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

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open!  Today's theme is "doors and passages." 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.

NEW IDEA: If you are promoting this fishbowl with a reference on your own blog, please consider including your own prompt(s) there.  It lets your readers see an example of what I'm looking for, and then later they can drop by and find out what I've done with it.

ELECTION DAY: After I post this, I'll go vote.  You folks start posting your prompts, and I'll begin writing when I get home.  Have you voted today?  If so, please mention it in your comment!  I'll be making a list of voters, and then I'll add them to my "Donors" list this month so you can enjoy the perk-post.


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 "doors and passages." 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 you have room for it, including your own prompt will give your readers an idea of what the prompts should look like.  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 "doors and passages."  I'm soliciting prompts for gateways, threshold experiences, hidden doors, secret passages, things that appear from behind doors, the symbolism of doors and passages, journeys, plot twists involving doors, places where interesting entrances or exits can be found, 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, poetry, reading, writing
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  • 90 comments
siege

siege

November 2 2010, 17:19:40 UTC 10 years ago

Many fantasy movies seem to depict doors in trees. What's so special about that?

We all know the usual rectangular or square-cornered door; and hobbits have round doors. What about other shapes?

Some passages travel through other dimensions. What if the door itself were multi-dimensional, and showed it?

Sometimes a passage is not enclosed...
aldersprig

And more doorways!

aldersprig

November 2 2010, 17:26:30 UTC 10 years ago

Many fantasy movies seem to depict doors in trees. What's so special about that? Yes! I always wanted one of those!

Tesseract doors (on my mind recently)... wrinkles in space.

The cat's fascination with doors.

Cats who can open doors (mine could, may he chase mice happily in eternity).

Sometimes a passage is not enclosed... Yes! Oh, oh, yes, dimensional doors just sort of wandering around. Stepping through fictional universes by accident.

I keep thinking of a long road through a woods, dirt road, well packed, the sun off to one side.
siege

Re: And more doorways!

siege

November 2 2010, 17:27:34 UTC 10 years ago

I was also thinking metaphorically on that last one.
aldersprig

Re: And more doorways!

aldersprig

November 2 2010, 17:28:06 UTC 10 years ago

I thought you might be, but I kind of ran with it. Sorry :-)
haikujaguar

Re: And more doorways!

haikujaguar

November 2 2010, 17:49:30 UTC 10 years ago

Why is it always cats that are fascinated with doors?

Maybe dogs know something about doors that cats don't. >.>
aldersprig

Re: And more doorways!

aldersprig

November 2 2010, 17:50:45 UTC 10 years ago

And there is The Cat who Walked Through Walls (Heinlein liked cats)... I think cats are offended at anything they can't see.
haikujaguar

Re: And more doorways!

haikujaguar

November 2 2010, 17:52:06 UTC 10 years ago

I may be overreacting. I'm seeing too many 'women love cats!' and 'cats are awesome' things. Other animals are cool too! Parrots! Ferrets! Pet fish! Dogs!
aldersprig

Re: And more doorways!

aldersprig

November 2 2010, 17:55:13 UTC 10 years ago

I'm absolutely entirely totally a cat person. I can't help it.

I like horses. Ferrets are fun. Wild fish are cool. chimpmunks, mice, snakes. But I <3 cats.

(Yesterday's #litchat was on animals in fiction, by the by)
haikujaguar

Re: And more doorways!

haikujaguar

November 2 2010, 17:55:57 UTC 10 years ago

I saw pieces of it. Magical companion animals, <3 <3
aldersprig

Re: And more doorways!

aldersprig

November 2 2010, 17:56:40 UTC 10 years ago

*giggle* Yes, I was trying to explain the telepathic horse phenomenon.

I read a lot of animal fiction as a girl.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: And more doorways!

ysabetwordsmith

November 2 2010, 20:18:11 UTC 10 years ago

From the discussion about animals and doors, I got "How Chaos Came to the Cosmos," involving Trickster and a bunch of animal allies. The core of the poem is a parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas."

21 lines, Buy It Now = $10
ysabetwordsmith

Poem

ysabetwordsmith

November 2 2010, 19:16:29 UTC 10 years ago

Clearly the answer to "What's so special about doors in trees?" has to do with growth rings. So I combined the science of dendrochronology with the classic fantasy motif of magical gates. "The Door of Years" uses the repeating-line format of a quatern, though it has more syllables per line.

16 lines, Buy It Now = $10