Poetry Fishbowl Open!
Jul. 2nd, 2013 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThe Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "unlikely heroes and implausible villains." 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 "Julbord" (Hart's Farm, 13 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 "unlikely heroes and implausible villains." 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. "Julbord" belongs to the series Hart's Farm and has 13 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, you get a half-price sale for one week in one series. Everyone will get to vote on which series to feature in the sale, out of those with extra poems available.
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 "unlikely heroes and implausible villains." I'll be soliciting ideas for heroes, villains, sidekicks, other allies, archenemies, rivals, innocent bystanders, leaders, people who think they're heroes but are really villains (or vice versa), deciding to become a hero or villain, battles, traps and ambushes, arguments, sudden but inevitable betrayals, making history, reconciliations, turning disadvantage to advantage, monologues, witty repartee, great escapes, twist ALL the tropes!, dangerous and exciting places to fight, uncommon battlegrounds, the line must be drawn here, hideouts and other bases of operation, targeted monuments, signature weapons, costumes, iconic armor, ordinary objects weaponized, completely ridiculous objects weaponized, macguffins, 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 first edition of Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms 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 "Julbord.") The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "unlikely heroes and implausible villains." 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 "Julbord" (Hart's Farm, 13 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 "unlikely heroes and implausible villains." 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. "Julbord" belongs to the series Hart's Farm and has 13 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, you get a half-price sale for one week in one series. Everyone will get to vote on which series to feature in the sale, out of those with extra poems available.
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 "unlikely heroes and implausible villains." I'll be soliciting ideas for heroes, villains, sidekicks, other allies, archenemies, rivals, innocent bystanders, leaders, people who think they're heroes but are really villains (or vice versa), deciding to become a hero or villain, battles, traps and ambushes, arguments, sudden but inevitable betrayals, making history, reconciliations, turning disadvantage to advantage, monologues, witty repartee, great escapes, twist ALL the tropes!, dangerous and exciting places to fight, uncommon battlegrounds, the line must be drawn here, hideouts and other bases of operation, targeted monuments, signature weapons, costumes, iconic armor, ordinary objects weaponized, completely ridiculous objects weaponized, macguffins, 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 first edition of Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms 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 "Julbord.") The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
Poem
Date: 2013-07-02 06:33 pm (UTC)114 lines, Buy It Now = $57
Quite a few ideas.
Date: 2013-07-02 08:00 pm (UTC)Life as a superhero's "collateral damage", meaning the person is NOT someone they couldn't save, but someone hurt by accident or carelessness.
A "supervillian" who spends his/her/its/their/zeir off hours taking care of and helping those helped by a "superhero's" actions.
A media-created superhero/a who actually has no powers.
An illusionist with a visual impairment.
Two powered people discuss the downsides of dieting with powers.
Savior Faire and Damask interact.
Racial profiling and superheros/villains. (Are powers actually judged on their actions? Or on how they fit the social expectation of hero or villain?)
One person's hero is another person's villain.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-02 08:11 pm (UTC)Poem
Date: 2013-07-08 01:13 am (UTC)Your prompt about a villain changing people's forms led to the free-verse poem "Throwing Souls Like So Much Clay." It's about how various people respond to someone who can change the body, but not the spirit, and who does so in ways that aren't approved by society.
116 lines, Buy It Now = $58
Re: Poem
Date: 2013-07-08 03:32 am (UTC)And, it's not a problem for the delay!
Re: Poem
Date: 2013-07-08 06:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-02 09:09 pm (UTC)Perhaps there's a way to come up with a prompt for your Army of One setting that fits this theme, but, unfortunately, I can't think of one. (Which is a shame. I want to see what the Arms are going to do next.)
I see that I'm spending a lot of time and words on prompts I know won't be filled. Huh. Well, let's go with prompts that actually fit the theme here: What if a superhero made it possible to access produce on a tighter budget? What if xe did the shopping around and transportation for people so they could get the cheapest produce even if it's too far away or even if it requires looking at the prices at ten different stores?
What if two female people with superpowers debated with each other whether to call themselves heroes or heras?
What if a superhero stopped institutional abuse, a la Skallagrigg?
What if a villain were so implausible because xe isn't real or isn't the real villain, a la the Mandarin?
What if a villain is real, but not believed in because of the implausibility?
What if a villain smothered people with weaponized fairy glamour?
What if a hero saved PWDs from benefit cuts? What if a hero cured disabilities? What if a villain cured disabilities?
What if a hero and villain with exactly the same powers faced off?
What if someone was a hero or a villain without any superpowers?
What if someone could be a hero or a villain by crafting cultural narratives and stories?
Well...
Date: 2013-07-02 09:21 pm (UTC)That happened in an episode of Heroes. One of the heroes had a wife in a wheelchair. The villain just put his hand on her knee, without saying anything out of the ordinary. And shortly after that, her legs worked again.
It was one of the scariest, creepiest fucking things I have ever seen a villain do -- and it went by in an instant, most people wouldn't even have realized how evil it was. Just looks like a plot twist, with most of the attention on the hero and his wife.
But the whole character was put together like that, very gentle, very subtle, a sweet little old man who was a manipulative bastard underneath.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-02 11:48 pm (UTC)a villain with white dove wings, bonus points if the poem is set in a location not previously visited
everyday heroes in humble feathers - again, bonus points for a not-yet-visited location
a rooster-feathered woman being badass for a righteous cause: "Call me a cock and you'll regret it, shorty."
Poem
Date: 2013-07-03 01:21 am (UTC)41 lines, Buy It Now = $20
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-03 12:17 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2013-07-03 12:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-03 01:27 am (UTC)The real hero is the one who matches up supers with problems they can solve, and makes sure the hammers are deployed against nails (and only nails) while the screws are all dealt with by screwdrivers (terrible analogy, I know).
Possibly in your Terramagne setting (inspired by Eggshells, which I was just reading, having discovered Love is for Children today), what if there were a superhero team that dealt with holiday disasters and otherwise pinch-hit, possibly called the Teetotaler Team?
Poem
Date: 2013-07-03 02:27 am (UTC)53 lines, Buy It Now = $20
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-03 04:24 am (UTC)Improbable Super-villain: A chinchilla.
Whoops!
Date: 2013-07-03 05:54 am (UTC)Re: Whoops!
Date: 2013-07-03 05:59 am (UTC)Re: Whoops!
Date: 2013-07-03 06:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-03 07:45 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2013-07-03 09:18 pm (UTC)Done for the night!
Date: 2013-07-03 08:52 am (UTC)Poem
Date: 2013-07-03 11:04 pm (UTC)70 lines, Buy It Now = $35