ysabetwordsmith | Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, January 2 (Reply)

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, January 2, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Do you believe in magic?" I'll be soliciting ideas for wizards, witches, familiars, gods and goddesses, outcasts, magical nulls, mystical creatures, spirits, other magical beings, casting spells, asking questions, reading tomes, setting up circles, facing thresholds, questing, learning what you can do, believing, disbelieving, woodstoves, temples, stone circles, hearths, the forest primeval, the dark, bottle shops, sacred groves, stages other places where magic happens, artifacts, magical books, wands and staves, enchanted jewelry, spells, curses, protection, stage magic, schools of magic, kitchen witching vs. altar witching, household supplies, regalia, equality and inequality, self-discovery, self-awareness, alienation, rejection, privacy, auras, energy, and poetic forms in particular.

Among my projects that involve magic: The Ursulan Cycle, Clay of Life, A Conflagration of Dragons, Fiorenza the Wisewoman, Fledgling Grace, Gloryroad Crossing, Hart's Farm, The Inkeer, Kande's Quest, Monster House, The Ocracies, One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis, The Origami Mage, Path of the Paladins, P.I.E., Practical Magics, Seeing Hearts, and Sort Of Heroes. Polychrome Heroics has sorcery, but it's rare.

I have a linkback poem, "Mysterious and Impermanent" (20 verses, Walking the Beat).

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

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.

I'm going to host a Poetry Fishbowl on my blog on Tuesday, January 2. I'll be soliciting ideas for thematic characters, plots, settings, objects, and poetic forms in particular. Chances are I'll spend a good chunk of the day, from afternoon to evening or more, alternating between this site and doing stuff offline so my back doesn't weld itself to the chair.

Perks: I will post at least one of the resulting fishbowl poems on the blog for everyone to enjoy, and an extra one if there's at least one new prompter or donor. The rest will be available for audience members to buy, and whatever's left over will go into my archive for magazine submission.

If donations total $100 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 half-price sale in one series.

I want to promote linkbacks pointing people to the "Fishbowl Open" post on Tuesday. I have a spare series poem available, and each linkback will reveal a verse of "Mysterious and Impermanent" (Walking the Beat). One person can do multiple links if they're on different services, like Dreamwidth or Twitter, rather than all on LiveJournal.

(See the complete list of current perks.)

If you enjoy my poetry -- or if you just love poetry in general, or want to promote interest in magic -- please mark the fishbowl date on your calendar. Drop by and give me some ideas, comment on the posted poetry, encourage people to come look, whatever tickles your fancy. I hope to see you then!