ysabetwordsmith: Cats playing with goldfish (fishbowl)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED.  Thank you for your time and enthusiasm.  Please keep an eye on this space as I'm still writing.


Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open!  Today's theme is "unexpected SCIENCE ensues"  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 "Changing Relations" (The Moon Door, 19 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 "unexpected SCIENCE ensues." 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.  "Changing Relations" belongs to the series The Moon Door and has 19 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, there will be a a half-price sale in one series.


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 "unexpected SCIENCE ensues." I'll be soliciting ideas for scientists, assistants, random bystanders, curious people, first responders, robots, aliens, other explorers, *frobbing, experimenting, inventing, reading, exploring, goofing off, crossing the streams, working the problem, garages, science fairs, laboratories, classrooms, libraries, secret lairs, kitchens, outer space, starships, alien planets, theories, science kits, lectures, lab equipment, tool kits, pop bottles, time machines, 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 "Changing Relations.") The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
ng_moonmoth: The Moon-Moth (Default)
From: [personal profile] ng_moonmoth
Schrödinger's Catbox is an ordinary-appearing catbox, which either actually is a catbox which either does or does not need cleaning (but you can't tell without opening it up), or an inter-dimensional gateway through which either theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger or his feline avatar Erwin!Schrödinger (whose observed form in the Tef depends on who's observing it) might wind up traveling. And, of course, being Schrödinger's catbox, <any>!Schrödinger will be interested in using it to mark it as theirs when it mysteriously appears in the Tef. Unexpected QUANTUM PHYSICS! (but can that really be unexpected in the Tef?) will no doubt be required to clean up the mess -- and the catbox.
Edited Date: 2016-08-02 05:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
From this I got "Schrodinger's Catbox." This free-verse poem covered unexpected uses of advanced science degrees and the inevitable challenges of living in a crack in the cosmic egg.

62 lines, Buy It Now = $31
ng_moonmoth: The Moon-Moth (Default)
From: [personal profile] ng_moonmoth
>> From this I got "Schrodinger's Catbox." <<

That was very much the romp I was looking for. Thanks!

Poem

Date: 2016-08-02 07:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
A backchannel prompt from Capriuni inspired the free-verse poem "To See Things from a Different Perspective." She wanted disability and pride; I wrote Callista helping with a breakthrough in theoretical physics. I couldn't cram it into into the $20 poem range, but there's already $25 toward sponsoring this if someone else wants to pick up the other $29. I'll get it posted when I have time, must focus on writing now.

108 lines, Buy It Now = $54

(no subject)

Date: 2016-08-02 08:21 pm (UTC)
rix_scaedu: (mouse)
From: [personal profile] rix_scaedu
Someone spills something, whether lab chemicals or their lunch into an experiment.

Poem

Date: 2016-08-02 11:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
From this I finally wrote out the background piece about a kid riding to school on a fifty-foot robot with laser eyes. In T-America, that's the classic reference for troubled youth turning destructive, rather than school shootings, based on cultural differences -- and their solutions are different too. This one is written in AABB rhymed quatrains, and over in T-America it was a pop song during the 1980s.

48 lines, Buy It Now = $20

(no subject)

Date: 2016-08-02 08:47 pm (UTC)
ext_74: Baron Samadai in cat form (Default)
From: [identity profile] siliconshaman.livejournal.com
Saved prompt: A sail maker of the Rainbow Sails accidently invents a lighter-then-air craft...

Dr Caroline Fleer finds an apprentice in a very unlikely place, when a toy 'Flash Gordon' rocket ship, powered by a mini-GEM engine, whizzes by her.

Kraken gets creative.. making and selling a 'junior science kit' with a very specific experiment on the last page intended to find budding super-intellects.

The Lacuna had super-secret weapons labs tucked away in the expanse, didn't it? What are those people up to?

Poem

Date: 2016-08-03 08:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Your prompt about the Rainbow Sails inspired the free-verse poem "Entirely Devoted to the Sky." An alchemist seeking a better dye gets the trip of a lifetime instead.

