Poetry Fishbowl Open!
Dec. 2nd, 2014 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThe Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED for prompts; more poems may appear later. Thank you for your time and enthusiasm.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "games and fun." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
Click to read the linkback poem "House of Cards" (Polychrome Heroics, 26 verses available).
What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?
Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.
In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "games and fun." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things relating to that theme. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems.
Cyberfunded Creativity
I'm practicing cyberfunded creativity. If you enjoy what I'm doing and want to see more of it, please feed the Bard. The following options are currently available:
1) Sponsor the Fishbowl -- Here is a PayPal button for donations. There is no specific requirement, but $1 is the minimum recommended size for PayPal transactions since they take a cut from every one. You can also donate via check or money order sent by postal mail. If you make a donation and tell me about it, I promise to use one of your prompts. Anonymous donations are perfectly welcome, just won't get that perk. General donations will be tallied, and at the end of the fishbowl I’ll post a list of eligible poems based on the total funding; then the audience can vote on which they want to see posted.
2) Swim, Fishie, Swim! -- A feature in conjunction with fishbowl sponsorship is this progress meter showing the amount donated. There are multiple perks, the top one being a half-price poetry sale on one series when donations reach $300.
3) Buy It Now! -- Gakked from various e-auction sites, this feature allows you to sponsor a specific poem. If you don't want to wait for some editor to buy and publish my poem so you can read it, well, now you don't have to. Sponsoring a poem means that I will immediately post it on my blog for everyone to see, with the name of the sponsor (or another dedicate) if you wish; plus you get a nonexclusive publication right, so you can post it on your own blog or elsewhere as long as you keep the credits intact. You'll need to tell me the title of the poem you want to sponsor. I'm basing the prices on length, and they're comparable to what I typically make selling poetry to magazines (semi-pro rates according to Duotrope's Digest).
0-10 lines: $5
11-25 lines: $10
26-40 lines: $15
41-60 lines: $20
Poems over 60 lines, or with very intricate structure, fall into custom pricing.
4) Commission a scrapbook page. I can render a chosen poem in hardcopy format, on colorful paper, using archival materials for background and any embellishments. This will be suitable for framing or for adding to a scrapbook. Commission details are here. See latest photos of sample scrapbooked poems: "Sample Scrapbooked Poems 1-24-11"
5) Spread the word. Echo or link to this post on your LiveJournal, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any other social network. Useful Twitter hashtags include #poetryfishbowl and #promptcall. Encourage people to come here and participate in the fishbowl. If you have room for it, including your own prompt will give your readers an idea of what the prompts should look like; ideally, update later to include the thumbnail of the poem I write, and a link to the poem if it gets published. If there is at least one new prompter or donor, I will post an extra freebie poem.
Linkback perk: I have a spare series poem available, and each linkback will reveal a verse of the poem. One person can do multiple links if they're on different services, like Dreamwidth or Twitter, rather than all on LiveJournal. Comment with a link to where you posted. "House of Cards" belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics and has 26 verses available.
Additional Notes
1) I customarily post replies to prompt posts telling people which of their prompts I'm using, with a brief description of the resulting poem(s). If you want to know what's available, watch for those "thumbnails."
2) You don't have to pay me to see a poem based on a prompt that you gave me. I try to send copies of poems to people, mostly using the LJ message function. (Anonymous prompters will miss this perk unless you give me your eddress.) These are for-your-eyes-only, though, not for sharing.
3) Sponsors of the Poetry Fishbowl in general, or of specific poems, will gain access to an extra post in appreciation of their generosity. While you're on the Donors list, you can view all of the custom-locked posts in that category. Click the "donors" tag to read the archive of those. I've also posted a list of other donor perks there. I customarily leave donor names on the list for two months, so you'll get to see the perk-post from this month and next.
4) After the Poetry Fishbowl concludes, I will post a list of unsold poems and their prices, to make it easier for folks to see what they might want to sponsor.
5) If donations total $100 by Friday evening then you get a free $15 poem; $150 gets you a free $20 poem; and $200 gets you a free epic, posted after the Poetry Fishbowl. These will usually be series poems if I have them; otherwise I may offer non-series poems or series poems in a different size. If donations reach $250, you get one step toward a bonus fishbowl; three of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be three months in a row. Everyone will get to vote on which series, and give prompts during the extra fishbowl, although it may be a half-day rather than a whole day. If donations reach $300, you get a piece of bonus material, since the mid-month slot is already reserved for the Holiday Poetry Sale.
Feed the Fish!
