3 Tips for Writing Weird Science Fiction

Note: “3 Quick Steps for Writing Weird Science Fiction” originally appeared on MetaStellar’s Writing Advice of the Week.

You might be familiar with weird science fiction. A textbook definition is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on anything “weird,” that is, uncanny and potentially eldritch, cosmic, or supernatural. The subgenre appeared in the late 19^th century, and a lot of other subgenres fall under the weird umbrella, such as slipstream, cosmic horror, and supernatural fiction.

Now that the history lesson is out of the way, let’s talk about how to write weird science fiction. Because while this subgenre covers a variety of science fiction, there’s still a right way and a wrong way to go about it. Find out below how to write weird science fiction.

Focus on the Uncanny, Unusual, and Just Plain Weird

This is the biggest step in writing in this genre. For weird science fiction, it’s more than just making something vaguely sci-fi seem unusual. This subgenre focuses on specific elements that give off the feeling that something unusual and uncanny is going on. However, it’s more about the atmosphere than trying to write science fiction that throws in random “weird” elements.

What elements am I talking about? Here’s a quick list of what I’ve been discussing.

1. The Uncanny – this is anything that appears human and familiar but isn’t. The uncanny takes something that we can recognize and transforms it into something other, which affects our perception of it. Think of monsters and other supernatural creatures that, in a way, resemble humans. They’re human-like but not, which makes them uncanny.
2. The Unusual – these are elements that may not appear in a standard sci-fi story but still make sense in the story you’ve created. They don’t come out of nowhere, but they’re things that readers won’t expect when they start reading. Imagine you’re writing a story about werewolves, but these werewolves also invented flying cars. It’ll make sense in your story that these two things work together, but readers will find it unusual and intriguing.
3. The Weird – these are the things that come out of nowhere but still feel important to the story. They blend into the genre without feeling out of place. As a random example, imagine that one of your characters was literally the color blue. Along with the other sci-fi elements in your story, this not only feels plausible, but it also fits with the weirdness you’ve cultivated because you’re going for weird sci-fi.

Your story needs to center on any one of these three things, and these elements need to contribute to the atmosphere. So both need to work together. How do you do that?

1. Center the atmosphere on the elements – most importantly, you can’t treat the weird elements like they’re out of place and random. Instead, create a world where these things are the norm. It’ll be unusual for the reader as a stranger to your story, but by centering your story around these things, readers will become invested.
2. Make sure the elements are unusual – also, make things out of the ordinary. Don’t follow the traditional paths that science fiction takes. Take something that appears often in sci-fi and turn it on its head. Above all, make things weird so that you fit in with the genre.

Remember that It’s Also Science Fiction

The next step is to recognize that this might be weird fiction, but it’s also weird science fiction. You need to remember the conventions of science fiction so that you can play with the conventions the proper way. What do I mean by conventions? I mean the things that typically appear in sci-fi. Think aliens, robots, fictional technology, and elements like that.

So when you keep these things in mind, you can do the following:

1. Play with the conventions – you have the elements in front of you, now do whatever you want with them! So long as you focus on the uncanny over the technical.
2. Find new ways to write science fiction – we writers sometimes worry about being original, but weird science fiction provides a way for new ideas to be tested. You don’t need to be wholly original, but with a little bit of thought, you’ll be able to come up with unusual and unexpected ideas that push the boundaries of what readers have seen before.

Test Your Limits

Lastly, the third step means you need to stretch your imagination above all, but you also need to be aware of writing techniques and conventions. Weird science fiction acts as a subgenre of sci-fi, meaning it also follows the structures and conventions of sci-fi.

Just remember that you also need to follow the structure of a good science fiction short story or novel, even if you’re playing with a new subgenre. I’ve talked about this before several times now, but remember the following:

1. Remember your conflict – just focusing on the weird as a concept isn’t enough. You need to build up a conflict that will hook readers the entire time they read.
2. Remember your characters – come up with unique and interesting characters just like you would come up with new elements of weird SF. Remember that they need a motivation or goal and also have a problem that needs to be solved that ties into the conflict.
3. Remember your setting – come up with a cool setting! This will add to the weirdness and the atmosphere while also creating something solid that readers can visualize, just like your characters.

With all of these things, you can then test your limits and make everything as weird and wonderful as you want. Now that you have the basics for writing this genre, get ready to start creating an epic weird science fiction story.

Happy writing!

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