44 lines, Buy It Now = $20

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-03 10:08 am (UTC)
ext_74: Baron Samadai in cat form (Default)
From: [identity profile] siliconshaman.livejournal.com
Yay! *muppet flail* that makes more sense...

Poem

Date: 2016-08-02 09:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
A Dreamwidth prompt inspired the rather creepy free-verse poem "The Trembling Giant." So Pando is a scientist, who has a problem, and scientists solve problems with experiments. O_O

29 lines, Buy It Now = $15

(no subject)

Date: 2016-08-02 10:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com
My first thought is the most exciting words a scientist can utter, "Huh? That's odd!"

Baking is, of course, all about the science, whether the cook (or perhaps the cook's apprentice) realizes it or not.

I wonder what the less orthodox residents of Monster House would suggest when one of the kids has to do a science project?

I have to use my scientist icon for this fishbowl!

Poem

Date: 2016-08-03 01:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Your prompt about exciting words combined with one from Shirley Barrette. "Accidents of Art and Science" is a free-verse poem giving some examples of things that went wrong in wonderful ways.

20 lines, Buy It Now = $10

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-03 01:32 am (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2016-08-02 11:31 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/may/licensing-agreement-reached-brilliant-new-blue-pigment-discovered-happy-accident

(no subject)

Date: 2016-08-02 11:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] paantha.livejournal.com
This seems like a perfect excuse for some Victor/Igor (perhaps with Deneres, too?).

Alternatively, Lawrence doing science and maybe helping Stan? (Ooh, that has the potential for all sorts of metaphors regarding their "chemistry" together... *snerk*)

Could we also see more of Gray baking?

Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 08:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
This contributed to the free-verse poem "Sweet Submission." Gray attempts to make soufflé. It does not quite go as planned.

370 lines, Buy It Now = $185

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 09:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] paantha.livejournal.com
Eeee!

*much excite*

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 09:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Yay! You should have your prompter copies by now.

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 10:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] paantha.livejournal.com
I do indeed. Nommed and very much appreciated!
Thankies! <3

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 10:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Yay! I'm glad you liked them.

Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 10:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
This contributed to the free-verse poem "The Coloring of Eggs." Victor and Igor teach the village children new ways of dying Easter eggs.

130 lines, Buy It Now = $65

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 09:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] paantha.livejournal.com
Sounds gorgeous. Thankies!

Poem

Date: 2016-08-03 08:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
I have been drooling over that pigment since [livejournal.com profile] my_partner_doug tipped me to it earlier this week. We waaaaaants it. :D

I finally wrote you a sub-epic, too.

"A Color Finally Captured" is a free-verse poem about the history of pigment, the search for a perfect blue, and my personal bet of what it matches with even though I haven't seen it yet.

56 lines, Buy It Now = $20

Edited Date: 2016-08-03 08:55 am (UTC)

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-06 03:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] janetmiles.livejournal.com
Is a very snazzy poem. Thank you. Will PayPal the usual tomorrow, when I have brain and can do math and select things.

Re: Poem

Date: 2016-08-06 03:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Yay! I look forward to that. I've marked this poem as reserved for you.

Poem

Date: 2016-08-03 04:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
A backchannel prompt from Anthony Barrette inspired the free-verse poem "Shadow Science." It talks about black holes, dark matter, and singularities.

Hold for original prompter.

Poem

Date: 2016-08-03 07:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Some DW prompts combined to inspire the free-verse poem "Reveal the Tactile Density of It." Dr. Bloch introduces Shiv to a whole heap of feelie toys. Shiv is bemused.

378 lines, Buy It Now = $189

Done for the night!

Date: 2016-08-03 09:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Still have some prompts to finish, but need sleep now.

Poem

Date: 2016-08-04 07:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
A backchannel prompt from Shirley Barrette inspired the poem "Healthy Jellies." It explores the benefits of jellyfish.

Hold for original prompter.

Poem

Date: 2016-08-09 05:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
A couple of DW prompts contributed to the free-verse poem "Fresh Air in Your Brain." Ansel shows Turq around the log cabin neighborhood.

786 lines, Buy It Now = $393

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ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
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