thoughts, words, and actions don’t all line up, that can tell us volumes.

Aside from prophecies, some other fantasy topics include:

Spellcasters/mages/etc. being apprenticed

Knights also being apprenticed

Knights being sent on other sorts of missions

Runaway/missing/kidnapped royalty

Festivals

Flower Fairies ; Acorn Aesthetic