Poetry Fishbowl Open!
Jul. 6th, 2021 01:12 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 keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Reality is stranger than fiction." 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.
I'll be soliciting ideas for historians, explorers, partners, housemates, siblings, parents, teachers, clergy, leaders, superheroes, supervillains, teammates, alien or fantasy species, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, rebels, other people who get into unbelievable situations, researching, revising theories, parenting, teaching, adventuring, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, bartering, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, expecting the unexpected, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, the forest primeval, liminal zones, schools, churches, sharehouses, kitchens, campfires, libraries, laboratories, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, stores, farmer's markets, starships, alien planets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, other places where the unbelievable happens, articles or other references to oddities, puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, weird food, secret ingredients, supplements that turn out to be metagenic, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, lab conditions are not field conditions, superpower manifestation, the end of where your framework actually applies, ethics, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.
Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:
Winterfest in July Bingo Card 7-1-21
Hurt/Comfort Bingo Card 6-15-20
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
An Army of One is unbelievable by the standards of the Galactic Arms, but it works for the residents.
The Bear Tunnels is an unexpected adventure.
A Conflagration of Dragons has unforseen disasters and cultural upheavals.
The Daughters of the Apocalypse has a jumble of past and present, some of it quite strange.
Eloquent Souls presents a setting where soulmarks are common, but some of the results are puzzling.
Fledgling Grace is about people sprouting angel wings, and the unexpected changes that brings.
Frankenstein's Family features two scientists running a valley in historic Romania, along with a pack of werewolves, a couple of vampires, and a mummy.
Hart's Farm is a free love community with a few really exotic characters.
Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household, where the line between truth and fantasy isn't always clear.
The Moon Door explores a women's chronic pain group and lycanthropy.
One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks.
Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all trying to get along and figure out how to make a functional society.
Or you can ask for something new.
I have a linkback poem, "Generations of Cooks Past" (17 verses, standalone).
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 "Reality is stranger than fiction." 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 Dreamwidth, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, 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. "Generations of Cooks Past" has 17 verses and stands alone.
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; four of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be four 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 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 "Reality is stranger than fiction." See above for details. 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 "Generations of Cooks Past." The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Reality is stranger than fiction." 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.
I'll be soliciting ideas for historians, explorers, partners, housemates, siblings, parents, teachers, clergy, leaders, superheroes, supervillains, teammates, alien or fantasy species, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, rebels, other people who get into unbelievable situations, researching, revising theories, parenting, teaching, adventuring, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, bartering, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, expecting the unexpected, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, the forest primeval, liminal zones, schools, churches, sharehouses, kitchens, campfires, libraries, laboratories, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, stores, farmer's markets, starships, alien planets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, other places where the unbelievable happens, articles or other references to oddities, puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, weird food, secret ingredients, supplements that turn out to be metagenic, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, lab conditions are not field conditions, superpower manifestation, the end of where your framework actually applies, ethics, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.
Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:
Winterfest in July Bingo Card 7-1-21
Hurt/Comfort Bingo Card 6-15-20
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
An Army of One is unbelievable by the standards of the Galactic Arms, but it works for the residents.
The Bear Tunnels is an unexpected adventure.
A Conflagration of Dragons has unforseen disasters and cultural upheavals.
The Daughters of the Apocalypse has a jumble of past and present, some of it quite strange.
Eloquent Souls presents a setting where soulmarks are common, but some of the results are puzzling.
Fledgling Grace is about people sprouting angel wings, and the unexpected changes that brings.
Frankenstein's Family features two scientists running a valley in historic Romania, along with a pack of werewolves, a couple of vampires, and a mummy.
Hart's Farm is a free love community with a few really exotic characters.
Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household, where the line between truth and fantasy isn't always clear.
The Moon Door explores a women's chronic pain group and lycanthropy.
One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks.
Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all trying to get along and figure out how to make a functional society.
Or you can ask for something new.
I have a linkback poem, "Generations of Cooks Past" (17 verses, standalone).
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 "Reality is stranger than fiction." 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 Dreamwidth, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, 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. "Generations of Cooks Past" has 17 verses and stands alone.
