Poetry Fishbowl Open!
Apr. 4th, 2017 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThe Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please watch this post as I am still writing.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "living in the cracks." 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 "The Quick Brown Fox" (11 verses, Polychrome Heroics).
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 "living in the cracks." 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. "The Quick Brown Fox" has 11 verses available and belongs to Polychrome Heroics.
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, there will be a piece of bonus material.
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 "living in the cracks." I'll be soliciting ideas for ordinary people, outcasts, the misunderstood, fish out of water, abuse survivors, troubled relationships, the women that men don't see, QUILTBAG folks, people of color, bodyguards, hermits, people with detested superpowers, "evil" races, untouchables, burakumin, former or current criminals, foster children, others on the fringes of society, looking in the window, standing in the rain, taking people for granted, expecting the unexpected, pushing people into the cracks, surviving oppression, hiding, upstanding, speaking truth to power, facing your demons, punching up, protesting, keeping a lid on it, reservations, cities, slums, classrooms, counseling offices, lairs, alleys, subways and sewers, liminal zones, government buildings, playgrounds, self-sacrifice, disruptions, soup care, unusual vulnerabilities, minority languages, the inescapable, poorskills, humility, humiliation, history written by the losers, appreciation, useful junk, 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 New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco 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 "The Quick Brown Fox." The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "living in the cracks." 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 "The Quick Brown Fox" (11 verses, Polychrome Heroics).
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 "living in the cracks." 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. "The Quick Brown Fox" has 11 verses available and belongs to Polychrome Heroics.
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, there will be a piece of bonus material.
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 "living in the cracks." I'll be soliciting ideas for ordinary people, outcasts, the misunderstood, fish out of water, abuse survivors, troubled relationships, the women that men don't see, QUILTBAG folks, people of color, bodyguards, hermits, people with detested superpowers, "evil" races, untouchables, burakumin, former or current criminals, foster children, others on the fringes of society, looking in the window, standing in the rain, taking people for granted, expecting the unexpected, pushing people into the cracks, surviving oppression, hiding, upstanding, speaking truth to power, facing your demons, punching up, protesting, keeping a lid on it, reservations, cities, slums, classrooms, counseling offices, lairs, alleys, subways and sewers, liminal zones, government buildings, playgrounds, self-sacrifice, disruptions, soup care, unusual vulnerabilities, minority languages, the inescapable, poorskills, humility, humiliation, history written by the losers, appreciation, useful junk, 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 New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco 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 "The Quick Brown Fox." The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-05 05:25 am (UTC)(Probably Schrodinger’s Heroes.) A group of people from one world who are quite different from each other, who each have their own life histories and bodies and experiences and perspectives, wind up taking (or sharing) turns interacting with a different world through a single other body. They do not feel right about calling themselves a system, or plural or multiple, and they are still thrashing out what words to use to describe how they relate to each other - especially because, sometimes, they don’t! Bonus points if there is both physical and mental travel between worlds confirming, or adding to, the complete wtfness of the situations. Also bonus points if trauma is successfully *avoided* or outsmarted instead of setting everything in motion.
long comment
Date: 2017-04-05 06:59 am (UTC)"I at least have some idea for a prompt that reflects our and related groups' situations now. "While meditating, X finds a link to the astral that connects to an uninhabited body Elsewhere. Through experimentation, thon finds that this link can be shared with other people." Or something like that. It works a lot better when we don't focus on here-world to describe things."
He was trying to find a way that's kind of close to how people connect to this body and the one on another earth, and what seems close to how other groups connect to their shared body on this side.
If you want to get fun with it, it doesn't have to be a single body either. We know another group who has a connection to two bodies in this world through a single realm.
We and a few other groups have found it damaging for ourselves that plural and related are the new defaults, since our group and most groups we know don't like the terminology or community as it stands and are trying to get away from it, since it doesn't describe us anyway. Just describing ourselves *as we exist* instead of using inaccurate shorthands is a lot better.
We've noticed that since plurality has become more widely known, it's become a default assumption and people will routinely assume that any people who body-share are all intrinsically related to each other or work together or with the body in ways they aren't necessarily accurate, and they WILL routinely be de-personized and treated as a collective even if it isn't the intent of others to do so. It's that feeling when we realize that if we didn't sign or all used separate journals, we'd be perceived and treated differently.
