What is your writing process like? Did “Kopki and the Fish” fit the pattern?

I wish I had a writing process. Mostly what happens is I get a kernel of an idea and I flail around for a while trying to figure out what the idea actually looks like. Then, eventually, I shape it up into the form of a story.

What is your writing space like? What do you like to have around for optimal creativity?

I rented an office during COVID, and it’s been great. The one thing I need when I’m working is quiet. I can’t really listen to music when I’m writing. Hearing words messes up what I’m trying to think, and even wordless music somehow engages the part of my brain I need to write. There are exceptions—I wrote a whole licensed novel to Rammstein once, and another to Soul Coughing—but mostly I like quiet when I write.

Did you get stuck at any point while writing this? How did you get past that?

The one problem with this story was that I kept coming up with complications for Kopki, and in the end I couldn’t use them all. Some of them were kind of funny, and I hated to lose them, but they weren’t right for the story.

Where are you in this story?

I’m in this story because I miss my kids when I travel.

What led you into writing genre fiction?

The short answer is “reading genre fiction.” I read everything when I was a kid, but the books I read that made me want to write tended to be genre stuff. So that’s what I started doing, and although I like to explore the margins around different genres, I’ve never wanted to let go of genre altogether. It’s too much fun, and also a great way to come at ideas in unexpected ways.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Read! It’s at least as important as writing when you’re starting out. Read books that make you uncomfortable, books that show you something you never imagined existed. Those are the books that will show you how you can find a literary space that only you can occupy.

Other than writing, do you have any other creative pursuits? What do you do to relax?

I play the guitar badly, some other instruments even more badly, and I like to get out into the woods and hike. There’s nothing like just putting miles under your feet to clear your head and get you ready to write.

What are you working on lately? Where else can fans look for your work?

I got off all social media a while back because it wasn’t good for my head and it was useless career-wise. I still have a website at alex-irvine.com. I’m currently working on a AAA game for a studio in Stockholm, a new novel, and various short story and comic ideas.