Okay, this is a tricksy blog entry because I'm going to:
* Ask the writers of our most recent anthology, Anna Karenina Isn't Dead to do a thing I'm not willing to do;
* But only after I a little bit do the thing I just said I'm not willing to do.
And that thing is play favorites with our recent anthology Anna Karenina Isn't Dead.
First I disclaimer all over everything: obviously all of the stories in the anthology are my favorites because these thirty-two tales were selected from over 220 submissions. This means I loves them all. I have thirty-two children and you can pry none of them from my very alive and thoroughly smacky hands. So don't even try it.
However.
We have two styles of story in the collection. The first wonderfully rewrite the tales of women who were originally front and center but poorly done by, this includes Béatrice de Charmoy's "Lilac," about Anna Karenina herself, Miranda Jubb's unnamed but very present protagonist in "Beyond the Wall(paper)", and Sadie Fox Curtis' Jane Eyre in "Helen Highwater."
Then there's the other style of story, doing something I also dearly love:
Giving voices to the voiceless.
In Jack Fennell's "The Leopard Queen" one of Dr Moreau's creations not only has a voice, she uses it to explain why hell no, she absolutely will not stop what she's doing which is, quite literally, changing entire worlds.
In Lena Ng's "Made for a Monster," Frankenstein's second creation not only lives, she demands from her creator freedom for herself and the creature for whom she was made, then she decides what that means – whether Victor likes it or not.
Again and again in this collection women who in fiction had no voice or agency take it, make it, have it. Their writers found wonderful words for these women who were given none.
That's one of my very favorite things about this book. Along with everything else that's wonderful, which is all of it. So there.
Now I wonder, writers of Anna Karenina Isn't Dead, what are some of your favorite things in the collection – a quote, a concept, a particular story and why?
We gotcher Sherlock Holmes books, eerie-creepy-cool books, we have modern supernatural/near future, and LGBT+ romance — some books are multiples of these, click through to find out more.
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 skull. Sometimes I will pour 5-10k words into a document in a matter of a few hours, but I will have been simmering it in my head for weeks or months before it’s ready to be committed to a first draft.
Tuli and Rishona popped into my imagination some time in 2016. They had different names, lived in a different era and had different challenges to the Tuli and Rishona of “Good Genes” – one of the three tales in Chrysalides. I had been thinking of a fairytale about a princess guarded by a fearsome dragon until a brave prince came along with a very sharp sword and a dislike of large pets. And I thought, “What if the princess was the dragon and just didn’t fancy any princes?”
And so Tuli was born. At the beginning of the first version of this story, Tuli was sixteen and her transformation happened when she felt threatened. Princes would come to woo her because of the large dowry settled on her by her embarrassed parents. And the next day, Tuli would wake up with torn clothing, a dry throat, and maybe an odd taste of barbecue between her teeth.
Ilma, as Rishona was originally called, was the maid who saw that Tuli was fed and had books and company. Over the time period of the story, Tuli and Ilma tentatively fell in love. I changed Ilma’s name because it looked and sounded too similar to Tuli. This version of Ilma was a trainee witch, but not a terribly competent one. She understood that Tuli’s transformation was because of a curse and offered her a choice: turn into a dragon forever on your 18th birthday or take this potion and remain human forever.
Desperate to be free of her imprisonment, Tuli took the potion. Only it didn’t work. The next prince that came visiting had heard about his unfortunate predecessors and came with an army. However, this time when Tuli transformed she retained her human consciousness and her ability to speak. And so Tuli took Ilma up onto her back and flew off into the sunset.
I can’t remember what she did with the final prince, but I bet it wasn’t pleasant.
At one point, I needed to see Tuli and Ilma together. And so I commissioned art of them from Carro Ricketts, who had a lovely art style I’d seen on Tumblr. It’s utterly delightful.
The story changed gradually at first. I needed Tuli to know that there was a whole big world out there, so I moved the time from some kind of unspecified yesteryear to a modern setting so that she would have the internet. That had knock-on changes. Tuli couldn’t be locked in a tower anymore so she needed to be isolated in a different way. The curse became an unusual genetic inheritance. Quiet, nervous Ilma had to be more independent so she became Rishona, student and mouthy owner of a dangerous-looking motorbike. The threat changed from princes looking for a cash settlement to take a princess off her parents’ hands to hunters looking to bag a rare beast.
But two things stayed the same (spoiler alert!)
Tuli still changes into a gorgeous and fearsome dragon. And Rishona and Tuli still fall in love. Because that was the story all along.
Order Chrysalides now at 20% off!
ALI COYLE: I adore this early scene in Chrysalides, with Tuli and her mother first meeting Rishona, partly because it gives me such a strong sense of place. In my head, this whole story is set in Devon, in a house I lived in which bordered a forest, sat two miles down a single track road, and heaven help you if you wanted to go anywhere at milking time. I can see it in my head, and when you read Tuli's story I hope you can too.
I love Lydia's attempts at interviewing potential companions for her daughter because nobody could ever be good enough. Lydia knows this, knows she is looking for reasons to reject Rishona. That Lydia's first reaction to the bike is to forbid Tuli from getting on it shows how fearful she is of allowing Tuli independence. Lydia is struggling with the thought of leaving her darling daughter alone when she desperately wants to be able to stay.
I also love Tuli's reaction to seeing Rishona for the first time. She's smitten from the instant Rishona takes her motorcycle helmet off and shakes out her hair. Tuli already knows she's not into boys, and a biker girl dressed in a black leather jacket is like something out of a fantasy for her.
It is important to me that Tuli and Lydia have a positive, supportive relationship where Tuli can be open about who she is and Lydia loves her for everything, not despite everything.
Including the fact that her daughter is also a dragon.
I met Arthur Conan Doyle for a casual and comfortable lunch in the Oscar Wilde Tea Room of the famous Café Royale. He looked exactly as I imagined him to look, a stout man with a mustache. I knew the moment had come where I had to explain that I had used his famous character Sherlock Holmes for one of my novels – without asking for permission or paying any royalties.
"I read your book," he said in an almost unimpressed voice.
I sat down and looked at the cup in front of me, already filled with tea and milk. "So, what do you think? Did I portray him right?"
"He is the work of your main character's imagination; I doubt he has to be my Holmes. I like the modern setting. Holmes in a queer story wouldn't have been possible in my days."
The waiter put our sandwiches on the table.
"Is he queer or straight?" I asked while taking one.
Doyle took a sip of tea and dried his mustache with a white napkin. "Who? Holmes?"
I nodded.
"The evidence for both sides is evenly matched, I suppose, and sexuality was not a major part of Victorian society. What does Sherlock Holmes mean to you?"
"For me he stands for a clever and analytic mind that looks beyond stereotypes and the obvious facts."
"There you have it. Sexuality doesn't matter. What matters is what he means to you."
We both smiled and continued our tea and sandwiches in the golden mirrored room.
While he wrote much – sixteen novels and many, many short stories – Arthur is probably best known for his fifty-six short stories and four novels about Sherlock Holmes.
And, as Improbable Press began life as a Sherlock Holmes publisher, we want to celebrate this part of Arthur's legacy by taking 22% off our eleven Sherlock Holmes novels and novellas in both paperback and ebook!
