Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: creative

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

The Poetry Fishbowl is now closed.  Thank you to all the folks who dropped by this time.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open!  Today's theme is "DNA, genetic engineering, and evolution." 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.

NOTE: LiveJournal is functioning poorly today.  I'm going to try running the fishbowl anyhow.  I'm also trying something new -- using other venues as auxiliary routes to get around the blockage.  So I'm also going to echo the "fishbowl open" post on Dreamwidth.  You can leave prompts on my Dreamwidth or Facebook pages.  If necessary, I may let the open period lap over into Wednesday.


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 "DNA, genetic engineering, and evolution." 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) 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.

3) 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. Details are here.  New photos of sample scrapbooked poems are here.

4) Spread the word. Echo or link to this post on your LiveJournal, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any other social network.  The Twitter hashtag is #poetryfishbowl.  Encourage people to come here and participate in the fishbowl. If there is at least one new prompter or donor, I will post an extra freebie poem.


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.

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.


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 "DNA, genetic engineering, and evolution."  I'm soliciting prompts for gengineers, genetic constructs, species in transition, tools for studying or manipulating genes, particular types of genes or traits, bits of evidence for evolution, genetic sciences in the news, how evolution impacts society, plot twists relying on genetic sciences, plot lines where evolution or genetic engineering cause problems, problems that can only be solved with genetic engineering, cultures that attempt to remain static, worlds where genetic engineering is commonplace, 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.) The rest will go into my archive for magazine submission.
Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, magic, poetry, reading, science, science fiction, writing
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  • 29 comments
siege

siege

September 7 2010, 20:54:53 UTC 10 years ago

http://community.livejournal.com/otherkin/541197.html -- What nutritional needs would an engineered (or alien) body have, and could we supply them properly (in matter and spirit) without building a whole evolutionary sequence from scratch?

And http://scitechstory.com/2010/02/17/code-4-letter-codons/

This (number of codon letters) figures heavily in my own understanding of non-Earthly biology; 2 letters is not enough aminos for life via DNA and standard aminos, while 6 is so complex and hard to get going that it almost never happens (7 is not quite "right out" but you're approaching infinity the higher you go). So 3 letters is usually humanoid/Earth-similar (took a while to evolve, lots of compromises, minimum necessary limbs, usually harder to extract energy from the environment), 4 letters is usually draconoid/Zergite (if not winged then usually more limbs and more senses, easier to extract energy from environment and thus fewer evolutionary compromises, a variety of "more interesting" cellular and bodily properties), while 5 letters is generally tentacloid/Cthulhoid (lots of limbs, non-standard design which may not necessarily be vertebrate, either lots of energy or great variety and supply of resources). These also reflect how early sapient life is likely to evolve on a world (fewer letters means later evolution due to needs for life-generated resource/energy/amino buildup).
ysabetwordsmith

Poem

ysabetwordsmith

September 7 2010, 21:20:11 UTC 10 years ago

From the article prompt about three-letter codons, I got the free-verse poem "Secret Codons," which explores both the creation of new proteins and the possibility of extrasolar life.

21 lines, Buy it Now = $10
ysabetwordsmith

Poem

ysabetwordsmith

September 7 2010, 23:44:28 UTC 10 years ago

From your post about the nutritional needs of otherkin I got the poem "Soul Cravings." It explores the challenges of balancing what the spirit remembers with what the body can handle. It's free verse, written in five-line stanzas.

25 lines, Buy it Now = $10
ysabetwordsmith

Poem

ysabetwordsmith

September 8 2010, 02:49:00 UTC 10 years ago

From the prompt about the nutritional needs of engingeered bodies, I got "Heirs of the Heart." This free-verse poem explores the creation of new species and how the creator may have an idea of how they'll develop -- but can never fully know in advance.

28 lines, Buy It Now = $15
siege

Re: Poem

siege

September 8 2010, 02:55:39 UTC 10 years ago

Wow, three poems from one prompt! I'm impressed that it worked out that way.

I might even be able to spare some cash toward poetry this Friday, so huzzah for the poet!
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Poem

ysabetwordsmith

September 8 2010, 03:05:58 UTC 10 years ago

>>Wow, three poems from one prompt! I'm impressed that it worked out that way.<<

Some prompts stick in my mind and refract along different paths. Also, LJ's fubar performance this morning has undercut participation, so I'm doubling back to a lot of the places where one person gave multiple prompts.

>>I might even be able to spare some cash toward poetry this Friday, so huzzah for the poet!<<

That would be awesome.