So, I'm working on a Sci-Fi idea and my main protagonist is an alien, and the plot that I have so far feels like it involves the humans more than her (though there is subplot later that effects her) and it feels more like she's just a vessel for the story, rather than vica-versa.
Help would be appreciated!
It sounds like your protag is suffering from a lack of agency; she observes rather than acts. This is a common problem when writing protagonists because we often want them to be relatable, but we end up not giving them much personality and they turn out like blank slates or empty vessels. One approach towards fixing this is by asking these three questions:
What does the character want? What is blocking her from achieving what she wants? How will she overcome these obstacles?
Okay, thanks! I'll keep that in mind.
Also, a good thing to try if you’re feeling stuck is to ask yourself more then just “who is she” but like, what are her values? What does she want more then anything in the world? Why? How can she achieve it? Etc :)
Well, would one say she's a vessel to the story if her motivation was to help others (in this case the humans)?
Why does she want to help others? (Not to turn down your idea, this is an exercise for building a character's personality and backstory)
Great question.
She comes from a culture everyone helps one another and she decided to pursue the life of a doctor/spiritual healer so I think that might count.
Sounds good. Next, what is preventing her from treating her patients, or what makes this difficult?
Well, she wants to go beyond helping medically, but protocol prevents her from doing so.
What will she do? Also, why does protocol prevent her, and in what way does she want to go beyond helping medically?
Well, she's a bit of a bleeding heart and the humans are in a bit of a crisis and in need of a new home planet (Earth's gone to pieces and the only known human colony failed) and know that I think about it, it's not so much protocol as it is deep prejudice against the humans because at one point looooooooong ago they were ruthless terrorist across the galaxy until they were nearly exterminated and the remainder (effectively brainwashed) were banished to their origin planet (Earth) and left to fend for themselves with nothing to assist them. Everything they created was destroyed.
Okay, good idea for a plot. Now what does the alien doctor protagonist want to achieve? Is it something specific, like chartering a territory that will serve as the new home for the humans? Or is it something abstract, like proving that she's capable or earning someone's respect?
She wants to help them chart territory that will serve as a new home.
(Also, during Christmas break we went down to my gramma's place and we went to this one museum that had a visiting exhibit about possible colonies, and there was a section about terra-forming Mars and I thought that would be a neat thing to use.)
Hey, it's me. Again.
So I'm working out some of the details for the plot, and I've decided the humans fled a dying earth in ships with hybernation pods so they would sleep out the desolation, and I can't decide if they should return to earth to check out conditions or not, cuz they're faraway enough from earth that it could be a wasted trip. I dunno.