Speculative fiction is booming like never before. From literary journals to indie presses to major releases, publishers are learning that readers crave limitless possibility—and that’s what speculative fiction is all about.
Even if this term is new to you, you’ve probably encountered speculative fiction on the shelves of your favorite library or bookshop. You may even be writing it yourself! We’ll break down everything writers, readers, and students need to know about this inspiring genre term. Let’s dive in.
What is speculative fiction?
Speculative fiction is a broad category which encompasses all literary genres that take place in worlds removed from the one we know. This includes the far removed, like high fantasy and space opera science fiction, and also subtler speculative fiction like magical realism and alternate history. Every work of speculative fiction asks: “What if things were different?”
Fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal horror are all a part of the speculative fiction landscape. The speculative elements can be subtle, or overt. Often you’ll hear the term “speculative fiction” being used to describe literary fiction that’s a little bit unusual, rather than straightforward fantasy and science fiction. We’ll take a closer look at literary fiction below.
Speculative fiction vs. literary fiction
If literature is a spectrum, literary fiction is at the far realist end of it. True literary fiction has no magical elements and is driven by human emotion. But, the lines between literary and speculative fiction are becoming more and more blurry.
While literary fiction is about real life and speculative fiction is about imaginary worlds, there can be a lot of overlap. Because the fabulist elements can be quite subtle and exist in our known society, speculative fiction can still have a literary feel to it. This means it will have relatable, authentic characters making their way through a recognizable human world. Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a good example of this.
Not all speculative fiction is literary, and not all literary fiction is speculative. But some books can be literary and speculative at the same time.
Key elements of speculative fiction
So what makes speculative fiction “speculative”? While this term encompasses multiple genres and styles, they all have a few key traits in common.
Big questions
All speculative novels center around a big “What if?” question. What if there was a secret society living just underneath our own? What if scientists started marketing time travel to tourists? What if vampires started coming out of the woodwork and demanding equal rights?
But underneath these what-if questions, there are very often deeper questions to be found. The speculative elements can act as powerful metaphors for important social themes like racial tension, gender dynamics, class divides, religion, and more.
Magic (or something like it)
Because speculative novels are one or more degrees removed from our own, there will be forces within them that don’t exist in this world (at least, not that we know about… yet). This could be literal magic spells, fantastical creatures, other realms, or science so advanced that it feels like magic.
If a speculative novel has no magic in it, is it still speculative? Yes and no. Things can feel magical to the characters that aren’t necessarily considered magic in our own world. Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Running Out of Time is a novel that does this well.
Expansive worldbuilding
A compelling setting is arguably one of the most important parts of any speculative novel. The challenge for us writers is creating a world in which the speculative elements feel natural, even inevitable. If you want your readers to believe there are faeries flying around New York, you need to build a New York in which it’s realistic for them to be there.
This often involves establishing sociopolitical norms and major historical events that have led to this world being the way it is. There may be new rules or hierarchies that are important for the events of your story.
Clear stakes
Heightened stakes are important for any good story, but they’re especially prominent in speculative fiction. This just means something to fight for, and something to lose.
It could be an epic battle between good and evil, or something more personal. But speculative fiction is always about someone fighting for something—whether that’s to save the day, to protect loved ones, or just to open a successful coffee shop (that’s Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree).
The occasional fan service
Readers are drawn to certain speculative genres, like urban fantasy or paranormal romance, because they love the tropes that are inherent to that genre. Even though the best stories will subvert expectations or use them in new ways, authors will still include images or plot points they know their readers will get excited about.
This could be something like a passionate argument that turns enemies into lovers, or a werewolf biker with a gruff attitude and a good heart. Even though we’ve seen them a thousand times before, that doesn’t mean we’re going to get bored of them anytime soon.
Types of speculative fiction
Now that we’ve established the important traits of speculative literature and film, let’s explore the way readers and publishers categorize all the different subgenres that we call “speculative fiction”.
High fantasy
High fantasy, sometimes called epic fantasy, is what we call traditional, off-world fantasy fiction that exists beyond the fields we know. This type of speculative fiction is defined by its secondary world setting. You’ll often find magical creatures and humans with supernatural powers. The Lord of the Rings is a classic example of high fantasy.
