Understanding SciFi Characters

It isn't that I don't know anything about science fiction writing. It's that so much of it now is more fantasy than science. I grew up reading Asimov, Bradberry and Blish. And I like science.
The Martian is a newer book along those old lines. It is an excellent book.
Now I am contemplating writing some science fiction of my own. Where to start?
Well, I know it will be set in an Ozark ravine starting in February.
Now I need some interesting aliens. There are some criteria they must meet.
One: small enough to operate in this ravine
Two: intellegent
Three: similar but not the same as people
Where would they come from?
Thinking up a planet name is much more challenging than I had expected. So many people use odd sounding names for their own writing or their companies or their products.
My botany project came to my rescue. I'm mining the Latin names. The planet will be Cardua making the aliens Carduans.
But, what about Cardua? How is it different from Earth?
The aliens will need to produce power or energy. Solar type panels would work. What if they are geared for UV light? What if Cardua's sun emits more UV light than our sun?
This opens up some possibilities. UV light causes genetic mutations so the Carduans must be physically able to withstand this effect. Plants counter this with colored pigments. What about thick skin in some shade of this color? Cue nine-banded armadillos.
Then there is vision. We see a spectrum from red to blue. But many insects including honeybees see UV colors and not red. My Carduans would see in the honeybee spectrum.
What about the energy production? Since the sun puts off less UV light than the Carduan sun, their panels would be less effective. Could this be a problem?
Say, this is getting to be fun. I have another three weeks to work this out before NaNo begins.