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; four of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be four 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 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 "Reality is stranger than fiction." See above for details. 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 "Generations of Cooks Past." The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.
vampires and werewolves and mummies oh my...
Date: 2021-07-06 07:39 pm (UTC)Re: vampires and werewolves and mummies oh my...
Date: 2021-07-06 09:26 pm (UTC)Re: vampires and werewolves and mummies oh my...
Date: 2021-07-12 02:46 am (UTC)158 lines, Buy It Now = $79
Re: vampires and werewolves and mummies oh my...
Date: 2021-07-12 02:46 am (UTC)158 lines, Buy It Now = $79
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 07:59 pm (UTC)https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated
Apparently, this happens often enough that there is an Association of Dead People...some of whom try to prove they are alive by getting arrested at protests.
One can only imagine the chaos if zombies and other undead were real...
Poem
Date: 2021-07-06 11:30 pm (UTC)prompt
Date: 2021-07-06 08:31 pm (UTC)Re: prompt
Date: 2021-07-17 10:44 am (UTC)"The Deepest Mutuality and the Most Painful Estrangement"
Story Date: Afternoon of Monday, April 4, 2016
Boss Blaster coaxes Cas into visiting his mother.
355 lines, Buy It Now = $178
"A Spirit of Openness and Reconciliation"
Story Date: Evening of Monday, April 4, 2016
Cas meets his mother Freesia at the Crystal Wisdom store.
214 lines, Buy It Now = $107
"Maturity to Outgrow Them"
Story Date: Evening of Monday, April 4, 2016
Cas and Freesia have some fraught conversations.
562 lines, Buy It Now = $281
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 09:30 pm (UTC)- Wolves and ravens hunt well together, as do wolves and humans. Are there any raven-raised kids in the setting? Might they team up with the Wolf Scouts?
- Elephants rescuing people, or people rescuing elephants.
- Galvarino was a war leader of the Mapuche tribe in the 1500s who lost his arms fighting the Spanish then replaced them with blades and kept fighting. I'm sure there is a younger armey person who's adopted a similar attitude...though given the setting a trench spade might be more practical than a sword. (Good for digging or frying eggs, as well as fighting.)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 09:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 09:42 pm (UTC)Sometimes cross-cultural relationships, language barriers, etc make relationships easier...because you have to pay attention to what the other person feels and intends, instead of what you think they should mean/feel.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 10:16 pm (UTC)Setting: The Lacuna.. a ship comes drifting in our of intergalactic space, very, very big and mind bogglingly old [intergalactic stl generation ship/mobile dyson sphere] ... and so very alien even the inhabitants of the Lacuna are struggling to make sense of it.
Palming off an idea here: The Finn Family meets the Addams family [yes, that Addams family!]
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 10:28 pm (UTC)As would a multi-corporeal AI...if one were attatched.
Or even better, what about a 'hive' super-organism AI, like bees or ants? I don't think I've ever seen that used as a concept model for an AI before...
Poem
Date: 2021-07-07 08:19 am (UTC)234 lines, Buy It Now = $117
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 10:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 11:43 pm (UTC)So. "Someone uses statistics* to figure out something is very wrong/something very bad has happened."
*Or possibly another science - high levels of recessive genetic disorders could indicate a bottleneck event.
Knowledge of therapy could help identify mental trauma...which is concerning if it affects too high a % of the population. (And especially if everyone just assumes "Well, everyone has nightmares, right? You don't? That's so weird!")
And a separate medical variant:
How to explain modern-esque medicine to someone with from a low-tech society, so they don't go all Help Mistaken For Attack, or believe they've been abducted by aliens.
Poem
Date: 2021-07-09 11:14 am (UTC)51 lines, Buy It Now = $20
Re: Poem
Date: 2021-07-09 07:10 pm (UTC)Reality is stranger than fiction
Date: 2021-07-06 11:19 pm (UTC)Re: Reality is stranger than fiction
Date: 2021-07-06 11:30 pm (UTC)Not a prompt, but I doubt any of us would like taking oldtime ethics /exactly/ as they were and applying them to modern life...
