Poetry Fishbowl Open!
The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this page, as I am still writing.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Cryptids." 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.
I'll be soliciting ideas for cryptids, primal soups, centaurs, chimerae, mystic shifters, other shapeshifters, winged people, invisible or undetectable creatures, superheroes, supervillains, mad scientists, Frankenstein's creature, gengineers, artists, crafters, synaesthetes, activists, volunteers, the tzadikim nistarim ("hidden righteous ones"), supposedly-but-not-really-extinct species, alien or fantasy races, other hidden creatures, searching for cryptids, documenting cryptids, mythmaking and storytelling, gengineering, creating composite creatures, escaping from captivity, dealing with disbelief, making cross-species friendships, riding on someone's back, flying, changing shape, coping with differences, seeing a different spectrum, hearing higher or lower, echolocating, using mystical senses, inventing a new art or craft, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, cryptid lairs, global cryptid territories, North American cryptid territories, extremely local cryptid territories, inaccessible places, remote places, extreme travel destinations, harsh habitats, less-explored corners, laboratories, supervillain lairs, mysterious islands, the forest primeval, forbidding wastelands, museums, libraries, universities, art schools, art classrooms, arts and crafts studios, artist colonies, arts and crafts farms, street fairs, Triton Teen Centers, community centers, intentional communities, Thalassia, the Maldives, Romania / Transylvania, the High North, makerspaces, circus towns, circuses, historic freak shows, roadside zoos, sensory rooms, other places frequented by cryptids or people interested in them, cryptozoology equipment, physical evidence, circumstantial evidence, photography or film, myths and legends, heraldic imagery, tattoos of cryptids, relics like a unicorn horn cup or wand, unique works of art or craft, gizmos or super-gizmos that nobody else can duplicate, touch-mapping, scent-tracking, perfect pitch, echolocation, darkvision, Second Sight, subtle senses, enhanced senses, perspective manipulation, perception manipulation, danger sense, structure sense, senses based on superpowers (like Shiv's metal-sense), discreet superpowers. animal senses, art lessons and programs, folk arts and crafts, tactile art, zetetic arts and crafts supplies, diversity, inclusivity, adaptive equipment, trial and error, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.
Cryptids are lifeforms whose current existence is disputed. These may include:
* species widely believed to be extinct, but some people believe they survive
* species for whom records and evidence exists, but is disputed and/or incomplete
* species reported only once by scientists, but never replicated by other scientists
* possibly new species that may have evolved from previous species, often with odd new traits
* lifeforms said to have exceptional camouflage or evasion, making them hard to document
* lifeforms that have been reported but not confirmed, with varying amounts of evidence
* lifeforms of myth and legend, which some people believe may have a basis in fact
Cryptozoology is the study of mysterious animal species; cryptobotany is the study of mysterious plant species; cryptobiology covers both. See the "-ology" in there? It means "science of." These can all be practiced using scientific methods and scientific tools, as valid sciences. They can also be practiced as flaky nonsense. It depends entirely on the methods and tools used to study cryptids. The fact that a goodly number of cryptids have been confirmed disproves the premise that all cryptobiology is non-scientific. There's a whole branch based on the extant/extinct issue; see "Extinct or Alive."
Cryptozoology Cryptids
List of Cryptids -- Cryptid Wiki
Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:
Fall Fest Bingo Card 10-1-24
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
Clay of Life includes Yossele the Golem.
Fledgling Grace has people touched with angelic or demonic features like wings, and often a greater sense of the numinous.
Frankenstein's Family includes Adam, werewolves, vampires, and mummies.
Monster House contains characters, human and nonhuman, with different shapes and origins.
The Moon Door features werewolves.
Not Quite Kansas involves various angels and demons, some of them shapeshifters.
Peculiar Obligations has a lot more megafauna that survived the Pleistocene extinctions. Galloping crocodiles, anyone?
Polychrome Heroics has various characters and locations relating to composites, notably primal soups, mystic shifters, and victims of mad science. Many superpowers feature enhanced senses or whole different senses. Officer Pink has mystic shifters and centaurs.