Our Holmesian-inspired works include, in order of publication from most recent:
These books go from a novel in which Sherlock is a hallucination (kinda) in A Case of Madness, to lyrical novellas told 221 words at a time in Rare and Wonderfully Made, The Watches of the Night, A Question of Time, and A Dream to Build a Kiss On.
Then there's the eerie tale told in the novel Ghost Story; a modern-day mystery novel in The Case of the Misplaced Models; and a canon-period novel set in Australia with The Adventure of the Colonial Boy.
There's also three collections of short stories in A Murmuring of Bees, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Day They Met and Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Night They Met.
Mix-and-match whichever novels, novellas, and collections intrigue you, in paperback and ebook (ePub or Kindle/mobi), and for the next 36 hours (until 5pm New York time), they are all 22% off to celebrate Arthur's birthdate of May 22 (the discount applies itself automatically at checkout).
We hope you enjoy any and all the books you may buy and if that's not in the cards for today, you can find Arthur's work in beautiful collections in just about any bookshop, as well as free ebooks and audiobooks of some of his out-of-copyright stories at Guteberg.org.
Please allow 3-6 weeks for paperback delivery.
]]>So, do you love writing about the Renaissance yet don't personally know a white witch who lived in the 16th century and recently settled down near you after her retirement? Well, I have a suggestion to make to you: research.
Research, research, research.
Because you've no doubt read a book about a place you've been or lived, and suddenly a sentence throws you off because this is just not how that place is. I'm not talking about bad representation – we could write a whole book about misrepresentation of marginalized groups, wrongly depicted cultures, and male authors describing female body parts – but I'm talking about the description of places and things.
Now, you might think wait isn't that easy? Yes! But let me tell you, some people just don't do the extra Google image search. Describing a banana as pink and round might have worked 500 years ago and we would probably forgive the Icelandic author for describing it as such, but today we would open our Twitter and send them a picture of a banana, questioning if they have internet access (they have Twitter, so yes, they do).
The same goes for places. If you write about a place you've never been to, contact people who did live there or even still do, or at least do an extensive research about the place – oh, hello Google maps and Google images. Don't just assume what the Brighton Pavilion looks like from the inside if you've never been inside it, because you'll be very wrong. Very wrong. It even comes down to restaurants, pubs, shops, museums, etc. Because if someone reads your book and is a regular at the place you describe – you'll get an embarrassing Twitter message.
This is also important for items, especially if your novel is set in another time period: cars, technical items, weapons, or even shoes. Museums, internet forums and libraries are a great resource if you don't have access to that aforementioned white witch. I was once put off by a period romance set in medieval times where one main character closed his pants with a zipper. Zippers didn't exist before the 1850s. It would have taken a 10 second internet research.
Last, my absolute trick: geeks. Yes, geeks. There are wonderful geeks for everything lurking around in dusty forums and Facebook groups. Go out, ask them. They won't bite.
Go that extra mile today, do your research, make your readers happy.
"Just a wee reminder that whatever you're writing right now…it's worth every moment of your time. It doesn't matter if there has been a story 'like' it—there's always been stories of falling in love, growing up, and on and on—this is your story told your way."
I recently posted that on Twitter and several folks said they needed those words that day.
Which has inspired me to also put those words here so you can see 'em again and, more importantly, weave them into your soul.
No one can tell a story like you do, absolutely no one. I don't care if we're talking AI/ChatGPT bots either, because they can't write anything that wasn't put into them, but you?
You think.
You look at the world and in that seeing you're inspired by how that thing threads in with what you heard yesterday, and how those things unite to form the foundation of your protagonist or poem or polemic — whatever it is you're writing.
The folks who first said the asinine words 'write what you know' were probably "literature" profs penning damp little novels about wanting to bang undergrads.
But before them?
Before those bores, people wrote about the amazing and fantastic, about worlds and wonders they had never seen – unless you believe Emily Dickinson had conversations with Death, Shakespeare saw ghosts, or Ursula K LeGuin could change the weather?
So to hell with staying in your lane, write about demons and demisexuals and the plant personifications of the seven deadly sins if that's what calls you. If you don't identify as, for example, a demisexual, write your story anyway – and while you're on that road learn about the things you don't know (same as you do with street names and cities and points in history), and talk to those who do know what you don't, to make sure you got things right.
What you don't do is second guess yourself because some fool you never met told you what you should write. You'll never, ever, not one time ever please these old cranks who feel themselves arbiters of literature and do you know why?
You don't look like them.
If you're female, queer, disabled, a person of color, neurodivergent, or hell, even just happy as a writer, you do not look like the people who will tell you what should and shouldn't write. So, since they will never respect your words, you need not respect theirs.
Those folks who demand you fit into a small writing box are very definitely envious of your imagination, your expansiveness, your belief that with research and respect you can imagine yourself into worlds you'll never inhabit.
They can't do that so they'll tell you it can't be done.
They lie.
In your heart you know they lie so know this too: they can be safely ignored.
Please, do anything and everything (all at once!): write gay pirates on high seas ships, interview Hades for a poem, put yourself into the people and places that fascinate and enthrall you and you will enthrall us.
Research, respect, and then weave us your worlds.
Please, please write what you love…we desperately need your words.
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 often too much to handle. But as my mother always told me when I grew up: It is what it is. If you want to be a writer – step up your game and accept your miserable fate of having two jobs now. The one that brings you money and the one that – well – might bring you money. And sorry to say: might is an understatement.
I‘m a full time teacher and as a result I had to write in the evenings, on weekends, while cooking, during zoom calls – no joke – while watching TV, on the train, on planes…you get the idea. One simply doesn’t just write a book. Every book that is out there is the result of blood, sweat, tears, and a neglected significant other and/or best friend.
Now, if you still want to be a writer and publish your book, don’t wait for a muse to kiss you because you will wait longer than for a bus in rural Cornwall. You also don’t wait for inspiration to serve a costumer – if that is your job – no, you serve them because that is your job. And so is writing – even if you’re not a professional writer (yet). Don’t waste time waiting for the muse. Just write. For your life. And don’t forget to stay hydrated and eat that bagel. You will have to edit the sh*** out of that manuscript later anyway.
PS: The more frustrated you become, the more it’ll be tempting to pay a lot of cash for seminars, courses or whatever there is people offer to writers. There are very few exceptions (I cannot advertise here, sorry), but I know from my own experience that it’s often times not worth the money and you won’t learn anything that the internet and booktube cannot teach you.
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 let them sit, like a Bolognese. Because only then they can get the best taste. I wait. And if the idea stays for a longer period of time, I know it’s worth exploring. One major sign here is daydreaming, which I do extensively. I go on daydreaming my story and start to dwell on which genre would be fitting. This is a point of no return.
Sometimes, as happened with my current project, this “daydream phase” takes a couple of months and I only start writing when I cannot hold back anymore, when the story screams to be let out. Otherwise, it’s just nothing than a daydream. And, oh, how many I have. But not all great ideas make a novel*.
At this point I usually draft an outline and think of major plot points, and about where I start and where I want to end. I’m very strict with that, even noting down page numbers where I want this scene to be.This has to do with genre and pacing. It will get messed up sooner or later by revising the bits and pieces, but at least the pacing will not be THAT off.
