Improbable Press Blog — Guest Blogger
Why Tropes are a Great Idea
Guest Blogger Sara Dobie Bauer
By Sara Dobie Bauer Arranged marriage. Forbidden love. Age difference. Enemies to lovers. Gay for you. VIRGIN! These are all tropes. Tropes are so-called “overused plot devices.” They’re plots, conflicts, and characters we’ve seen a hundred times before. Some might say they’re clichéd. Why would you want to write something clichéd? Because these clichés, these tropes, work and they allow readers to relate to your writing and even find the exact sort of story that turns them on. No surprise, I write BBC Sherlock fan fiction. That show is a trope magnet thanks to all the unresolved...
On Actually Doing
On Actually Doing By Darcy Lindbergh “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” - Earl Nightingale I’ve probably read hundreds of articles about writing right now, about putting aside the fears and excuses and putting words on the page, and agreed wholeheartedly with them. And I’ve always considered myself a writer anyway; I’ve always had stories to tell and I’ve always tried to tell them. So I was completely blindsided to realize that my own fears and excuses were stopping me from writing something bigger....
That’s Fighting Talk (Or how, and why, I learned the language of the British Army)
Guest Blogger Janet Anderton Art Kizzia Mildmay
By Kizzia Mildmay I don’t come from a military family, I didn’t grow up on or near an army base, I’ve never served—not even in the Territorial Army—and I doubt if I’d pass basic training due to physically not the best specimen going and, more importantly, being incapable of taking orders without question. But I am, and have been for a very long time, utterly fascinated by the experiences of the men and women who serve Queen and Country in the British Army and find myself drawn to both reading and writing characters with military experience. This interest is,...
How to Go from Fan Fiction Writer to Pro Writer
Guest Blogger Sara Dobie Bauer
My name is Sara, and I’m addicted to Sherlock fan fiction. I’m also a published novelist, short story author, and journalist who gets paid to write—and you can be, too. I first found Sherlock fan fiction after series two when I realized I couldn’t wait a whole freaking year to have more of John and Sherlock. Around the same time, I developed an infatuation with Benedict Cumberbatch. On sites like A03 and FanFiction.net, I could bathe in a warm bubble bath of Adlock, Johnlock, and even FreeBatch. At first, I simply read. After a while, though, I started...