...be it Old Testament, New Testament, Rennesance, 1776 Declaration of Independence, WWII wartime values, etc.
The only constant is change.
Re: Reality is stranger than fiction
Date: 2021-07-06 11:34 pm (UTC)Re: Reality is stranger than fiction
Date: 2021-07-06 11:55 pm (UTC)My society changes rapidly enough that while I may not be pleased with everything we currently do, I would not want to step back to the ethics of my childhood, or my parents' or grandparents' childhoods.
I'm glad to live somewhere:
- where child soldiers and slavery are considered bad (even if wage slavery, ownership of nonhuman persons and slave AIs are a concern)
- where if I marry my husband cannot legally abuse me (even if we need to work on the issues of abuse in same-sex marriages or abusive heterosexual wives)
- where I can retain my own property after marriage
- where I can follow my own religion without being jailed, exiled or executed (even though we are biased against some religions - and my specific beliefs might encourage me to challenge the status quo enough to be arrested)
I guess...it not impossible to have an 'ethical dragonfly.' Our culture might just need something that'll change a little faster. (I'm glad seatbelts in cars and banning drunk driving took a few decades...instead of several hundred years. )
Re: Reality is stranger than fiction
Date: 2021-07-07 12:47 am (UTC)I observe that it is destroying the biosphere, which is a violation of my ethics.
It's not that humans haven't learned some things over time. They've just come to think that they no longer need basics like "Don't saw off the branch you're standing on," which is emphasized in most tribal cultures.
Re: Reality is stranger than fiction
Date: 2021-07-07 01:45 am (UTC)(Weatherproof houses, NICU incubators, vaccines, modern medicine, search and rescue teams, photography, books,...)
There are also plenty of things I don't like.
(Willful ignorance, systemic prejudice, destroying nature, unpersoning someone, advertising, the charisma cult of modern America, the God-money cult of capitalism, the fact that most of us are so alone...)
I don't think modern culture is the best on all counts. But I also don't want to give up all the beneficial things.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 12:27 am (UTC)A friend of a friend who comes to dinner and asks her hosts to adopt the baby she's expecting, because that case of flu she thought she had ...wasn't.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 01:49 am (UTC)Along your first paragraph's thought, my spouse just built me a box tape loom for the tapes and ties needed on so much clothes two centuries ago, and I have started weaving tape! 😁
Poem
Date: 2021-07-10 11:17 am (UTC)102 lines, Buy It Now = $52
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 12:33 am (UTC)"Reality is what you wake up in. Realty is what you wake up on." "Realty is what you're going to wake up *under* if you keep mouthing off." -- Markus Roberts
Poem
Date: 2021-07-08 11:57 am (UTC)Hold for Shirley Barrette.
This might be lacking coherency
Date: 2021-07-07 12:44 am (UTC)I was really excited for this prompt call, but I didn't write down any of the ideas that came to me early, and my brain is absolute mush today, so if the prompts are less than sensical, I apologize.
I'd like to see Shiv in a camping/outdoors situation with people who have assorted cultures and needs that make feeding everyone a challenge. Shiv is the one who comes up with a way to satisfy everyone with some innovative, out of the box thinking and some less than standard ingredients, thereby saving the day and/or the trip; which is still rare enough for Shiv to seem even stranger than fiction. This could also work if a diverse group of people come to the Blues Moon or if Shiv is involved in some kind of Boss meeting, like he was with Pain's Gray and Ricasso.
I'd like to see a situation in Terramagne where there is a case of superpower manifestation, one that is potentially dangerous, and the supervillains step in to take over because the superheroes are so far out of their depth they are in serious danger of making it worse. This doesn't have to be malicious on the superhero's part, it could just be a case where the manifestation is rarer enough that SPOON or other superheroes haven't seen it but Kraken or other supervillains have.
Stylet and pretty much of all of the science related prompts. Maybe Stylet doing research at the library for an experiment that is boundary pushing and more akin to something from pulpy science fiction than current reality. Possibly with someone more well-versed in ethics and troubleshooting trying to help Stylet figure out all the things that could go wrong and how to mitigate them, and also how to do boundary pushing science while still keeping ethics and public safety in mind.
