Weirdness 101

Ooh baby, baby it’s a weird world,
I’ll always remember you with tentacles, girl
– not remotely Cat Stevens

So I wanted to talk about the Weirdness Budget, which my friend Sarah Todd introduced me to in about 2002, and which I’ve found to be a useful worldbuilding tool. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that the Weirdness Budget seems simple at first but quickly becomes complicated as we delve into what weirdness really is and what budgeting (in art) can possibly mean.

It...