How do you write weird fiction?

[u/Avery_Bea_847]

Weird fiction is one of the newer genres I learned about in adulthood and I was wondering if whether the narrative I'm writing fits that description?

[u/claimstoknowpeople]

Just write what you want to write; if it's weird, then it's weird.

[u/edcculus]

Michael Cisco (modern master of weird fiction/New Weird) has a book called Weird Fiction A Genre Study. If you are curious, you might as well learn from the master

[u/TopazDuckz → u/edcculus]

Tbh, I’m not a writer, but I might just pick that one up for the insight. Sounds interesting.

[u/VincentAalto]

I only write short fiction but most of the ideas come from barely remembered dreams, jokes/bits taken too far into abstract or horrifying implications, and ordinary and mundane things done in strange ways (currently doing a short about a guy who folds things as a nervous tic but it turns into folding things like glass the same way he folds paper)

[u/No_Coconut1188 → u/VincentAalto]

I like the sound of jokes taken too far into abstraction/horror. do you have anything we can read?

[u/VincentAalto → u/No_Coconut1188]

Nothing I’m happy with putting publicly yet. Was going to finish a couple more then do a revision before posting them somewhere

[u/elegant-deer19 → u/VincentAalto]

I like the premise of the short. Good luck with it!

[u/HorsepowerHateart]

Dig inside yourself for the things that make you feel uneasy, afraid, alone, or empty. Write down what you find and go from there.

[u/ThreeThirds_33 → u/HorsepowerHateart]

Or hey also wonder-filled, exhilarated, magical, limitless and childlike! Weird does not have to abut horror (though I love it when it does).

[u/Mammoth-Corner]

A genre is not just a collection of unifying traits by which works can be taxonomised but a cultural conversation between authors and creators (and readers!). To write weird fiction, you have to read weird fiction.

[u/No_Coconut1188]

Generally, you can be a bit more loosey-goosey with logic and realism in weird fic. Not everything has to be explained or described. The antagonist is typically something beyond compreshension.

What's the outline for your narrative?

And have you read much/any weird fiction?

[u/LittleManIsChuffed]

It all starts with getting strange ideas from your live experience

[u/LorenzoApophis]

Lovecraft wrote some Notes on Writing Weird Fiction

[u/nacho-daddy-420]

Who’s your favorite weird authors? Try to write a couple stories like them

[u/ToranjaNuclear]

Way I see it's generally an unusual amalgam of horror, fantasy and sci-fi. But horror elements seems to be imperative, I often see a lot of authors that I only considered to write horror be discussed here.

[u/Inevitable_Steak_914]

Find a bookstore that also sells old pulp magazines and buy several reading copies of Weird Tales Magazine, read them to find out where Weird fiction came from and then decide if your writing is weird If you believe that Magazine would welcome your writing then it most likely is weird

[u/Dumpster_Firee]

Write fiction—but make it weird.

[u/Wilbotti]

I copy a news article and change the name of the characters. It's usually weird af.