Then I just write. Yes “just”... no, it’s hell. A fun hell (sometimes). *Nervous laughter*. At this point I don’t know all that will be in the story, just the essential points I’ve scribbled down because I want the story to tell itself. I get to know my characters while writing and, again, daydreaming.
I usually write down 2000-3000 words per day and I revise while I go. You will read different opinions on that online, but my writing day starts with revising what I have so far – at least the chapter I finished before this new one. Not only does it get me back into the story, it also allows me to deepen my writing while I write the first draft. It’s time consuming, yes, but it works best for me. Once a chapter is good enough during this process, I won’t include it in that routine anymore. So, my work gets fatter and fatter with each writing session.
With this my first draft is ready for my first round of revisions. I say mine because it’s only me, my tea and my manuscript. After that it’s time for beta readers, whose opinion will help me to edit my work. I usually ask for the character’s agency, major plot lines, tension, and pacing. Once this is done, I have my second round of revisions. And then – drumroll, thunder, children fleeing into their parent’s arms – it’s time for the professionals to give feedback, rip your dream apart and shatter your heart.
All this takes between 10 months and a lifetime.
*find a way to sneak theses great ideas into your finished manuscript.
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 and correct your writing, and 3am calls with family members about how you can open a wine bottle without a bottle opener.
Writing is a collaborative process. If you shake your head at this point and think you can do everything by yourself, there is a big chance you will never sign with a publisher. Because the hard truth is, although you should write the book you would love to read, you also must write a book others should also love to read – and buy. You are creating something that is made for others to enjoy – and not only for yourself.
So how can you find out if what you passionately wrote touches others like it touches you? How can you find out if the message you wanted to deliver can be understood by others? How can you find out if anything of what you wrote makes any sense at all? You can only find out by working with others, by listening to them patiently, by asking them questions and by swallowing your pride sometimes.
There is no room for arrogance in the publishing process: if three people tell you a scene doesn’t work, trust me, it probably doesn’t. As much as you think this particular scene is brilliant and will make Shakespeare look like the worst writer of all times. And if you think you cannot share anything about your book because it’s the next bestseller and people will just steal from you…put your book down until you come back to reality. Nobody is waiting to steal from you – but a lot of people will be willing to help you. As John Donne said: “No man is an island.” Not even you.
‘But how can I do it?’ – Here are some tips:
1. Engage in groups on social media. There are plenty groups that are especially made for writers seeking literary agents or writers who work on their debut. Get in touch. Read, learn, and ask questions.
2. Ask others to read your story. At the beginning it might be comfortable to ask people you know, but later in the writing process you should have people read your story that you might not know. Why? Because we tend to be super nice to people we know and strangers, well, they will tell you your side character is an arse (in case they are). It’s also great to let them ask your characters questions. This will show you what might be unclear to the reader.
3. Get in touch with a freelance editor and/or proof-reader. While I consider this an absolute must for every self-published author, it might not be necessary for everyone who wants to be traditionally published. For me it was because English is my second language. But it might help you as well to get your manuscript as polished as possible. (Say it with me: I will only send a manuscript out that is polished and follows the guidelines.)
Now, go out and connect! It will be worth it! And remember to stay kind!
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 spelling in a pot and cooking up something that’s neither. Shoulder? Sholder? Whatever, I’ll be shrugging mine along with my characters. Ah, yes. Gestures. Like many writers, I have my favorites. Sometimes I go back, thesaurus at hand, and edit out every other instance of the words 'grin' and 'nod.'
Wouldn’t it be cool, I thought one day as I prepared a story for submission, if there was someone out there who could cast a professional eye over my words and pick out all the mistakes for me?
I’d had a couple cases of unsolicited writing advice in fic comments before. Both made me bristle. I wrote this for free? And you’re criticizing? Take a long walk off a short plank!
But there is a world of difference between clicking 'publish' on something you know isn’t perfect, and asking for professional feedback on a story you want to polish until it is shiny enough to dazzle a submissions editor.
My first experience with an editor (many years ago) was a good one. I wasn’t ready to show my story to someone I actually knew, because what if they hated it? I might resent them for saying so, or delete the story and never write again. Instead, I paid a fee, equivalent to a pub dinner for two with drinks, to have my story picked apart by a stranger I would never meet. I waited a few days until an email came back telling me, “Your story is almost publishable as it is!” and inviting me to review the comments in the Google doc I’d shared.
My story was just under 1000 words. There were just over 100 comments and suggestions. Reader, I almost cried.
It wasn’t as bad as I’d feared from the liberal peppering of red on my black type. When the editor wanted to change a comma to a full stop it generated four separate suggestions. Delete comma. Insert full stop. Delete lowercase letter. Insert capital letter. And there were a lot of those. I am definitely more sparing with my commas now, although my overlong sentences will probably always need professional pruning.
The main benefit to my writing, and to my attitude, was that I got to see some of my writing habits from a reader's perspective. This made me far less defensive about my work. It also made me see that editing is collaborative: I was free to accept or reject each suggestion and make a few new suggestions of my own. And I did reject where the suggestions would have Americanized the protagonist’s dialect or changed her inner voice.
The next time I paid for concrit, I knew what to expect. I welcomed the comments on a piece of flash fiction I’d wrestled down to 250 words. This time, although my story didn’t make the shortlist, I got good advice about using imagery efficiently.
What I am saying is that accepting professional feedback is a good thing aimed at improving your writing, and not a judgment with a final grade attached. Writing for a publication is a collaborative process. Reading an editor’s comments can be excruciating, but once the initial indignation wears off and you get down to work on the final polish, the end result will be a far better story.
As well as being the right fit for the publication, your story has to be written in an appropriate style. I once had a very short flash fiction published where my single exclamation point had been deleted because the editor didn’t like them. Was I bothered? Yes! Yes. Think of the difference in your head when you read those two yeses. Punctuation sometimes works hard in flash fiction. Was I bothered for long? Five minutes. Maybe ten. Ultimately, it was that editor’s policy to erase the humble exclamation point from existence. And that’s his right!
I have recently been working on two very different works of fiction with two very different, but constructively collaborative editors. Understanding that the editor has the exact same goal as the author – a publishable work that is the best it can be – makes their comments feel a lot more constructive and makes doing the revisions a lot less onerous.
The most current thing I’m working on is fanfiction for someone else’s universe. Rhole and I discuss scenes, then I write and Rhole makes gorgeous art. My 'creative consultant' has live access to my document. As well as picking up my mistakes, she often makes comments and suggestions to help me see how to get a better fit to her ideas about how the characters live, how they interact and how their lives put them at odds with each other. Plucking up the nerve to ask, “Can I write for your characters?” has gained me a collaborator, editor, and friend.
The other, about which I am very excited, is an upcoming collection of three novella-length stories. It has had a long journey from my initial proposal to the final manuscript. My initial proposal was rejected. What! How dare! But the email contained brief, honest advice about why it was unsuitable.
So I got over my indignation and rewrote it. The new version is so much better than the original that I can’t wait to share it, because it is my favorite thing of everything I have written so far. Working collaboratively with my editor helped make that happen.
