Improbable Press Blog — Ali Coyle

By Ali Coyle The three stories that made it to the final version of Chrysalides have been in my head for a long time, rubbing shoulders and occasionally swapping pieces of themselves with all the other stories that live up there. I have never been able simply to sit down and write a story. I need to think it out first, daydream it, tune out whatever is going on around me and imagine my characters occupying their universe in a myriad different ways. I write it all down, big chunks at a time, when their lives are spilling out of my...

By Ali Coyle Sometimes, I write some short fanfiction, check it over a couple of times for wrong words and post it over on AO3. I love that gratifying hit of seeing a new chapter or a new work appear on my dashboard. Even better, I love seeing the first few kudos and looking forward to maybe getting a comment or two. Almost always, when I read my fic over a few hours after publishing it, I see mistakes. For example, I’m particularly blind to spotting if I’ve mistyped 'form' when I meant 'from,' or putting British spelling and American...

By Ali Coyle Every writer has, probably at several times, been becalmed by writer’s block. You open the working document and nothing comes to mind. Your plot (and your characters) are going nowhere until inspiration fills your sails again. It sucks. Inspiration needs feeding, though. And regularly. Writers need to read, to immerse themselves in setting and dialogue and description and plot. When I can’t write, I often can’t settle to read either. A few days ago, I saw a tweet that mentioned 'reader’s block.' I hadn’t really considered reader’s block as a thing in its own right until then....

By Ali Coyle I love to meet nonbinary characters in fiction. I love nonbinary protagonists, nonbinary antagonists, and nonbinary side characters hanging around in the background, waiting for their fleeting chance to exist and prod the plot along while the main characters catch a break. What I love even more is nonbinary characters who are sensitively written. But what does that mean to me? Below are my three favourite things about well-written, fictional, nonbinary characters. Disclaimer: this is my personal view as a nonbinary human and you are free to agree or disagree to whatever extent is comfortable for you....

By Ali Coyle I am excited to have a short story in Volume Blue of Dark Cheer Cryptids Emerging, IP's new two-volume anthology. Why write about cryptids? Why not! Mythical creatures fascinate me, especially shapeshifters. I never quite felt comfortable in my skin as a human until I learned the words 'agender' and 'nonbinary' to describe part of my identity. As a child (and teen and adult), brought up with strict certainties about gender, in my imagination I was a shapeshifter who could choose to be male or female or both or neither, human or animal or alien, whatever made...