Low fantasy
Low fantasy, by contrast, refers to any fantasy story that takes place in our own known world. This can encompass even more subgenres like contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, and magical realism, which we’ll look at below. Some historical fantasy also fits within this subgenre. War For the Oaks by Emma Bull is a formative work of this kind of speculative fiction.
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a type of low fantasy that’s defined by its city environment. It can be a real-world city given a supernatural bent, or a fictional city that’s inspired by one of more real places. This type of speculative fiction often incorporates gritty urban imagery, and can overlap with paranormal noir (below).
Crossover fantasy
Crossover fantasy, sometimes called portal fantasy, is a combination of high and low fantasy types. Part of the story takes place in the real world, and part of it takes place somewhere else. This combines the best of both worlds: the reader can imagine themselves in the novel, while also getting to experience another realm. The Harry Potter series is a popular example of this kind of fantasy.
Space opera
Space opera is the high fantasy equivalent of science fiction. It’s what we think of when we think of classic sci fi: space ships, aliens, intergalactic wars, sentient robots. It largely takes place in outer space (hence the name), but parts of the story can take place on Earth, too. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by acclaimed science fiction writer Douglas Adams, is a classic example of this subgenre.
Grounded sci-fi
On the opposite end, there’s grounded sci-fi: literary fiction that incorporates science fiction elements and real-world problems. This subgenre appeals to sci-fi lovers, as well as those who find classic sci-fi “too spacey”. Much of the grounded sci-fi being written today explores the effects of artificial intelligence.
Dystopian fiction
A perennial favorite of the YA audience, dystopian fiction takes place in the future or near future in a post-apocalyptic society. These stories often feature sharp class divides, and can explore themes of segregation and privilege, as well as climate change. The Hunger Games is a popular example of dystopian fiction.
Utopian fiction
On the opposite end, there’s utopian fiction: stories about perfect societies where nothing ever goes wrong. Sound suspicious? There’s usually a dark secret lurking underneath the whitewashed floral veneer (otherwise, where’s the story?). The Stepford Wives is a great example of this kind of novel.
Superhero fiction
Superhero stories are most commonly associated with comic books, but they can appear in other mediums, too. These stories can be silly or serious, and explore what happens when an ordinary person is gifted extraordinary abilities—for better or worse. V.E. Schwab’s Villains series is a good example of this story type.
Magical realism
Magical realism is a genre that treats fantastical elements as an ordinary part of everyday life. These stories can have a dreamlike quality, though they can also feel grounded and true to life. Even though it’s right there in the name, the magic in magical realism is usually quite subtle. These are literary stories with a speculative edge.
Folkloric fiction
Folkloric fiction draws from myths, legends, and fairy tales to create something new. Every culture in the world has regional folklore inspired by its own geography and ecosystems. While Western European folklore has traditionally dominated this particular genre, today there’s a wide array of cultural stories being presented on the bookshop shelves.
Alternate history
Alternate history is a branch of historical fiction that imagines what the world might be like if things had gone differently. These novels take a historical event and ask, what if? Philip K. Dick’s novel The Man in the High Castle is a famous example of this kind of story, which imagines a world where Germany won World War II.
Paranormal horror
Paranormal horror is a genre that never seems to fall out of popularity. These stories involve paranormal creatures such as vampires, werewolves, or ghosts and use them to frightening effect. Many of Stephen King’s novels fall into this category, as well as classic horror cinema such as Dracula and The Wolf Man.
It’s important to note that not all horror fiction is considered speculative fiction. More grounded horror like slasher films or psychological horror doesn’t have those key elements that make a story “speculative”.
Paranormal romance
Similar to paranormal horror, but very different in tone, is paranormal romance. Sometimes known as “romantasy” (a broader term largely dominated by paranormal romance), these novels place the tropes and images of paranormal horror over the plot structure of a romance. Twilight is a famous example of this kind of paranormal fiction.
Paranormal noir
Then there’s paranormal noir, in which these same paranormal elements are given a gritty crime thriller twist. Maybe instead of being a hungry heartthrob, the vampire is a PI-for hire with a dark past. Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series is a popular example of this style.
Surrealism
Finally, there’s surrealism: a strange, dreamy genre that often overlaps with magical realism. These books can be nonlinear, nonsensical, and rich in psychological and archetypal imagery. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a classic surrealist novel.