Ali Coyle is the author of 'Chrysalides,' which will publish with Improbable Press in the spring. They also publish fanfiction on AO3 as Rudbeckia.
]]>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 considering undertaking one to help them decide whether it’s right for them. I also hope to encourage those struggling through their dissertations to remember that what they’re doing is worthwhile.
In its purest sense, the purpose of a PhD is to produce original research that contributes to humanity’s knowledge. But people pursue a PhD for many other personal reasons. Embarking on and committing to a PhD is a herculean challenge akin to entering the Hunger Games, so before you volunteer as tribute for postgraduate school, it helps to know what you’ll face.
You can start by asking yourself why you actually want to do a PhD and what you expect to gain from it.
Is there a topic that you’re genuinely passionate about understanding? Doing a PhD is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse yourself in your chosen field. You’ll develop insights and expertise that are unparalleled in breadth and depth. But remember that interest is more important than passion. When passion wanes – and it will – remaining interested in your research is vital, especially when you start wishing that your thesis has a neck you could throttle.
Do you believe that earning a PhD will improve your career prospects? Can you see yourself pursuing (and staying in) a career that actually needs an advanced degree? Most jobs outside the sciences and academia are perfectly open to other qualifications. Even if you get your PhD, you don’t need to stay in academia forever. Many other worthy professions can use your expertise. You can still contribute your knowledge as a writer, policymaker, science communicator, or educator.
Take time to reflect if your interest in doing a PhD might be symptomatic of peer pressure and FOMO. Maybe you think a PhD is a good idea because your friends are doing it or because you’ve always done well academically, and your family thinks a PhD would be the ultimate badge of honor. Never do a PhD for glory – there is none. There’s only one person to whom having a PhD should matter – yourself.
What is the PhD experience like, and what can you get from it?
As trials by fire go, pursuing a PhD is an intense crucible that forges immense mental growth and emotional strength. You’ll discover what you’re made of and see how far you can go. Your intellectual horizons will expand exponentially, and you’ll hopefully also develop a more disciplined and detail-oriented mind. You’ll learn to value fact-based knowledge while remaining open to alternative ideas and non-traditional voices that challenge your worldviews.
Research forces you to look at everything written so far about a topic, and writing compels you to synthesize your understanding of that knowledge to say something new and noteworthy. Over time, you’ll find yourself gaining the ability to see the big picture and the minutiae. You’ll start seeing connections and drawing parallels between seemingly disparate ideas. You’ll be amazed (and impressed with yourself) when the reams of research you’ve been reading, which once felt impossibly obscure, now make sense.
The PhD journey will push you so far to your limits that you’ll need to develop resilience, self-reliance, self-discipline, a thick skin, and the ability to withstand pressure. Sacrifice is a perpetual constant – you’ll have to choose between your dissertation and the time you’d rather spend with family, friends, and other interests. Your research never really leaves you, and you’ll be perpetually thinking about it – that’s actually a positive! Allowing your research to percolate in your mind while you go about your day can produce surprising insights and (re)solutions.
Whether you’re at the start or completing your PhD, you’ll often feel anxious, overwhelmed, and inadequate. A PhD is grueling, so it is perfectly natural to experience these feelings. But if the stress and exhaustion become chronic, talk to your PhD peers or those who’ve recently finished. They’ll understand what you’re going through. Your supervisors are also another source of advice and support. That’s why you must select your supervisors carefully, for they’re the ones who’ll be with you throughout the journey – and what a journey it is.
I used to wonder why my professors insisted that we use their first names. Now I understand that while being called “Doctor” is nice, it doesn’t matter. I was happy before I got the title, and it hasn’t changed who I am or how I relate to other people.
What matters most is that by going through the PhD experience, I’ve developed a lasting sense of satisfaction and confidence in myself that will last a lifetime. That alone makes the years of hard work worth it.
Oh the boons of age! You've learned Some Things. You do fewer Unwise Things.
This means you can maybe say, "Hey, dear writing friend! What you just did in front of me and my sandwich? It's Unwise! I used to do it and suggest you don't!"
The thing I'm talking about, the unwise thing, is asking editors to tell you why they rejected your work.
Why Your Story Was Rejected: 2 Reasons an Editor Won't Tell You
I know it doesn't feel great not knowing. Yet as a working editor I also know there's at least two good reason we don't want to tell you why a story was rejected:
* We don't have time.
Editors read a lot. Hundreds of short stories. Dozens of books. And most of these submissions are read in their off time. Editors read a double dozen short stories on the weekend. They take a few book manuscripts with them on holiday.
So when they know a story doesn't fit what they need, most politely reject it and move on to the next one. They simply can't offer details to everyone about everything.
And even if they could, they might not want to do so for another reason:
* Writers get hurt.
Writers often don't respond well to learning that their story, for example, didn't provide two vital things the guidelines asked for. Instead they may reply, "But I gave you a third one!"
This implies a demand for even more justifying details and more of the editor's time when maybe, just maybe, the full answer they're trying to avoid is saying this: we got much better stories.
Of course great stories get rejected too. Maybe we already have something just like your tale, or perhaps it's not the genre we publish.
There are a lot of reasons a story is rejected, and often an editor will tell you, if they've personally requested your work. If they do, that's a kindness so please thank them. And know most editors don't enjoy rejecting people, so when you ask for details, they're no happier answering than you are in hearing the answer.
In the meantime, if you're rejected without details, by all means reply "Thank you for your time," and then turn around and send your tale to another suitable market. As writers it's the job we've all signed on for, and while it's hard, if we keep working at it…it works.
Now good luck to you, you Wise Thing.
(P.S. Please read James' comment down below, it takes a look at this from the other side – acceptance!)
]]>Secret time: We don't always love our book's cover right away.
As a writer for whom covers have been created, and an editor who commissions covers for others, I know this is so very true.
Book Cover Expectations: Let's Go Back In Time
When I was a teen, Casey Kasem hosted a weekly top 40 radio show; I listened for years before I finally saw a photo of Kasem himself, and:
No.
Nope.
Nada, that's not what Casey Kasem looks like.
Except. Except what did I think he looked like? I don't know. I'd had no idea I even had expectations until his perfectly fine face somehow didn't meet them.
Enter the cover for your book: even if you don't know what you want the cover to be, sometimes you kind of do, and if the cover doesn't fit those vague imaginings it can lead to a momentary "no, nope, nada."
Why I'm Telling You This
You need to know this sometimes happens, so you're okay with that momentary weirdness. So you know it's normal, you're not alone, and you'll get over it.
Yes, you'll come to love that cover because it's your cover. For your book. That you wrote and for which someone you never even met created an illustration.
How cool is that?
So breathe deep and look at the cover again. A couple times. Let its colors dance across your eyeballs. Think about what part of the book the cover recalls. Go away and come back to it.
Chances are good, after you've had your Casey Kasem-esque "thanks no," moment, you'll like, even love, your cover. Certainly you'll remember that publishing is not a solo endeavor, that you've already been edited and proofread, your blurb has been worked and reworked, and you didn't always agree with every change there but you knew each was to make the book better.
Same goes for your book's cover, which was designed by a professional, one who's done this before and understands the tricksy ways of layout, typeface, and the rule of thirds – or whatever magic artists know and writers like you and I don't.