Re: This might be lacking coherency
Date: 2021-07-07 02:50 am (UTC)It wouldn't even have to be /rare/, just cross a strongly-defensive superpower and an overly-helpy hero who who is stressing out the manifestee.
By, say, insisting it'll be okay when it won't, or trying to push solutions that won't work, or missing important data/context.
Also, I suspect Kraken sees a lot of odd powers or ways of being. The venomous folk and Bug People, folk who fall into the Uncanny Valley, various undead, the Fae and changelings, those who have more affinity for nonhumans than humanfolk, nonhuman persons who refuse to try and pass (in mind or body), perfectly human folk who choose to look or behave very far from what is considered human-acceptable...
Re: This might be lacking coherency
Date: 2021-07-07 03:49 am (UTC)I still think Shiv could do well working through a language barrier...by doodling foods on the back of an old placemat. (Or a Deaf customer could work around Shiv's reading issues by using a voice app - Google Translate will 'talk' for you, even if it is an annoying monotone.)
I'm artsy enough to have done this in RL. Occasionally interspersed with pointing at stuff in a book, hand gestures, etc. (I've actually even done a page o'doodles based on the days lessons / conversations / a specific question, then labeled the doodles and given the page to whichever student I've been working with.)
Speaking of linguistic shenanigans, separate prompt:
- Just because I can speak X, does not mean I can write X.
- I'm not writing [foreign alphabet], I'm copying [foreign alphabet].
- I can't read [language], I'm just reading the pronunciations listed here.
Re: This might be lacking coherency
Date: 2021-07-14 10:05 am (UTC)154 lines, Buy It Now = $77
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 01:26 am (UTC)Poem
Date: 2021-07-11 01:33 am (UTC)54 lines, Buy It Now = $20
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 03:10 am (UTC)I recall there was a discussion on Daughters of the Apocalypse about how the Rich White Dude would be freaking out (and possibly injured by or dying of) the Grunge while the womenfolks and ex refugees are running around in the background preparing a rapid evacuation... (could involve dying skills, caretaking skills, getting a very trumatized person out of the red zone...or end with "Yo! Rich dude! You coming, or what?" to which he turns around and sees a fully loaded caravan ready to roll.)
Also, if there is a trope for Meatgrinder Surgery, is there an equivalent for mental health in settings where actual help is not availible or feasable*? (Or perhaps that is just called emotional labor...)
*And yes, most people rely on friends and acquaintances for at least minor mental support...and sometimes for bigger issues.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 04:00 am (UTC)Aliens: Crap, we're lost and we've accidentally downed a UFO! Better try and catch it...
Humans: What just happened, and why aren't we dead?
Both: Holy [bleep] it is aliens!
...
Then everyone runs of to deal with the major problem of gravitational destabilization and the other problem of biosphere-wrecling disasters on the alien planet.
Then the earthbound humans decide to try and pull a Big Damn Heroes disaster relief effort...
Sliding in late
Date: 2021-07-07 07:00 am (UTC)Another possibility I'd like to see tipped on its head is the "marked case dies first" trope (PoC, LGBTQ, etc.) In a related vein, someone gets their comeuppance from the old/disabled/servant-appearing people they bypassed on the way to commit whatever mischief they were intent on.
Re: Sliding in late
Date: 2021-07-07 04:34 pm (UTC)Reminds me of a story idea I keep meaning to play with. Namely, instead of a single Magical Minority Person who is fixing problems for a majority person, have multiple Magical Minority People from different groups, who trade off helping each other with issues. And possibly one Magical _Majority_ Person, whose job is to model good allyship, by listening, offering but not pushing help, and dealing with other majority people who are being rude or threatening.
Re: Sliding in late
Date: 2021-07-09 05:44 am (UTC)68 lines, Buy It Now = $34
Poem
Date: 2021-07-09 03:28 am (UTC)16 lines, Buy It Now = $10