Our group and others in similar situations have been more or less driven into the cracks, between not belonging with people who are ONLY ever bound to one body here and people who are members of systems, and having our reality rejected by either party. It would be good to find more fiction about body-sharing groups who don't follow DID/psychological models, don't live IN a single body together or its head, and don't automatically get plural terminology tacked on to them, but instead are given the agency to discover and describe themselves and DECIDE for themselves whether or not that is accurate.
- Marx
Re: long comment
Date: 2017-04-05 09:47 pm (UTC)Re: long comment
Date: 2017-04-12 03:35 am (UTC)We're all singlet though. We're singletons in our own bodies, and we're singletons with this body. It isn't the same for others in similar situations, but only one person can connect to this one at a time. Like using a public computer - it doesn't work when more than one person tries to use it, and there's only room for one person in front of the monitor at a time; some people have compared it to using a mechasuit, but we're still *in* our own bodies elsewhere, not this one, so that isn't an accurate comparison.
Still, we know groups who can have more than one person using their body/ies at once, or have people who actually go into them when they're connected. But the groups who don't like a "plural" identifier do (as far as the people here've noticed) share being singlets themselves, and having access to their own bodies even if some people do temporarily use their shared body/ies in this world.
... Edited to add, I and the others here who've seen this comment *are* uncomfortable with your description "those who have more than one consciousness per body", for the reasons above, because to us it sounds like it'd be easily mistaken for having more than one consciousness IN a body, rather than more than one person having access to it, and "consciousness" as a descriptor rather than person makes it easy to interpret it that we don't *have* our own bodies, and that we're only minds or souls or spirits or what have you, when that isn't the case. One group aside from ours said independently that they didn't like that wording either. This is nit-picking, but personally I would rather have the focus be on the people in the shared situation rather than the body, since it's very difficult to get people to stop seeing the body and assuming that everything that happens must be in relation to it - that we don't have our own lives elsewhere, that we don't have our own bodies, that everyone who can use it does, or that everyone is always using it or "inside" of it. "Body-sharing group" or "group of people who share a body" is (again IMO) a clearer alternative.
It *is* hard to find a phrase in English that accurately describes our situation without having a danger of it being misinterpreted, and I don't think there is one. I don't know how it would be taken by other people.
I wouldn't trust plural sources to accurately describe non-plural body-sharers, and I wouldn't reference them *for* non-plural groups, for the pure reason that the existence and experience of either is a different thing entirely. Unfortunately there aren't many body-sharing groups who *have* written about themselves.
I know some groups have written about how things work in their worlds and how they use their body/ies, but I'm not comfortable sending links without getting their permission first. One group I know of took most of their public content down because they were getting so much harassment from systems because their lived experiences were different from the plural community, which they were assumed to be part of.
"Trait-having writers" is a bit of a misnomer, depending on what you were referring to. We don't function the same as plurals; there are some similarities, but only in outward appearances; i.e., whatever you see or interpret based on the shared body on this side, without hearing what the experiences are.
- Field
Re: long comment
Date: 2017-04-12 04:34 am (UTC)Okay.
>> We've been using the generic term groups, or body-sharing groups to denote that distinction. <<
Should work. Remind me if I forget. It can take me a while to remember which detail goes with what person.
>> We're all singlet though. We're singletons in our own bodies, and we're singletons with this body. It isn't the same for others in similar situations, but only one person can connect to this one at a time. Like using a public computer - it doesn't work when more than one person tries to use it, and there's only room for one person in front of the monitor at a time; some people have compared it to using a mechasuit, but we're still *in* our own bodies elsewhere, not this one, so that isn't an accurate comparison.<<
Wow! That is pretty different than what other people have described, or what I was trying to imagine. I think I missed a substantial part of it when I was trying to write about it recently. :/ But we can try again! :D
Actually, this reminds me a bit of some science fiction stories about different "pilots" who would animate a distant robot or, more rarely, a live body. The degree of immersion in that distal body varied.
>> Still, we know groups who can have more than one person using their body/ies at once, or have people who actually go into them when they're connected. But the groups who don't like a "plural" identifier do (as far as the people here've noticed) share being singlets themselves, and having access to their own bodies even if some people do temporarily use their shared body/ies in this world.<<
I will try to remember this too. It is very interesting!
>> ... Edited to add, I and the others here who've seen this comment *are* uncomfortable with your description "those who have more than one consciousness per body", for the reasons above, because to us it sounds like it'd be easily mistaken for having more than one consciousness IN a body, rather than more than one person having access to it, <<
Good point.