However, if, if, if, after a few days you decide you really don't like your cover, is that all she wrote? Are you stuck forever?
It depends.
When You Can Get Your Book Cover Changed…and When You Can't
I have a friend who wrote a novel whose protagonist is an Asian man. The book cover artist didn't know this (no, they don't have time to read each book they illustrate; usually they work from your blurb and ideas shared by writer and editor), and so this artist produced a book cover with a very Caucasian man.
Crap no.
Approaching her publisher with professional grace (note the bold-italics) my friend explained why the cover was wrong, absolutely.
The publisher – who was busy with a bevvy of other books and this no doubt slipped through – said the equivalent of "Yikes you're right, let's try again."
Try they did, and the novel's since published with a lovely Asian man on the cover.
If something like that happens to you, definitely contact your editor or publisher, and talk with them. Yet though you may feel insulted, hurt, and sad they got something so vital so very wrong do not let them know that.
By this I mean do not insult the cover to your publisher, do not belittle its creator, do not threaten to pull your book because you hate the artwork. None of these help you, but they very definitely can hurt you.
If you need to rant, take your besties out for a brew and do that with them. After you've said unprintable things about the illustrator, the publisher, the server who brought the wrong beers, after you've sworn everyone but you and your darlings are dumb as bricks, after all that…sit down with the cover, really understand why you don't like it, then write a professional, a professional, a professional email about your reservations.
Then be patient.
What Happens Next?
Several things can happen now. At the very least, your editor will listen respectfully to your concerns – if you're respectful. Tweaks to the cover may certainly be possible and made. You won't know until you ask.
They may even be able to create a new cover, though that's not always likely. Why? Time and money. No publisher can redo covers again and again; they're pricey and we want to get to the bit where we announce your book. Trumpets! Excitement! Sales!
Yet we also want you to carry your book proudly to readings, conventions, to the pub next time you and your besties meet for brews, so if something big is wrong, we want to know about it.
We Love Your Book
In all of this remember this: we love your book or we wouldn't be publishing it.
We want a beautiful book just as much as you do. Chances are good we asked for your input on the cover before we approached the illustrator – that's standard with most small presses.
Yet understand that we all Casey Kasem things. We all have images in our head we don't even know are there. Sometimes we're going to love our cover right away, sometimes it's going to take a hot little minute, and that's okay. It's normal.
So!
Chin high, shoulders back, spine straight. Check it out: you wrote a book. You're holding it in your hands. And that? That's magic.
Atlin Merrick is a writer and editor. If you have any small press-type questions she can answer, ask!
]]>A writer recently asked what we mean by 'we're editing your book,' and though we've talked about the overall book editing process on this blog, we never covered the nitty gritty of how the editing process goes.
We're about to do that right now.
You've sent your completed novel to us. We've never seen those words before. We're excited!
Though the precise process depends on the editor, for Improbable Press, this is how we edit:
Now comes the rest of the process toward publication: book layout, cover design, and your book joining the publishing queue – yes, queue, because there are always books ahead of yours waiting to be edited, proofread, laid out, cover designed, and published.
The publisher may have an idea when your book will debut, but that date can change. Like films, books get reshuffled in the queue for a dozen reasons, it rarely has anything to do with your book and everything to do with Life Happens™.
Publishing requires patience, there's no quick way to be published because this is a collaboration, and there are a lot of people working on getting your book ready. You can self-pub, of course, and then the only book in the queue is yours. That's perfectly valid. But if you're working with an independent press, book publishing takes time.
Have questions about any of this? We love them, so ask them!
]]>I think a prompt is everything that motivates you.
It can be anything, and it doesn't have to have anything to do with what you go on to create, it's simply a catalyst. Maybe that's what this semi-regular column should be called: catalyst.
Whether you're writing a poem or a polemic, if you're noodling on a novel or stewing over the next step in a short story, sometimes a lyric is enough to propel you forward – I know lyrics can often help me as I walk around grumbling to myself about a plot point – and speaking of point, mine is just this:
Oh ye! Look upon this image of an exploding apple, a lighted sign at night, at the fulsome words cathedral and matches burning, and let any or all of these clear your brain or fill it, whatever you need right now to help you write.
Then write.
Now.
P.S. As ever, we have to moderate anything you share in the comments because o' bots, but that's one of the purposes of those comments: share whatever this brought out for you!
]]>Want a crunchy fact for your sci-fi novel? A little something that gives a sense of place, science, or culture?
How about this: your extraterrestrials always give birth to twins.
In humans twin births are rare, happening about 4 times to 1,000 births, but get this: Clawed New World monkeys (Callitrichidae) — tiny wee creatures between 4 to 21 ounces – rarely have one baby, instead they nearly always have fraternal twins (or triplets when in captivity) and they can do so with greater ease than humans in part because they develop their placenta a lot longer than we do – meaning there's more nourishment there to support the babies as they grow.
So right there's a crunchy fact your xenobiologist can share for why this alien race seems to be able to produce so many twin and triplets.
But wait, there's more!
Nine-banded armadillos give birth to four identical pups at a time and here's your crunchy fact: some think one reason may be so the animals can't interbreed, meaning they must leave the nest to find a mate.
Side fact: while only one dog is known to have given birth to twins, some vets think it might be a bit more common than thought.
Next time: why there's no such thing as a cold, dead body
I read all kinds of interesting stuff. How moths drink the tears of sleeping birds. That flour is explosive. That Marie Curie's belongings will be radioactive for 500 years. And there are probably at least 500 billion galaxies.
These are little facts that are a delight just for knowing, or for knowing so you can add them to a story and give it a wee bit of crunch.
Crunch?
Crunchy facts are those chewy, spikey, textural bits of minutiae that give your story complexity. So says novelist and songwriter Narrelle M Harris, who made up this tasty term.
Crunchy facts are those details we come across that make us spin like over-excited tops, thinking "GAH! This is so cool, I have to put it in a story!" (Me, I'm talking about me.) They're little or big things like:
So! Here we'll sometimes have a few hundred words of crunchy science, culture, or history facts coming as I find 'em. I would love, love, LOVE if you shared yours in the comments please (which are moderated because of the plague of spam bots).
Next time: why your alien character always gives birth to four identical babies
References:
You can pee a rainbow • Deadly Doses: a writer's guide to poisons • Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Night They Met • The Many Ways Horseshoe Crab Blood Will Amaze You
Just…just go around me.
I'm going to be here awhile, stretched out on this grass, staring at the fluffy clouds while I tell youngsters to get off my lawn.
Which is to say I am a tiny bit exhausted. O so weary of others doing what I used to do, and now I just want to squirt everyone with this hose I'm not holding and holler "Learn from my mistakes for heaven's sake! I also didn't follow submission guidelines! And do you know what it got me? Don't you walk away while I'm yelling at you!"
When you're twenty-two or fifteen or sixty-one, whenever it is you first start this journey of submitting your writing to magazines and publishers and agents, you're going to come across writer's guidelines, also called submission guidelines.
And you are going to look at them.
And you are going to think to yourself, "These read like, like god damned sewing pattern."
