Poetry Fishbowl Open!: ysabetwordsmith

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Urban Fantasy" as selected by the audience in a poll. 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.

Something new: Batched poems. Previously I've written some poems that use the same characters or setting to explore different aspects of the same idea, most of them at random. I'm open to doing that on purpose, if it doesn't create an overload. So for instance, you might ask for a pair of poems showing two people's divergent viewpoints, or ask for a sequel to a poem you liked.

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 "Urban Fantasy." 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. Commission details are here. See new photos of sample scrapbooked poems: "Infinitesimal Angels and others"

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; 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.

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.

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 "Urban Fantasy." (You can read more about urban fantasy online. It does not have to be contemporary; past or future city prompts are welcome. While most urban fantasy entails slight revisions of Earth, I'm also open to prompts about cities in other fantasy settings of mine.) I'll be soliciting ideas for urbanites, non-urbanite fish-out-of-water characters, city-dwelling monsters, urban plants and animals, objects commonly found in cities, rural objects that might be amusing to chuck into a city, urban fantasy cliches you'd like to warp, classic or neo urban fantasy plots, events that happen in cities, urban legends, urban places fun to include in a fantasy story, individual cities you'd like to visit, unusual locations within a city, hazards or benefits particular to cities, 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.

fayanora

January 5 2011, 05:41:56 UTC 10 years ago

New comment

Some magical explanation for disappearing socks, etc.

Magical beings that can disguise themselves as machines or other stuff.

Magical beings that get into computers (like, into the software) and mess around with things inside.

Urban legends (like stolen kidneys) are true because the old monsters have found new tactics.

A world that looks just like ours but uses magic instead of technology. Maybe they burn pixie dust instead of gasoline, and the pixies are going extinct as a result. (Maybe pixie dust is made OF pixies?)

Some of the people in prison aren't really people.

Your house is out to kill you.

The literal ghost in the machine.

Maybe some of the real-world ramifications of the Ghostbusters mythos being real. What if ghosts really could be seen, captured, ectoplasm studied, etc.

Your late Aunt Gertrude still chats with you on Facebook. (This could either be super sweet or really creepy.)

An online game so addicting that if you play for too long, your soul gets sucked in and your body goes into a coma.

A lawyer defends a ghost or demon client against the charge of possession. (Maybe even possession with intent to distribute! :-D )

Child custody battle between a human and a fairy. (Either the kind you'd find in standard lore, or they were married and had halfblood kids.)

(I have a character who is a zombie and is also a lawyer for non-human civil rights. It's a comedy universe, so his name is Henry Fangballs.)

Poem

ysabetwordsmith

January 5 2011, 09:02:47 UTC 10 years ago

I combined your prompt about magical creatures disguising themselves as machines with one from

janetmiles about fae adapting to iron. "Perishable Truths" describes what happens when the fae begin taking forms that will blend into the modern world, just as they used to blend into natural scenery. Humans are a little too slow on the uptake...

27 lines, Buy It Now = $15

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