Improbable Press Blog

By Yvonne Knop If you want to be a published author, you need to give 100%. No, 120%. Or wait…maybe 140% if you cannot do 200%. Here’s the tea: If you don’t have the luxury of being a full-time writer, it’s going to be hard. Harder than a one-week-old bagel. And it’s one of the many reasons people give up or become impatient and publish a half-baked something that is only a book in terms of a noun to describe the item. Devoting this much free time to something others around you describe as „just your hobby” is exhausting and...

By Yvonne Knop Today, someone asked me: “How do you write?” To which I replied: “With my computer.” You might guess that this was not the answer my friend expected. So, I will try to pin it down here - in case anyone needs some inspiration. I say inspiration because there is no exact step-by-step guide to the writing process. It’s unique for everyone and every writer I know has a different approach. Here’s mine: The first step for me is an idea that just suddenly pops up in my head. I don’t write those ideas down. Almost never. I...

By Yvonne Knop I can with absolute confidence say that my debut novel would have never signed a traditional publishing contract without the help of others. And I don’t mean the cute 'Could you read this blurb and say what you think?' kind of help but the 'Could you read my manuscript a fourth time and edit it with me?' Kind of help. I am talking about engaging in writer’s groups on social media, calls with strangers online to talk about plot holes and character flaws, beta readers who tell you that chapter XY could be deleted, editors that tweak...

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 Dr Matthew Yap Potential Hell Discovered Probably Highly Depressed Pounds Head on Desk Permanent Head Damage These are some of my favourite PhD acronyms. They certainly make more sense than Doctor of Philosophy. I chuckled when I first heard these acronyms years ago. But having recently completed my PhD, I can attest that they’re all accurate descriptions of the postgraduate experience. During my third year as a postgraduate, I considered writing a PhD survival guide. I put the project on hold because research and writing were all-consuming. Now that I’m done, I hope to demystify the PhD for anyone...