They do too, in-so-far as they're full of do this, then that, but only use the 14-point because we hate 11-point, also be careful of this common mistake which will render everything hopeless, and then they'll have the nerve to wrap it all up with what feels like lies but isn't: "Good luck, we can't wait to see your work!"
If you are like I was in my twenties, you read some submission guidelines on an agent's or publisher's website and you think, "You're a jerk. Who cares what font size I use? You're a jerk and I'm sending you my fantastic story anyway. It's in 11-point too!"
No one makes stupid rules for the sake of it. They make what looks like stupid rules because if they don't they're going to grab a hose, lie on their lawn, and squirt people while sobbing.
Because here's the thing: that agent? editor? publisher? Most get so many stories they can't possibly read all of them. So they have to make rules. That help them make it through all those stories.
Like 14-point manuscripts only (it may be much better for their eye strain), sent only every third month (or they'll drown in manuscripts), and they take only mysteries (because horror gives them nightmares).
When you come along (like I used to) and you think, "Well those rules are stupid and besides I'm following at least two of them," what you're telling them is this: "I won't make any of this easy for you. I'm more special than anyone else and though they follow the rules, I'm so special I can bend them and make you work harder."
Want to know something?
No one's that special.
And we work hard enough.
However, if you follow a publisher-editor-agent's submission guidelines to the T do you know what you do? Stand out before they've read a word.
And that makes you special. If you're a good writer on top of that? Double special.
Because here's the thing: we've all seen TV shows or read books that aren't as good as other TV shows or books but do you know what the writers of these probably did right from the start? Followed the brief. And were easy to work with. No hose squirting required.
So. To the writer who submitted a manuscript to us which they described in their cover letter as 'horror' and 'gory'…you didn't read our guidelines. The ones that said 'no horror.' So we rejected your manuscript minutes after receiving it and guess what?
That didn't feel great for you.
And it made us grab the hose because we're kinda tired of this sort of thing.
You want to be special, yes? You want your work to speak for itself? Great, then here are tips on how to be special when you first approach a publisher-editor-agent:
• Follow their submission guidelines. If they say Arial font in 13-point, margins all around 0.6, manuscripts only accepted July and March, then for the love of me and this lawn, do those things. (Because the writer right after you? They will do those things.)
• Check the guidelines again just before making contact. Because needs and guidelines do change as the needs of the press or agent change. Maybe they've got more mysteries than they can handle right now and want only YA fantasy. Do not send them your mystery. I'm sorry but you can't. They. Have. Too. Many. Already.
• Be polite. You'd be surprised how often people aren't, especially once their manuscript has been declined or they've received edits to their work.
Be special by actually…being special. Stand out by following the writer's guidelines.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to squirt the clouds with this hose because then I can pretend it's raining and that's kind of nice.
Also, get off my lawn.
(P.S. Good luck, we can't wait to see your work!)
]]>Back with prompts in time for holiday time! Let this inspire you to write, should inspiration you wish!
As ever this is for Anarion because she takes such a delight in these and gives delight with the stories she tells.
Let your story find voice by sharing what's in that beribboned box. Or what you see at the corner of your eye when you look at those dots.
Maybe the tale you'll tell is about what shadows see in the dark, or how Hades feels about the color black.
Perhaps you'll start there and veer to a story about rain or radar or rage…whatever you see here or don't see here I hope you write it down and share it in the comments (which are moderated because elsewise we get too much spam).
Are you ready?
Write!
P.S. Happy December to you all!
]]>First: I hope you have a fantastic writing career, full of exciting challenges, wondrous peers, and the respect of a dozen editors and publishers.
Now let me tell you how not to have any of those things.
Be rude.
That's it. That's the whole post.
Be rude to your editor or publisher and it's the best way I know to make sure you have a really short writing career.
I'll refine what I mean by 'rude' by saying first that no your editor isn't out to get you. We want to work with you. I want your story or your book to be exactly what we both love.
If it's not, I will do my best to kindly tell you that. Sometimes I can share why exactly it doesn't work, make suggestions to how that might be fixed, and then encourage you to submit the story again.
When you are rude about any of that process you will not work with most publishers again, and rude looks like:
• Taking offense to suggested edits
You can always decline edits, that's not the issue, it's being angry we even asked. And for the love of six kinds of headdesking, please don't withdraw your book because we asked for some major changes.
Again, we can't and won't change your book without your permission, but we've also been around this editorial block and if we tell you your story really starts at chapter four, it probably does and if you yank your book in insult, well you may resubmit it elsewhere and hear the same thing.
Give yourself a breather before responding if an editorial email's upset you, talk to a friend, then think about what your editor has asked. Usually (not always, but usually), you'll find they're absolutely right and once you take time to get over the sting (because it does sting, for all of us), you may see their point.
• Taking offense at how long it takes to publish your book
I'm genuinely sorry for this unfortunate truth but, big publisher or small, you're part of a queue and it can be two years from manuscript to publication; griping about it doesn't help any of us.
And please, absolutely do not tell your editor you've noticed them posting frivolous things on social media, so surely they have time to edit your book faster. Again, you're part of a queue and also for the love of all that's computer-screen-and-comma-related, let your underpaid and overworked editor relax or they just may set someone's hair on fire.
• Treating your publisher as an employee
See the above, where you unkindly told your editor what you expected when, because here's the thing: you never, ever pay your publisher, so you are not their boss and they do not work for you.
If you do pay your publisher they are your employee because you're self-publishing and that's a whole other thing – see 'The big, big difference' above.
If you're new to publishing, if you're new to a particular small press, if you don't understand something we understand that, and we want to answer your questions – and none are dumb. We all start somewhere.
Sometimes the publishing process can be confusing, annoying, anxiety-making, or a dozen other things, and we get that. We're also truly happy for you to bring your concerns to us. All we ask is that you're professional about it. Professional here equals polite.
If you're not polite, it doesn't matter how good your writing is because there's someone else with writing just as good, and if they're easier to work with, we'll work with them, not you.
If you want a long writing career here's the best two things I can suggest:
Write a lot and don't. be. rude.
Are the rejections piling up? Are you dreading the ding of another email? Do you know by heart the form rejection template? Are you this close to quitting?
Too many of us have been there, and honestly, there’s not much you can do to change the responses of agents and publishers. What you can do is change your mindset.
Here are five steps to find joy in your writing again.
Step 1: Clean up your writing space
Enjoy the process. Turn on some music, daydream as you dust, open the windows. Put away the sticky notes, spare pens, random sheets of paper, writing books. Go for minimal, at least for now.
Step 2: Choose a scent
Buy a fresh bouquet of your favorite flowers. Light a scented candle. Diffuse your favorite oils. Whatever smell makes you happy, bring it into your writing space.
Step 3: Pour a beverage
A chilled sparkling water. An apple blossom tea. A creamy hot chocolate. A glass of wine. A shot of spiced rum. What will make you happy while you write?
Step 4: Find a beautiful notebook
Yes, a notebook. Forget whatever manuscript has gotten you into a slump and start something new. Grab a nice pen and handwrite a short story or a day in the life of a character or find a writing prompt to play with.
Step 5: Write!