>> and "consciousness" as a descriptor rather than person makes it easy to interpret it that we don't *have* our own bodies, and that we're only minds or souls or spirits or what have you, when that isn't the case. <<
One reason for that is some groups have members who are embodied elsewhere and some who are not, and also different types of members (who may or may not all be persons). It seems overbroad in your case.
>> One group aside from ours said independently that they didn't like that wording either. This is nit-picking, but personally I would rather have the focus be on the people in the shared situation rather than the body, since it's very difficult to get people to stop seeing the body and assuming that everything that happens must be in relation to it <<
Yeah. Most people will respond to the body as if it is the person(s) inside. Because that's all they've ever known, and they either don't believe anything else is possible, don't understand it, or just don't want to mess with it.
One comparison I thought of was the common house in a cohousing community, but that seems more communal than your description and also many people can be there at once. But perhaps it would suit multiples whose members are also embodied elsewhere.
Another was like a bikeshare. Anyone can take the bike from its rack and ride it, but only one person can (safely, comfortably) ride it at a time. After that person finishes, another person may get on. You are not the bike -- but someone watching is likely to perceive you+bike=biker rather than just you alone.
>> that we don't have our own lives elsewhere, that we don't have our own bodies, that everyone who can use it does, or that everyone is always using it or "inside" of it. "Body-sharing group" or "group of people who share a body" is (again IMO) a clearer alternative.<<
Okay, body-sharers or body-sharing group sounds good. (I am a wordsmith. I want good words that express concepts clearly. I am not so picky about who makes them.)
>> It *is* hard to find a phrase in English that accurately describes our situation without having a danger of it being misinterpreted, and I don't think there is one. I don't know how it would be taken by other people.<<
Let's try body-sharing group and see how that works. If it crashes and burns, we can always try something else.
>> I wouldn't trust plural sources to accurately describe non-plural body-sharers, and I wouldn't reference them *for* non-plural groups, for the pure reason that the existence and experience of either is a different thing entirely. Unfortunately there aren't many body-sharing groups who *have* written about themselves. <<
Yyyyyyeah. Sources for multiples have more relevant descriptions (although much of it is off-base) than sources for non-bodysharing singletons (which consist of various insanities, or nothing). What I would really need for this would be sources written by body-sharing groups, but I have not see anything. It is hard enough to find anything about multiples that is accurate enough to use safely.
>> I know some groups have written about how things work in their worlds and how they use their body/ies, but I'm not comfortable sending links without getting their permission first. <<
Yeah, don't unless someone is comfortable being a public reference.
>> One group I know of took most of their public content down because they were getting so much harassment from systems because their lived experiences were different from the plural community, which they were assumed to be part of.<<
O_O That really sucks.
Some observations as a writer and scholar of identity literature and nonfiction:
* If you do not tell your own story, someone else will tell it for you, and they will get most of it wrong. Sometimes on purpose.
* Telling your story is hazardous for minorities. Consequently, many choose to use pen names and other cover to protect themselves.
>> "Trait-having writers" is a bit of a misnomer, depending on what you were referring to. <<
I mean it is better to use references written by people who are or do what they are talking about. Women writing female characters, gays writing about the ups and downs of gay life, etc. Secondhand ones -- men writing about women, straights writing gay characters, etc. -- have their own value but are not the same.
>> We don't function the same as plurals; there are some similarities, but only in outward appearances; i.e., whatever you see or interpret based on the shared body on this side, without hearing what the experiences are. <<
So if I'm reading this right, you are a trait-having writer for body-sharing groups, but not for plural people/multiples/systems.
I have a tendency to grab any new concept, stick into what I'm writing, and see if it floats. Often the first attempt sinks, or floats but is not particularly boatlike, especially if I don't have much reference material to go on yet. But I can always try again. It took a while to get Damask right in Polychrome Heroics, and neurovariance right in An Army of One; and both of those have since become popular. It sounds like body-sharing groups would benefit from more writing about them. I am not a trait-having writer for that purpose, but I am a very diverse writer. I can probably figure out at least an adequate rendition sooner or later. And if non-trait-having people bitch at me about it, I will hit them with the banhammer if necessary, and walk away.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing. Sorry I didn't get it perfect the first time.
Re: long comment
Date: 2017-04-08 09:04 am (UTC)113 lines, Buy It Now = $57
Poem
Date: 2017-04-08 09:03 am (UTC)113 lines, Buy It Now = $57