going once...
"For years, I've been fascinated by conversations overheard in museums as people look at art. Then one day I was standing behind a couple who were viewing a painting by Edward Hopper called Room in New York. In this particular painting, Hoppper makes the viewer a kind of snoop by setting us out on the sidewalk, looking through an apartment window at two figures in a green room. The woman, wearing a red dress, sits sideways on a piano bench, contemplatively stroking the keys, while her partner, a man, sits across the room in a chair reading the newspaper. As I drew closer to the painting, the real-life couple in front of me were having a rather heated argument about what they thought the relationship was between the two painted figures. I realized that each of them had cooked up his or her own distinct and individual story about who these two people were and how they had come to be caught in this particular moment in time. And they were both completely convinced that their interpretation was the "right" one.
I should explain that I'm an illustrator by trade, and my job very often requires me to interpret another artists creation- specifically, a story conceived and written by an author. To arrive at the image for my illustrations, I comb through the text of the story, looking for clues that will help me unlock its meaning. I search like a detective for descriptive details, emotionally revealing dialogue, and, always, for metaphor. Then I take all of the information I've gathered and create a visual interpretation of the story that is distinctly my own.
But in the museum that day, as I was eavesdropping on that unsuspecting couple, the thought occurred to me that maybe we could take the storytelling/illustration collaboration and stand it on its head. Why, I thought, couldn't authors interpret my illustrations?"
taken from the Note from the Artist in Twice Told: Original Stories inspired by Original Art by Scott Hunt
I read this book a few weeks ago, and the concept grabbed me. Because it made the stories in the book (an excellent collection of YA short stories, if anyone's interested) that much cooler. And because, although I cannot understand visual media for anything, the interactions between word and picture fascinate me. And- maybe most importantly- because I've been in a pit of writer's block for a while now, but looking at the pictures in this book made me say "Hey. I wish I could do that."
And then I remembered the beauty of fandom: I totally can.
It's this fabulous collection, seriously. Basically- because if I'd known the concept before I would have bought it earlier, but I just got it two weeks ago and found out while reading the intro so I feel the need to explain it here- Scott Hunt made nine illustrations. Then he found eighteen young adult writers. Then he assigned two writers to each picture. Then those stories were matched in the anthology: story, picture, story.
Some of the stories were... eh. Some of them were AMAZING. William Sleator's, for one. Neal Shusterman's. Sarah Dessen's. M.T. Anderson's. John Green's. I'm still reeling from a few of them. And it's this very specific interplay, story before picture and picture before story, multiple good authors writing from the same image... even if the stories blew the collection would have been awesome. But no! They're awesome stories.
Which is a nice surprise.
This is how I'm thinking of doing it with fandom.
(1) I post a poll. (See below.)
(2) Y'all take the poll.
(3) Y'all pimp the poll.
(4) Any artists who are interested can submit a picture which they feel has enough nuance that it can be interpreted in multiple ways. It's fine to have pieces that refer to specific fandoms, but because each image will be interpreted by multiple writers, who may or may not be familiar with your preferred source text, it can't be something that JUST works for any particular fandom. (For example: a stethoscope = awesome. A stethoscope draped over Addison and Mark having sex = also awesome, but not for this challenge.) The picture submitted can either be something you've done before, as long as it's not incredibly well-known in fandom with specific connotations, or something new. The artists will have Deadline 1. As long as they get the image in by Deadline 1, at least two stories will be written about said image.
(5) Shortly after Deadline 1, the artists' submissions will be distributed to the writers. The writers can write in any fandom (RPF or fictional source text or merged) or none at all, G through NC-17, anything, as long as it is a response to something in the image. The image does not need to be explicitly referenced in the text of the story, but at the very least, a mood or a detail you got from the image should show up.
(6) Writers' stories will be due later, on Deadline 2, and will be posted in a way that has not yet been fully developed but will allow the readers to choose if they want to read the stories before, after, or while looking at the picture.
In theory? Brilliant. In practice? Only works if we have at least two writers for every artist. Preferably more, because I know how y'all are about getting things in on time, and this is one challenge where being late would throw the goal of the project.