Luxuriate in words that sound beautiful. Creep through a spooky house. Make your heart race with an adventure in the jungle. The notebook will take away your inhibitions because you know no publishing professional is going to read it. Write as cheesy or as long-winded or as purple-prosey as you like. Break all the rules. Find a voice that makes you happy.
Then, after you’ve done all this, do it again the next day.
And the next.
Pretty soon, you’ll remember why you started writing in the first place. Not because you wanted a contract. But because writing makes your fingers itch and your blood sing.
It’s who you are.
Read more about Tamara's publication journey in "I Gave Up Writing," written for Larking Services.
TAMARA M BAILEY: I have a few favorite scenes in The Other Olivia, but this one requires little context and has been in the story since the very first draft. I wrote it in a notebook while drinking a gingerbread-flavored latte in a Starbucks in Prague, watching snow swirl outside the windows. Considering Western Australia has neither snow nor Starbucks, the novelty makes it a particularly special memory.
I also love this scene because it’s where Olivia’s life flips dramatically on its head.
Before this happens, she’s in her sleepy, safe (albeit unhappy) world. Now she’s about to be launched into a deadly situation, one that pops the bubble wrap that’s suffocated her for so long.
Olivia’s been hiding from life since a terrible accident, and this is the pivotal moment she starts to find herself again, taking her on dangerous journey toward meeting the other Olivia.
]]>We don't start off knowing this stuff.
When my first books were published I knew nothing about anything. Do I have to make every change the editor asks for? Can they do it if I don't agree? Will they hate me if I disagree?
No, no, and no.
Every writer is edited. All of us.
Oh sure, maybe not the famous ones, but you've read a later work of a superstar, the stuff no editor touches because the writer's too powerful? Yeah, well then you've seen how those books too often needed help they didn't get.
Let's hope that if we ever hit the bestseller list, we don't suddenly lose sight of the fact that all of us need another set of professional eyes on our work.
Why?
Because good editors make a book even better.
There are bad editors, sure, but most who do this for a living don't want to rewrite your book, we don't want it to sound like us, we want to make it as good as it can be, clear and powerful.
Yes, yes, and yes.
You're always welcome to disagree that a change is for the better, but we'll ask you why. No editor wants an unhappy writer, but good editors change things for clarity, readability, to help the story flow. We want your voice to be as strong as possible and that's why we make edits.
For example, a lot of writers start their stories too early, including long chapters of set up. I once asked a writer – who had eight published novels – to remove their book's first three chapters and weave that information into the story later, because the fourth chapter was where the story started.
That writer agreed, but had they not, we'd have talked about it. Your book will never be changed against your will. You own it, it's yours, if we reached an impasse you always have the option to take your work to another publisher – the original manuscript, not the one we worked on together. The goal is always for us both to be happy
So yes you can disagree, but do so with good reasons and politely.
We expect writers to feel strongly about their work, we also expect them to understand their book has now become a collaboration. Your publisher has to be happy with the final book, just like you do.
So agree, disagree, but understand we're working on this together now, so let's do our best to hear one another.
That way we'll make something great.
ANNA KARENINA ISN'T DEAD: The rewritten lives of literary legends
You suffer. You die. You exist so the hero can have his journey. Who are you?
You're a woman in classic literature.
Of course this isn't the destiny of every woman, but from Anna Karenina to Jocasta to Cio-Cio-San, from Esmeralda to Aida to Mrs Rochester, death, madness, or suffering is the fate of far too many women in classic stories. Anna Karenina Isn't Dead undoes that.
In this anthology of literary women, these women live. Do they have a happily ever after? Maybe. Do they have a happy-right-now? Oh yes. Feel free to bring your woman to the present, future, to anywhere or anywhen. How your classic heroine finds her peace is up to you.
Tell us a reimagined tale of the famous, the infamous, the barely mentioned woman in an old story, poem, or legend. Give her a better journey than the one she got. (Fictional characters only please.)
This call is open to writers of any gender and in any location; we accept simultaneous and multiple submissions (up to 3 stories per writer); payment is five cents American per word (four cents for reprints) up to 5,000 words – your story can be longer, but payment stops at 5K words. The deadline is 31 January 2023.
Please send your manuscript as a .docx attachment, Times New Roman, 12-point – with your name and story title on the first page. In your email be sure to tell us who your character is, and from what story she comes. No characters still under copyright please.
Submissions or questions to Atlin Merrick (she/her): submissions@improbablepress.com.
]]>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. I’d always put my periodic inability to focus on reading (and, by extension, writing) down to not having time, or being too tired, or having too much on my mind or… Or any combination of lots of other life factors.
Thinking of it as reader’s block simplified the problem. I was stuck in a rut, thinking things like, ‘If only I had more time, or less stress, or a couple of consecutive nights of uninterrupted shut-eye, then I could really get my head around something from my to-read pile.’ But none of the life issues I’d been blaming my lack of reading on are simple to fix.
I needed something easier. A gentle reintroduction to the habit of reading. Don’t get me wrong: I love reading. I have always looked forward to being able to open the pages at the turned-down corner (get over it) and lose myself in another world. But sometimes my head is in a place where that isn’t possible and the habit is lost.
I took the advice in the tweet. So I can’t focus on a new novel? I’ll read a short story. Still too much text on the page? I’ll read a comic. Still can’t stay engaged? How about a comfort read – a favorite fanfiction from my AO3 bookmarks?
After a too-hot afternoon in the shade re-reading a favorite manga and catching up with some short fanfiction, picking up a volume of short stories felt natural again. When I’ve finished it, I have plenty more on the to-read pile.
And I can’t wait to get to them all.
Ali Coyle is a science educator and in along with a story in Improbable's Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging (Volume Blue), Ali has an extensive back-catalogue of fanfiction as Rudbeckia on AO3. You can find Ali on Twitter and Wordpress. Chrysalides, Ali's triptych of novellas, publishes with Improbable Press in 2023.
When my daughter was a month old, I decided it was time to start writing again. I'd wrapped up all other projects before she was born, so I was free to start something new.
In the last four weeks, I've managed to write a chapter every single day. How? Well…persistence and determination have something to do with it, but I won't deny that I'm talking from a place of privilege. Not quite hired-a-nanny privilege, but I don't have to work at the moment, and I don't have another child to chase around. I'm well aware you might not be as lucky as that. Still, hopefully at least some of these tips will be helpful.
Typing is quicker. Easier. And when the manuscript is finished, there's no need to rewrite the whole darn thing again onto your computer. But to grab my laptop, switch it on, find the document and scroll down to my latest work, I've already wasted precious minutes. Plus, I get easily distracted when I'm online.
Having a notebook and pen in reaching distance from me and the baby means I can jot down a few paragraphs here and there when I get a chance. It's a first draft. It just needs to be written. And do you know what? The manuscripts I've gotten contracts for were originally written in notebooks rather than on the computer.
I think, because I had to rewrite the story, I was more careful with the plot and sentence structure, whereas when scenes are already done on the computer, sometimes I think, "Well, that's good enough."
Plenty of people at my baby shower looked at me with shining eyes and assured me I could always call on them to babysit. Maybe some of them were just being polite, but I took them at face value.
To have a few hours to duck down to the shops by myself, go to Pilates, grab a coffee and write (without having to drop everything for feeding time), has been wonderful.