Now's your chance to participate in the creative process by posting ideas for me to write about. Today's theme is "games and fun." I'll be soliciting ideas for gamers, game designers, sportstars, tricksters, comics, clowns, referees, gamemasters, spoilsports, sport fans, playing fair, cheating, making the big score, learning a new game, scheming, playing pranks, cracking jokes, strategy & tactics, competition, cooperation, slapstick humor, game stores, sport fields, living rooms, children's museums, parties, playgrounds, games, sports, entertainment equipment, gaffs and gags, gaming guidebooks, and poetic forms in particular. But anything is welcome, really. If you manage to recommend a form that I don't recognize, I will probably pounce on it and ask you for its rules. I do have the first edition of Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms which covers most common and many obscure forms.
I'll post at least one of the fishbowl poems here so you-all can enjoy it. (Remember, you get an extra freebie poem if someone new posts a prompt or makes a donation, and additional perks at $100-$300 in donations. Linkbacks reveal verses of "House of Cards.") The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "games and fun." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
Click to read the linkback poem "House of Cards" (Polychrome Heroics, 26 verses available).
What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?
Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.
In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "games and fun." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things relating to that theme. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems.
Cyberfunded Creativity
I'm practicing cyberfunded creativity. If you enjoy what I'm doing and want to see more of it, please feed the Bard. The following options are currently available:
1) Sponsor the Fishbowl -- Here is a PayPal button for donations. There is no specific requirement, but $1 is the minimum recommended size for PayPal transactions since they take a cut from every one. You can also donate via check or money order sent by postal mail. If you make a donation and tell me about it, I promise to use one of your prompts. Anonymous donations are perfectly welcome, just won't get that perk. General donations will be tallied, and at the end of the fishbowl I’ll post a list of eligible poems based on the total funding; then the audience can vote on which they want to see posted.
2) Swim, Fishie, Swim! -- A feature in conjunction with fishbowl sponsorship is this progress meter showing the amount donated. There are multiple perks, the top one being a half-price poetry sale on one series when donations reach $300.
3) Buy It Now! -- Gakked from various e-auction sites, this feature allows you to sponsor a specific poem. If you don't want to wait for some editor to buy and publish my poem so you can read it, well, now you don't have to. Sponsoring a poem means that I will immediately post it on my blog for everyone to see, with the name of the sponsor (or another dedicate) if you wish; plus you get a nonexclusive publication right, so you can post it on your own blog or elsewhere as long as you keep the credits intact. You'll need to tell me the title of the poem you want to sponsor. I'm basing the prices on length, and they're comparable to what I typically make selling poetry to magazines (semi-pro rates according to Duotrope's Digest).
0-10 lines: $5
11-25 lines: $10
26-40 lines: $15
41-60 lines: $20
Poems over 60 lines, or with very intricate structure, fall into custom pricing.
4) Commission a scrapbook page. I can render a chosen poem in hardcopy format, on colorful paper, using archival materials for background and any embellishments. This will be suitable for framing or for adding to a scrapbook. Commission details are here. See latest photos of sample scrapbooked poems: "Sample Scrapbooked Poems 1-24-11"
5) Spread the word. Echo or link to this post on your LiveJournal, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any other social network. Useful Twitter hashtags include #poetryfishbowl and #promptcall. Encourage people to come here and participate in the fishbowl. If you have room for it, including your own prompt will give your readers an idea of what the prompts should look like; ideally, update later to include the thumbnail of the poem I write, and a link to the poem if it gets published. If there is at least one new prompter or donor, I will post an extra freebie poem.
Linkback perk: I have a spare series poem available, and each linkback will reveal a verse of the poem. One person can do multiple links if they're on different services, like Dreamwidth or Twitter, rather than all on LiveJournal. Comment with a link to where you posted. "House of Cards" belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics and has 26 verses available.
Additional Notes
1) I customarily post replies to prompt posts telling people which of their prompts I'm using, with a brief description of the resulting poem(s). If you want to know what's available, watch for those "thumbnails."
2) You don't have to pay me to see a poem based on a prompt that you gave me. I try to send copies of poems to people, mostly using the LJ message function. (Anonymous prompters will miss this perk unless you give me your eddress.) These are for-your-eyes-only, though, not for sharing.
3) Sponsors of the Poetry Fishbowl in general, or of specific poems, will gain access to an extra post in appreciation of their generosity. While you're on the Donors list, you can view all of the custom-locked posts in that category. Click the "donors" tag to read the archive of those. I've also posted a list of other donor perks there. I customarily leave donor names on the list for two months, so you'll get to see the perk-post from this month and next.
4) After the Poetry Fishbowl concludes, I will post a list of unsold poems and their prices, to make it easier for folks to see what they might want to sponsor.