And so we poll.
(Note: this is NOT the official sign-ups post, which will include hard and fast deadlines and the ways in which the stories and art would need to be submitted. This is merely the stuff that's needed to figure out when the stories and art would need to be due. Which is to say- any suggestions? Hit the comments box.)
Poll for SCIENCE
Also, if anyone knows how to make the community pretty? Please to let me know.
*smiles winningly*
I should explain that I'm an illustrator by trade, and my job very often requires me to interpret another artists creation- specifically, a story conceived and written by an author. To arrive at the image for my illustrations, I comb through the text of the story, looking for clues that will help me unlock its meaning. I search like a detective for descriptive details, emotionally revealing dialogue, and, always, for metaphor. Then I take all of the information I've gathered and create a visual interpretation of the story that is distinctly my own.
But in the museum that day, as I was eavesdropping on that unsuspecting couple, the thought occurred to me that maybe we could take the storytelling/illustration collaboration and stand it on its head. Why, I thought, couldn't authors interpret my illustrations?"
taken from the Note from the Artist in Twice Told: Original Stories inspired by Original Art by Scott Hunt
I read this book a few weeks ago, and the concept grabbed me. Because it made the stories in the book (an excellent collection of YA short stories, if anyone's interested) that much cooler. And because, although I cannot understand visual media for anything, the interactions between word and picture fascinate me. And- maybe most importantly- because I've been in a pit of writer's block for a while now, but looking at the pictures in this book made me say "Hey. I wish I could do that."
And then I remembered the beauty of fandom: I totally can.
It's this fabulous collection, seriously. Basically- because if I'd known the concept before I would have bought it earlier, but I just got it two weeks ago and found out while reading the intro so I feel the need to explain it here- Scott Hunt made nine illustrations. Then he found eighteen young adult writers. Then he assigned two writers to each picture. Then those stories were matched in the anthology: story, picture, story.
Some of the stories were... eh. Some of them were AMAZING. William Sleator's, for one. Neal Shusterman's. Sarah Dessen's. M.T. Anderson's. John Green's. I'm still reeling from a few of them. And it's this very specific interplay, story before picture and picture before story, multiple good authors writing from the same image... even if the stories blew the collection would have been awesome. But no! They're awesome stories.
Which is a nice surprise.
This is how I'm thinking of doing it with fandom.
(1) I post a poll. (See below.)
(2) Y'all take the poll.
(3) Y'all pimp the poll.
(4) Any artists who are interested can submit a picture which they feel has enough nuance that it can be interpreted in multiple ways. It's fine to have pieces that refer to specific fandoms, but because each image will be interpreted by multiple writers, who may or may not be familiar with your preferred source text, it can't be something that JUST works for any particular fandom. (For example: a stethoscope = awesome. A stethoscope draped over Addison and Mark having sex = also awesome, but not for this challenge.) The picture submitted can either be something you've done before, as long as it's not incredibly well-known in fandom with specific connotations, or something new. The artists will have Deadline 1. As long as they get the image in by Deadline 1, at least two stories will be written about said image.
(5) Shortly after Deadline 1, the artists' submissions will be distributed to the writers. The writers can write in any fandom (RPF or fictional source text or merged) or none at all, G through NC-17, anything, as long as it is a response to something in the image. The image does not need to be explicitly referenced in the text of the story, but at the very least, a mood or a detail you got from the image should show up.
(6) Writers' stories will be due later, on Deadline 2, and will be posted in a way that has not yet been fully developed but will allow the readers to choose if they want to read the stories before, after, or while looking at the picture.
In theory? Brilliant. In practice? Only works if we have at least two writers for every artist. Preferably more, because I know how y'all are about getting things in on time, and this is one challenge where being late would throw the goal of the project.
And so we poll.
(Note: this is NOT the official sign-ups post, which will include hard and fast deadlines and the ways in which the stories and art would need to be submitted. This is merely the stuff that's needed to figure out when the stories and art would need to be due. Which is to say- any suggestions? Hit the comments box.)
Poll for SCIENCE
Also, if anyone knows how to make the community pretty? Please to let me know.
*smiles winningly*