Isabel Yap's Blog

2015 is ending! *runs around like a headless chicken* I can’t really talk about this year yet, since I haven’t given myself the headspace to reflect on things. It was pretty insane. Lots of amazing things happened, and I met so many cool people, but there were also some really difficult moments. I may touch on […]

My story Milagroso came out on Tor.com last month. (Check out the beautiful cover art by Keith Negley!) It’s a near-future science-fiction fantasy about food, faith, and revisiting one’s home. This story had a pretty interesting journey, so I wanted to share some things I learned while writing/subbing it, in case it helps anyone else. 1. […]

Timing is a weird thing. I’m more surprised than anyone to have two stories out today! They both have take place during winter, and have a main duo as core characters, but other than that they are nothing alike. The Oiran’s Song is a novelette that is now live at Uncanny Magazine. It is about a […]

My story Good Girls is now live online at Shimmer! It’s about friendships and manananggal and the dark hearts of young girls. It’s also about crossing the ocean and losing home. Sort of. It’s got a lot of things I particularly enjoy writing, like alternating narratives and roommates. (In the ebook version, there’s an author […]

Last week a pretty awesome thing happened: the Book Smugglers declared 2016 as the Year of the Superhero, and announced that they will be publishing my Hurricane Heels Series! There will be five interconnected short stories in total, each told through a different character’s perspective. Here is the summary: Growing up isn’t easy, even with […]

2014 is a difficult year for me to describe. It had high highs and low lows, and for whatever reason, they were more pronounced this year than before. I can think of a few culprits. It was my first year of Official Adulting, or at least not spending most of my days in school. I […]

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, but I’ve only just now had the brainspace to do it. 2014 is probably the first year in which I’ve read more original short fiction than any other kind of writing. When I read a beautiful story, I have an additional impulse to say what I […]

Tokyo, Fall 2012. I am sitting on my bed, eating Lawson’s pudding and contemplating the future. In my diary, I write: I need to work on my Clarion stories. I don’t know if I’m good enough, or if circumstances will let me. I have not written an original story in several months. In that moment, […]

(or, please consider supporting me during the Clarion Write-a-Thon) I’m late, and life has been extremely crazy over the past few weeks. Work has been intense, and I’m facing some serious situation changes over the next few months. I considered signing up for Write-a-Thon, then I forgot about it, then I remembered but thought there’s […]

My Fisher Queen, Alyssa Wong, invited me – along with the mad/brilliant/scientist/swordsman Patrick Ropp – to join the Writing Process Blog Tour. I’ve really enjoyed reading these, although articulation of my own writing process was definitely a challenge. Anyway, for all curious parties, here are my responses! 1. What am I working on? I’ve got […]