5) If donations total $100 by Friday evening then you get a free $15 poem; $150 gets you a free $20 poem; and $200 gets you a free epic, posted after the Poetry Fishbowl. These will usually be series poems if I have them; otherwise I may offer non-series poems or series poems in a different size. If donations reach $250, you get one step toward a bonus fishbowl; three of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be three months in a row. Everyone will get to vote on which series, and give prompts during the extra fishbowl, although it may be a half-day rather than a whole day. If donations reach $300, you get a piece of bonus material, since the mid-month slot is already reserved for the Holiday Poetry Sale.
Feed the Fish!
Now's your chance to participate in the creative process by posting ideas for me to write about. Today's theme is "games and fun." I'll be soliciting ideas for gamers, game designers, sportstars, tricksters, comics, clowns, referees, gamemasters, spoilsports, sport fans, playing fair, cheating, making the big score, learning a new game, scheming, playing pranks, cracking jokes, strategy & tactics, competition, cooperation, slapstick humor, game stores, sport fields, living rooms, children's museums, parties, playgrounds, games, sports, entertainment equipment, gaffs and gags, gaming guidebooks, and poetic forms in particular. But anything is welcome, really. If you manage to recommend a form that I don't recognize, I will probably pounce on it and ask you for its rules. I do have the first edition of Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms which covers most common and many obscure forms.
I'll post at least one of the fishbowl poems here so you-all can enjoy it. (Remember, you get an extra freebie poem if someone new posts a prompt or makes a donation, and additional perks at $100-$300 in donations. Linkbacks reveal verses of "House of Cards.") The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-02 08:50 pm (UTC)Do all the Damask people ever do something fun together?
Poem
Date: 2014-12-02 11:13 pm (UTC)104 lines, Buy It Now = $52
Poem
Date: 2014-12-05 02:00 am (UTC)250 lines, Buy It Now = $125
Prompt
Date: 2014-12-02 09:22 pm (UTC)Re: Prompt
Date: 2014-12-04 08:46 am (UTC)340 lines, Buy It Now = $170
Re: Prompt
Date: 2014-12-05 11:24 am (UTC)Poetry fishbowl - LINKBACK POEM!
Date: 2014-12-02 09:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-02 09:47 pm (UTC)Play is a life skill, particularly after disaster. (Conflagration of Dragons or Path of the Paladins?)
Gaming Guidebooks in Terremagne!
Poem
Date: 2014-12-02 11:14 pm (UTC)Poem
Date: 2014-12-05 02:00 am (UTC)Poem
Date: 2014-12-05 11:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-02 10:24 pm (UTC)Poem
Date: 2014-12-04 03:04 am (UTC)319 lines, Buy It Now = $159.50
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-02 11:21 pm (UTC)Oh! Or how about the second adventure of Stan and Lawrence's gaming group? Or Stan and Arnold discussing chess? Or! Or! Since playing pranks is on the list: Lawrence and Sloane teaming up to prank someone. Maybe with an added lesson on responsibility for Sloane since I can't imagine Lawrence letting her prank without at least trying to consider the consequences before playing the prank in question. Or maybe a poem from Farce's pov?
Oooh, or small animals learning things in play. Or a kid's first encounter with one of those "become a magician!" kits where you learn some simple card tricks and such.
Um... there's something useful in that, I hope? ^_^
Poem
Date: 2014-12-05 11:23 am (UTC)230 lines, Buy It Now = $115
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 12:42 am (UTC)Poem
Date: 2014-12-04 08:47 am (UTC)Poem
Date: 2014-12-05 11:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 03:18 am (UTC)Fledgling Grace: We've seen basketball adapted for wings, but what about football (soccer) around the world? Heck, what about American football, or cricket?
Polychrome Heroics: Telekinetics playing foursquare. ... Or marbles, or various dice games, but the foursquare prompt is what leaped to mind immediately and would not let go.
Apples To Apples in the Monster House house. I bet that's a blast. :)
Poem
Date: 2014-12-03 08:00 am (UTC)138 lines, Buy It Now = $69
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 04:20 am (UTC)I kinda want to see what a LARP event would look like in Terremagne.
Are there training lesson-games for young Soups in Terremagne?
Fay/Fate having (relatively) harmless fun while attending a celebration? (Maybe everything they do will wear off by morning?)
Poem
Date: 2014-12-03 08:01 am (UTC)Poem
Date: 2014-12-05 11:14 pm (UTC)179 lines, Buy It Now = $89.50
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 04:46 am (UTC)A referee with superpowers in Terramagne. Either ones that would be beneficial to his job, ones that make his job harder, or ones that do neither.
Poem
Date: 2014-12-03 09:05 am (UTC)39 lines, Buy It Now = $15
Poem
Date: 2014-12-03 09:11 am (UTC)Done for the night!
Date: 2014-12-03 10:51 am (UTC)