Speculative fiction examples
Now that we’ve familiarized ourselves with all these different speculative fiction subgenres, let’s see how popular authors have put them into practice.
The Wood Wife, by Terri Windling
The Wood Wife is World Fantasy Award winner Terri Windling’s only novel for adults, published at a time where European-influenced fantasy was at its height. The novel’s “What if” question is: what if the fictional creatures in a set of famous paintings weren’t so fictional after all?
The Wood Wife is about a British woman who moves to the Arizona desert, and it features uniquely American folklore. Like many great speculative fiction novels, this story combines several different subgenres: low fantasy, folkloric fiction, a paranormal mystery, and a touch of romance.
The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue , by V.E. Schwab
A more recent release, The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue is a character-driven work of supernatural fiction that plays with the trope of selling one’s soul to the devil. This novel’s “What if” question is: what if you could live forever, but the cost was being forgotten by everyone you ever met?
The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue is predominantly a romance between two doomed souls who get exactly what they want… for a price. It’s a non-linear narrative that moves across time and place, allowing the author to highlight multiple cultures and time periods.
The Paradox Hotel, by Rob Hart
The Paradox Hotel is a grounded sci-fi novel that asks, what if we lived in a society where time travel was possible? The depressingly obvious answer: open a time travel hotel for tourists with money to spend.
This novel follows a woman who works security for the hotel, ensuring travellers don’t mess up the flow of history. Even though there are a lot of speculative elements in this fantasy-science fiction story, it feels like something that could easily happen in our own world. This makes it more relatable to general readers.
Top tips for writing your own speculative story
We’ve seen the different types of genre fiction that fall under this literary umbrella, and some of their key traits. Now, it’s time to start writing speculative fiction of your own. Here’s how to get those big ideas flowing.
Choose 1—3 definable subgenres
As we’ve seen, speculative fiction isn’t just one kind of book. When you begin writing your own novel, choose at least one—and up to three—of the subgenres we’ve looked at here. Combining subgenres can be a really good way to spark some creativity.
For example, you might choose to blend “paranormal noir” with “space opera”, or “utopian fiction” with “magical realism”, or “post-apocalyptic fiction” with “alternate history fiction”. Already those constraints give you some idea of what your story’s going to be about. Use this as your launching off point.
Brainstorm “What if?” questions
Then, write a list of possible “What if” questions that you can use to build your story around. You might find it helpful to set a timer for five or ten minutes, and write down as many questions as you can think of in that time that relate to your chosen speculative fiction genres.
Don’t worry about getting it perfect just yet. Some of them will probably be silly, while others are thought-provoking and serious. At the end of your brainstorming session, choose the one that feels like it has the most potential.
Map out the rules of your story world
Even—especially—in fantastical fiction, the fantastical needs to make sense within the bounds of that world. This means that magic and science have defined possibilities and limitations, those in power have power for a believable reason, and seemingly improbable laws have probable origins. This will make the reader believe in a landscape that’s different from their own.
Think about why your story world is the way it is, and how the speculative elements work on a practical level. You can learn more about how to do that in our deep dive lesson on worldbuilding here.
Get to know your characters inside and out
In order for your readers to care about the supernatural elements of your story, they need to care about the human elements—in other words, the characters.
Fictional characters are the lens through which the reader experiences this world. Even if they have magical powers or come from other realms, they should have relatable emotions, fears, needs, hopes, and experiences. Your reader may not know what it’s like to come from a family of revered trueblood witches tasked with protecting the human race, but they’ll probably know something about living up to a family’s expectations. This is where the real storytelling power is.
Think about your characters’ background, their driving motives, and what they ultimately want to accomplish in your story.
Write your first draft
Now that you have a sense of the kind of story you’re going to write, the final step is to start your first draft!
Don’t try to get it perfect on your very first try—that’s what revision is for. The important thing is to get the story down on paper or on the screen while you’re still excited about it. Before you know it, you’ll have a complete rough draft ready to be alchemized into literary gold.
Speculative fiction is the real made extraordinary
By now we know that speculative fiction encompasses a broad range of sub genres and approaches, from hard sci-fi stories to gentle magical realism to action-packed epic fantasy. It’s the entire landscape of the human imagination. Now, you have the tools to bring a speculative edge to your own creative writing practice. Remember to dream big!