I was certain that after I had my baby, I'd pass out from exhaustion as soon as she drifted off. But I've found that in the wee hours of the morning I'll lie awake and wait for sleep. (What's up with that? Come on, body, do better.)
Anyway, I've definitely hidden under the blankets with my phone torch and scribbled down a chapter at four in the morning. Note: this is only recommended for when you're wide awake. It's better to rest if you can.
Other times, when I've managed to get some shuteye during the night, it takes me all day to get a single chapter done. Gone are the days of large chunks of writing times. Often I'll pick up a pen and hear the baby cry immediately, as if she knows. I'll have to stop in the middle of a sentence to soothe her, and I won't get back to it for hours. Sometimes I'll do one-handed scribbles while I'm holding her upright after a feed (another reason the notebook idea is useful).
I do what I can, when I can. A sentence here and there adds up.
Set a personal, achievable goal, whether it be 1,000 words, 100 words, 50 words, or a page in a notebook.
But more important than hitting that word count is that you don't go over it. Even if the baby sleeps all afternoon, I don't touch my notebook once that chapter's written for the day. This gives me time to do stuff like Wordle or social media or read a book. I need downtime, and since I don't like watching TV during the day (once it's on, I struggle to turn it off and that wastes tons of time), these other activities allow me to relax.
It also gives me time to think about what will happen in the next chapter. That way, I won't be sitting there tomorrow wasting minutes trying to figure out my next scene.
I'm so lucky to have a husband who comes home from work and asks where the next chapter is. He's keen to read even my terrible, first-draft-in-a-notebook writing. It's great to have someone so enthusiastic – it puts positive pressure on me.
Other ways to hold yourself accountable is to text your writing friends your progress at the end of the day or put it on social media. Good People on Twitter or Instagram will be cheering you on, even if you only get a sentence done. And if you don't have Good People online, tag me @tamarambailey1 on both sites and I'll be your cheerleader. I love it when writers celebrate their achievements, big or small.
There will inevitably come a day (possibly soon) when I don't get that chapter written. It'll be frustrating, and I'll be annoyed. But I'm looking after a human being that relies entirely on me. Sometimes, I'm going to miss a writing day. And you probably will too.
The important thing is to not let it drag you down. Just because you don't get your word count done, doesn't mean you should give up altogether. The next day is a new day to try again.
What about you? Do you have any tips for writing with a newborn? Leave them in the comments – I'd be keen to try them.
(P.S. By the time this went live I’d managed to get a chapter done every day and have now completed the first draft!)
Tamara M Bailey is the author of several short stories in various anthologies, as well as two books coming out in 2022: The Other Olivia (Orphan Black x The Matrix with Improbable Press) and Blood & Stone (fantasy crime with Clan Destine Press). Tamara can be found cheering her writing friends on at @TamaraMBailey1 on Twitter and @TamaraMBailey1 on Instagram and on her website. Her children's books are under the name Tamara Moss.
Closed.
Closed.
Closed to submissions.
If it seems to you that most small presses are closed to book submissions you're not wrong. A random check just now showed me 60-70% of presses are closed – usually including Improbable Press.
There's a good reason for this: not enough staff to read submissions, and edit, proof, lay out, illustrate, and promote the books we already have in progress.
So.
What's a writer to do when there seems no way in?
I can't speak for every press, obviously, but I can speak for a few, including this one, so I can say that even if a press is closed, closed, closed to submissions, in my personal experience they very well may not be closed to two things:
* recommendations from another press/publisher/editor
* queries from their own short story writers
I was sent a book the last time we were open to submissions and while it wasn't quiiiite what we wanted, it was good. And so I reached out to another small press with which I'm familiar, one that was closed to submissions but I know what they publish, and I said, "YO YO! Lookit this, want to publish it?"
(Like that, I said it just like that.)
Their shouty response was, "We love this!" and that book is publishing early next year with that press.
So, if a press has rejected your book with kind words? Politely acknowledge their time, and then ask them for suggestions. "Do you know another press that might be interested in a book like this?"
They may not. And it's not their job to know who wants what, when. But they might have an idea and it can't hurt to ask. So ask. You might have a book coming out next year, too.
The other route to submitting a book to a publisher that's closed to submissions is to submit stories to their anthologies.
If your story is accepted (sorry, this doesn't apply if your story isn't accepted), you know that the publisher likes your kind of work, so politely ask them if they'd like to see your novel or your novel's synopsis.
They may say no. They may be full out editing, proofing, laying out, and promoting the books they already have.
However.
They may also be curious, because perhaps yours was their absolute favorite story in the antho you're in, maybe they'd really like to see what you do on a bigger scale. Maybe they just put a book to bed and you caught them on an easy day.
The point is, you're a known quantity now, they've seen how you write and and and more importantly, how you take edits, how you help promote your own work, how courteous you are.
(Look, courtesy is almost as important as stellar writing. Like…it's right up there. It's huge.)
Clearly neither of these things assure your work will be published, but they can help get it in front of other eyes.
We have more than once published the books of writers who were recommended to us, or who we first knew through their short stories, so these are powerful routes to publication.
So is courtesy. I'm never letting up on that because some writers express their anxiety about the whole publication process with rudeness, and you simply have to look at getting published like a job interview. Bring your best you to that introductory email. Be kind.
Editors remember that.
YO YO!
]]>If you’re a reader of the works published by Improbable Press you might be familiar with me through my book, In Full Uniform. If not, my name is Bo and I am your local Norse cryptid.
This year I took the initiative to organize a PRIDE parade in my home town, the first we’ve ever had. It was gearing up to be a joyful celebration of all things queer. Then tragedy struck.
On the 25 June 2022, two people were murdered and twenty-one injured when a shooting took place outside of a gay bar in downtown Oslo. It was an attack driven by hatred that shook the nation to the core. As a result PRIDE celebrations have been postponed all over the nation as we recalibrate and take time to mourn.
We’re one of the many PRIDE committees who followed the police’s advice and postponed. Things like terror attacks aren’t supposed to happen in Norway, or anywhere for that matter. When are we going to be able to exist in peace without fear of violence when even the safest nation in the world for queer people isn’t safe at all?
Fear and loathing is regrettably something that’s widespread no matter where you go in the world, and what should have been a joyous celebration of queer existence turned into an event full of mourning. But that doesn’t mean we’re defeated. People can hate us as much as they want but they will never erase us.
For centuries we have been met with violence in what is claimed to be civilization, not very civil if you ask me, yet we’re still here and we’re still standing. There is nothing that can be done to snuff out the fire of our will to live in freedom. No person driven by hatred can ever erase us, events like these only serve to grow our determination. We will not stand down until we can walk down the street in peace, kiss our loved ones, or hold hands with anyone we like without being faced with violence.
This is why I spoke with my local NRK news station. We’re tired of living in fear.
Our parade is now scheduled for 3 September, the day before my birthday – what a party that'll be.
We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.
With regards,
Beauregard C. Furu
Bo Starsky is of the opinion that there isn’t enough LGBT+ fiction that have happy endings, which is why they wrote In Full Uniform. Along with writing books, you can find Bo writing fic on Archive of Our Own under the same name.
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