Disability for Writers

 chordatesrock has a great essay on disability in fantasy worlds, and how the level of accommodation for that may vary from one culture to another.  I agree: fantasy worlds do not necessarily  have to be ableist.

Story: "Smoke and Thunder" (Part 1 of 2)

This story fills a square on my second card for the cottoncandy_bingo fest. This fest encourages people to create and share material focused on what is variously called fluff, schmoop, gentle fiction, light reading, comfort reading, positive thinking, chicken soup for the soul, or anything else that offers a fun alternative to usual run of sex, violence, and angst of modern media. I'm hoping to attract some new readers for my writing.

The following story belongs to Schrodinger's Heroes, featuring an apocryphal television show supported by an imaginary fandom. It's science fiction about quantum physics and saving the world from alternate dimensions. It features a very mixed cast in terms of ethnicity and sexual orientation. This project developed with input from multiple people, and it's open for everyone to play in. You can read more about the background, the characters, and a bunch of assorted content on the menu page.

This is a crossover with BBC Sherlock. You can read how these characters found each other in "THE Woman" and formed a team in "Texas Sunrise," "Seeing Things," "Fighting Through the Fog," and "Still Alive." The sentient coffee table is introduced in "Getting a Room."


Fandom: BBC Sherlock and Original (Schrodinger's Heroes)
Prompt: Favorite
Medium: Fiction
Summary: John gets back his favorite gun that he thought he'd never see again. Then Ash shows him hers.
Content Notes: Fluff. Domestic. Guns as security blankets. Cleaning rituals. Favors for friends. Team bonding.

( Read more... )

Linguistics

 Animal verbs.

Nature Photos

 Sunset colors.

What Writers Think of Characters

 ... not their own, but fanfic interpretations.  These are the kinds of things that I go to fanfic for, in terms of asking what people get out of it and how I can incorporate that into canonical storytelling.  Sometimes the iterations are deep and subtle and far more intricate than the original canon ever went into.  So I like my canons to point in that direction.

Asexual News

 Read about an asexual main character in young adult fiction.  Awesome.

Generally Sponsored Poetry for December 2012 Fishbowl

The general fund contains $30.  There are currently 7 epics available (originally 5, but I wrote a couple more based on comments).  Today's poll will ask how you want the money distributed; since we have no microfunded epics open, you may choose to open one, two, or three.  I also want to gauge preliminary interest in the poems.  I'll probably drop some of the less popular ones and create a second poll to choose the specific poems to fund, unless this round produces a really obvious match.

I will leave this poll open until at least Sunday evening.  If the results are clear then, I'll close it.  Otherwise I may leave it open a while longer.

( Read more... )

Poetry Fishbowl Report for December 4, 2012

This month's theme was "games and toys." I worked from 12:30 PM to 3:30 AM on Tuesday, plus a little more later in the week. That's about 13 hours, allowing for lunch and supper breaks. Prompts trickled in slowly at first, then gained momentum, and trailed off later in the day. I wrote 24 poems on Tuesday, plus another 5 later on. I had several form poems in the mix, a balance of single and combined prompts, and a very wide spread across all size ranges.

Activity was good this month, with 59 comments on LiveJournal and 11 on Dreamwidth. Please welcome new prompters alexseanchai, cadenzamuse, and LiveJournal user peteralway. You have them to thank for the extra freebie poem.


Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the December 2012 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Baby Malice and the Drama Llama"
"The Best Games"
"Blue and Pink"
"Boxtoy"
"Games and Fun"
"The Games of Purgatory"
"Gaming the System"
"Gravestone Games"
"Hidden Seeker"
"Hit or Missile"
"Like Mother, Like Son"
"Mindsweeper"
"Moral Victories"
"Nanotechnologging"
"The Necessary Bear"
"Prestige and Power"
"Quarterboard"
"Say Goodnight"
"Shiny New Toys"
"Squaring Off"
"Swish"
"Texas Foldem"

"Secondary Feathers" (11-24-12 outside fishbowl, perk poem from Fledgling Grace)


Buy Some Poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, read the list of unsold poems from December. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

The currently sponsored poems are all posted. I've sent prompter copies backchannel. Per the $200 goal, there will be a free epic chosen in this poll.  The general fund poll is also running.  Per the $250 goal, that's a second tally toward a mid-month fishbowl. Per the $300 goal, you get a free piece of bonus material. I still need to write the donor perk-post.

Donors this month include catsittingstill, rix_scaedu, [Bad username or unknown identity: the_vulture,] janetmiles, laffingkat, Anthony and Shirley Barrette. Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm.


The Poetry Fishbowl project also has a permanent landing page.

MicroFic Fishbowl

 rix_scaedu has a call for prompts for microfic.

Poem: "The Formless Ones"

This poem is spillover from the October 2, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from aoife.  It also fills the "rape/non-con" square on my card for the Hurt/Comfort Bingo fest.  It has been selected in an audience poll as the free epic for the December 4, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl reaching $250 in donations.  It belongs to the series Path of the Paladins, which you can explore further on the Serial Poetry page.

WARNING: This poem deals with nightmares, PTSD, and other aftermath of rape.  The action also includes violence and abusive language.  If these things are triggery for you, then you might want to read something else.

( Follow the path ... )