Improbable Press Blog
Take Courage (Writing Prompts)
Writing Challenges Writing Prompts
Another week, another writing challenge for you. Yes this is woeful late but here it is, with unbalanced bees (maybe) and courage, and a fake lawn to make you think real words about…what? Those of you who come to write for these wee prompts, each week do you have an idea already bubbling, or do you look at what I've shared here and think, "I got nuthin"?Me, that's what I'm always thinking. Nuthin'. There's no there, there. No mystery, no fantasy, no story about space aliens or river goddesses or martyrs. I look at what I myself have made and...
Interviewing Best-Selling Writers: 1 Simple Tip
Can you even make a clickable link with the number one? I don't know. Everything nowadays is "5 Cool Tips!" and "14 Impossible Ways!" But I just have one. One single tip for interviewing famous folks, and I'm not even going to tease out the answer, which is this: Go and ask them. That's what I did, I went and I asked. See, I have a book on fanfiction coming out next year, and for it I hoped to get the opinions of successful writers who'd themselves written, or spoke well of, fic. I wanted the words of writers I...
Self-identifying as a deity: The author of The Stag God, talks divine powers
ATLIN MERRICK: Do you believe in the stag god?J.O. PHAEL: Belief is a tough thing for me. I’m one of those people that very much wants to believe, but I find it difficult. I love pagan beliefs and world views, but have never been able to really connect in a meaningful way. I definitely believe that there’s something out there beyond what we know and understand, and I’d like to think Cernunnos is among that mysterious world we can’t quite see.ATLIN: Which goddesses and gods fascinate you most?J.O.: I’m a big fan of the entire Norse pantheon as well as...
What Gives a Novel Atmosphere?
By K. Caine When I think about whether or not a story has atmosphere, I think about how I felt when I experienced it. Stories with atmosphere, for me, have associated feelings with them—and not just any feelings, but the visceral kind. When I think about atmosphere, I believe immersion can be an important part.Immersion: It's About Telling Readers Where They AreWhen I was growing up in the nineties, video games had static graphics at best. Your character moved steadily over an unchanged landscape, and if you stopped and looked around, there was no telling where you had been or...
A Trick of the Eye (Writing Prompts)
Writing Challenges Writing Prompts
One thing I've learned from writing small – wonderful surprises can lurk round the corner, like linguistic sharks ready to bite with their brilliance. So it goes this week, and I've found it necessary to go to the Twitter of several of last week's writers and SHOUT AT THEM. It's a justified response to delight and surprise, I feel, and if not I have done it all the same. I hope you join the writers one of these times, I really do. I like shouting nice things and I'm anxiously wanting to shout them at you. Spoilers, Surprises, Stories That...