Jan. 30th, 2024

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Lots of people make rules about writing. Few of them are really useful, but they're often good for sparking discussion. Here is Mark Evanier on Heinlein's rules. I agree with Mark far more than Heinlein.

ExpandRead more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, February 6, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Twisted Genres." I'll be soliciting ideas for genre-specific characters (e.g. final girl in horror), tricksters, contraries, rebels, researchers, journalists, historians, explorers, partners, housemates, children, parents, teachers, leaders, superheroes, supervillains, teammates, alien or fantasy species, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, queerfolk, other people who defy expectations, upsetting predictions, twisting tropes, flipping stereotypes, expecting the unexpected, researching, revising theories, parenting, teaching, adventuring, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, experiments changing paradigms, adapting, improvising, troubleshooting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, coming out, running away from home, going off the rails, subverting fate, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, worldgates, haunted houses, archeological digs, the forest primeval, liminal zones, Underhill, schools, sharehouses, kitchens, campfires, libraries, laboratories, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, stores, farmer's markets, starships, bizarre exoplanets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, other places where the unusual happens, hybrid genres, fusions, crossovers, mashups, reversals, contradictions, conundrums, puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, inventions that change everything, time travel, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, polarity, 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.

Fun ways to make a prompt that are particular to this fishbowl theme:
* two genres that are oil and water (see a list of genres and a discussion of black speculative fiction subgenres)
* one genre and a contrasting aesthetic (see a list of aesthetics)
* one genre and a contrasting trope from some other genre (see a list of tropes)

Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One is a whole society of neurovariant people.

The Blueshift Troupers is diversity science fiction, designed for easy crossing with other genres or tropes as they visit different planets.

Daughters of the Apocalypse is postapocalyptic hopepunk.

Frankenstein's Family is gothic fluff.

Hart's Farm is a free love community in historic fantasy.

The Moon Door is women's literature and horror.

The Ocracies is political fantasy based on every governmental system except monarchy.

P.I.E. is a three-way fusion of paranormal investigation, romance, and disability literature.

Schrodinger's Heroes is dimensional science fiction, designed for easy crossing with any other characters / setting / genre.

The Ursulan Cycle is genderbent King Arthur.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks will reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

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.

ExpandNew to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Today is cloudy, cool, and damp.  It seems to have rained last night.

I fed the birds.  I haven't seen much activity today.
 
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Kids on Brooms: Core Rulebook - Hunters Entertainment
This is a collaborative role-playing game about portraying a student at a magical school, with a rules-light, narrative-first storytelling game.

I picked this up at our local game store, because I like to read roleplaying handbooks just for fun, and also because Quixotic Ideas just spawned a magical school in "A Mirror for Witches." It turned out to be a fun book to argue with, and it has some very useful tools.

(See my review of Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5.)

ExpandRead more... )


ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Kids on Brooms: Core Rulebook - Hunters Entertainment
This is a collaborative role-playing game about portraying a student at a magical school, with a rules-light, narrative-first storytelling game.

Read my review of Chapters 1-2, Chapter 4, Chapter 5.

ExpandRead more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Kids on Brooms: Core Rulebook - Hunters Entertainment
This is a collaborative role-playing game about portraying a student at a magical school, with a rules-light, narrative-first storytelling game.

Read my review of Chapters 1-2, Chapter 3, Chapter 5.

ExpandRead more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Kids on Brooms: Core Rulebook - Hunters Entertainment
This is a collaborative role-playing game about portraying a student at a magical school, with a rules-light, narrative-first storytelling game.

Read my review of Chapters 1-2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4.

ExpandRead more... )

Profile

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith

July 2025

S M T W T F S
   1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 1112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

Expand All Cut TagsCollapse All Cut Tags