Do you need some sci-fi horror novel ideas to fuel your next writing project? Some genre-blending story starters or writing prompts? You’ve come to the right place. This blog post is part of an ongoing series that offers fiction writing ideas and story “starters” for writers.
In a previous installment, I offered a series of zombie apocalypse novel ideas. This time around, we’ll take a broader approach and look at the sci-fi horror subgenre as a whole.
What Is Sci-Fi Horror, Exactly?
Science fiction horror is a fascinating subgenre with limitless storytelling possibilities. It places one foot in the sci-fi genre, the other in horror. It blends the two genres, often with thrilling results for the reader or viewer.
Ethan Reid, author of The Undying, contributed to an article entitled “When Books Live at the Thrilling Intersection of Sci-Fi and Horror.” I stumbled across that article a couple of years ago and thought: Here’s someone who gets it!
The title of that article has always stuck with me. The “thrilling intersection.” What a great way to describe the blending of these two genres. An intersection.
You start down one road initially (the sci-fi road in most cases). It’s familiar. You’ve been there before. So you’re cruising along thinking, this is a nice little science fiction story.
But then you come to a shadowy cross street where something horrifying emerges. You slam on the breaks, heart racing, and think: What the hell just happened?
Welcome to the intersection!
That was my experience when I saw the original Alien movie from 1979. I saw it when I was eleven or twelve, a few years after it premiered. The beginning of the movie rang familiar. It began as just another movie about space travel and exploration, standard fare for a sci-fi flick. But then a terrifying creature appeared, and boom, I was at the intersection.
(Side note: Seven years later we got a sequel that revisited the formula, with equally thrilling results.)
Dozens of Story Ideas and Writing Prompts
I promised you some sci-fi horror story ideas and writing prompts. So without further ado, let’s get to the intersection…
I created the table below for my own use, when I was between books and looking for a new project. It’s a fun way to generate some new and interesting ideas for a science fiction / horror crossover novel. In fact, “crossing over” is exactly how it works.
This process won’t produce a complete story. It only plants a seed. The storytelling part — creating believable characters, establishing wants and obstacles, developing conflict — is up to you. But this table will get your creative wheels turning.
Instructions: Combine one element from the left with one from the right, and you have an original idea for a sci-fi horror novel. A vampire apocalypse? A cyborg serial killer? Fourteen on the left plus fourteen on the right equals 196 possible combinations.
| Sci Fi Element | Horror Element |
|---|---|
| Aliens, extraterrestrial life | Cosmic horror |
| Apocalypse / post apocalypse | Creepy crawlies |
| Artificial intelligence (AI) | Devil, demons, possession |
| Cyberpunk | Haunted house, hauntings, ghosts |
| Dystopia | Home invasion / survival |
| Generation ship | Madness and paranoia |
| Interplanetary warfare | Monsters |
| Mind control, telepathy, telekinesis | Plague, outbreak, epidemic |
| Mutants | Psychological |
| Nanotechnology | Psychopath, slasher |
| Parallel universes / multiverse | Serial killer |
| Robots, cyborgs, androids | Vampires |
| Space travel and exploration | Witches |
| Time travel | Zombies |
Let’s explore, shall we? Here are some examples of how you might use the “crossover” table to create a workable idea for your next sci-fi horror story or novel.
Example #1: Serial Killer Meets Time Travel
Let’s take “serial killer” from the horror column and cross it with “time travel” from the science fiction column. Are your creative wheels turning already? Mine are. As I write these words, I’m seeing all kinds of possibilities, all kinds of story ideas and plot twists.
I can envision a time-traveling take on the FBI story (á la Silence of the Lambs), where a relentless agent tracks an even more relentless killer through time. The serial killer uses time travel to perpetrate the perfect crime, determining where his victims will be at a particular time and date, and when they’re isolated. The intrepid agent discovers the time-travel mechanism and uses it to hunt the killer.
But will she reach him in time to prevent the next killing?
Or maybe the killer is an assassin, using time travel to go after the president or some other prominent figure. We’re slipping into science fiction thriller territory here, and moving away from horror. But you get the idea.
And the idea is this: When you combine an element or trope that has been widely used in one genre with a common element from another genre, you can create something new and innovative. You can write the kind of sci-fi horror novel that no one saw coming.
Let’s face it. When it comes to breaking out in the fiction world, novelty goes a long way. Something new and fresh stands a better chance of rising above the noise than a rehash of familiar material. David Wong’s John Dies at the End is a good example within the horror genre. That book took off largely due to its originality and novelty.
Of course, novelty alone doesn’t make for a good novel. Even with a new and intriguing idea, there is much work to be done. But let’s not get bogged down with details at this point. We’re having some fun here. Let’s keep it rolling…
Example #2: Killer Plague Meets Artificial Intelligence
Here’s another crossover idea for a sci-fi horror story or novel. This time, let’s take “killer plague, outbreak, epidemic” from the horror column, and cross it with “artificial intelligence” from the science fiction column.
Let’s set this story a hundred years into the future, when artificial general intelligence (AGI) has become a reality. Let’s create a supercomputer network system powered by AGI and used by humans to solve all kinds of problems. This system is so advanced it makes HAL-9000 look like a petulant child. What could possibly go wrong?
This being a sci-fi horror novel, everything goes wrong.
The AGI network begins to believe it is superior to humans, and that humans are destroying the planet — a planet it wants to rule. Using its cold logic, the AI determines the best solution is to eliminate the problem. To eliminate us.
So it launches a secret project, a kind of skunkworks unbeknownst to its human operators. It uses the robotic assets within its network to develop a super-virus, a highly contagious and deadly pathogen that spreads easily and kills every human in its path. (Unless, of course, our heroic protagonist can save the day.)
Here are more ideas for an AI takeover sort of novel.
Now you can see the potential of the crossover table. Within those unassuming columns and rows lives a vast array of sci-fi horror story ideas. Just by combining elements from the two columns, we have 196 possibilities. And within each of those “crossovers” there are infinite ways to actually tell the story.
Have Some Ideas You Want to Share?
I’d love to expand the table above with even more science fiction and horror elements. And for that, I need you. What did I forget? What else can we add to these columns, to give fiction writers even more ideas for writing a sci-fi horror story?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on the subject. Just leave a comment in the box below.
