Improbable Press Blog

By Stephen Johnson Manuscript Wrestling 101 should be mandatory at workshops for all new writers. I don’t think it was part of my vocational writing degree many years ago. If it was, I must have slept through that lecture. It would have been handy to understand the elements of MW101 before tackling my first crime novel Tugga’s Mob. Manuscripts are slippery customers. Their life force is born from the first words, with every page they become stronger and bolder. As a novice the manuscript often had me on the mat. The storyteller would be in a chokehold but refusing to...

So here's the thing: when I tackled last week's prompt I thought I was going to write about something grown up. Last week's prompt included the words recovery and round and experience and so I thought I was going to Write Important.Instead a four-year-old started talking and I felt like I was taking dictation as she kicked at the grass with her feet, pondering in all seriousness what colours taste like.It was wonderful, to feel my creativity veer, and it is my prime wish for you with these writing prompts. May they take you somewhere you're surprised — and happy...

What is it with this and also that? How can a little bit of this, and some of that, take up so much time? Because time it took last week and so I didn't even get to read your wonderful stories.From hardboiledbaby's little Aggie to Anarion's tender-hearted thieves, from Honeyed Moon's budding romance in a galaxy far far away to Ali's sweet siren, the stories for the last prompt were charming and I love them and you know what? This and also that? They can just get kriffed. I'll really, really try and not let time get away from me...

By Anarion Atlin Merrick asked me what kind of encouragement or advice I'd offer unpublished writers, and it took me a while, but here are the two things that were important for me. Writing Advice 1: Choose your friends wisely Most of us don't work in a vacuum. We want feedback. Yes, I write what I want to read, and my writing brings me joy even when nobody else reads it, I even tend to forget to post once the story is out of my brain and real life gets in the way. But! It is glorious when someone you...

Last writing prompt was an especially goosebumpy one for me. I'm besotted with every tale told, they are indeed gems, rare and shiny and precious. Each time I post one of these prompts I hope, I sincerely, so very much hope you'll them, or the stories others write for them inspire you to write. Look for that inspiration, seek it, for you, you, you are your own muse. How you see the colour of the water, how you hear the chitter of a squirrel, what you smell and taste and touch—all of it is water to grow your ideas, all...