Quixotic Ideas incluees many mythical beasts.
Schrodinger's Heroes could turn up pretty much anything you can imagine.
Or you can ask for something new.
You can reveal a verse of any open linkback poem by boosting the signal for this fishbowl.
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 "Cryptids." 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 Dreamwidth, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, 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: Each linkback will reveal a verse of any open linkback 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.
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 Sunday 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; four of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be four 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, there will be a half-price sale in one series.
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 "Cryptids." See above for details. 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 New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco 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 any open perk poem. The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Cryptids." 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.
I'll be soliciting ideas for cryptids, primal soups, centaurs, chimerae, mystic shifters, other shapeshifters, winged people, invisible or undetectable creatures, superheroes, supervillains, mad scientists, Frankenstein's creature, gengineers, artists, crafters, synaesthetes, activists, volunteers, the tzadikim nistarim ("hidden righteous ones"), supposedly-but-not-really-extinct species, alien or fantasy races, other hidden creatures, searching for cryptids, documenting cryptids, mythmaking and storytelling, gengineering, creating composite creatures, escaping from captivity, dealing with disbelief, making cross-species friendships, riding on someone's back, flying, changing shape, coping with differences, seeing a different spectrum, hearing higher or lower, echolocating, using mystical senses, inventing a new art or craft, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, cryptid lairs, global cryptid territories, North American cryptid territories, extremely local cryptid territories, inaccessible places, remote places, extreme travel destinations, harsh habitats, less-explored corners, laboratories, supervillain lairs, mysterious islands, the forest primeval, forbidding wastelands, museums, libraries, universities, art schools, art classrooms, arts and crafts studios, artist colonies, arts and crafts farms, street fairs, Triton Teen Centers, community centers, intentional communities, Thalassia, the Maldives, Romania / Transylvania, the High North, makerspaces, circus towns, circuses, historic freak shows, roadside zoos, sensory rooms, other places frequented by cryptids or people interested in them, cryptozoology equipment, physical evidence, circumstantial evidence, photography or film, myths and legends, heraldic imagery, tattoos of cryptids, relics like a unicorn horn cup or wand, unique works of art or craft, gizmos or super-gizmos that nobody else can duplicate, touch-mapping, scent-tracking, perfect pitch, echolocation, darkvision, Second Sight, subtle senses, enhanced senses, perspective manipulation, perception manipulation, danger sense, structure sense, senses based on superpowers (like Shiv's metal-sense), discreet superpowers. animal senses, art lessons and programs, folk arts and crafts, tactile art, zetetic arts and crafts supplies, diversity, inclusivity, adaptive equipment, trial and error, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.
Cryptids are lifeforms whose current existence is disputed. These may include:
* species widely believed to be extinct, but some people believe they survive
* species for whom records and evidence exists, but is disputed and/or incomplete
* species reported only once by scientists, but never replicated by other scientists
* possibly new species that may have evolved from previous species, often with odd new traits
* lifeforms said to have exceptional camouflage or evasion, making them hard to document
* lifeforms that have been reported but not confirmed, with varying amounts of evidence
* lifeforms of myth and legend, which some people believe may have a basis in fact
Cryptozoology is the study of mysterious animal species; cryptobotany is the study of mysterious plant species; cryptobiology covers both. See the "-ology" in there? It means "science of." These can all be practiced using scientific methods and scientific tools, as valid sciences. They can also be practiced as flaky nonsense. It depends entirely on the methods and tools used to study cryptids. The fact that a goodly number of cryptids have been confirmed disproves the premise that all cryptobiology is non-scientific. There's a whole branch based on the extant/extinct issue; see "Extinct or Alive."
Cryptozoology Cryptids
List of Cryptids -- Cryptid Wiki
Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:
Fall Fest Bingo Card 10-1-24
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
Clay of Life includes Yossele the Golem.
Fledgling Grace has people touched with angelic or demonic features like wings, and often a greater sense of the numinous.
Frankenstein's Family includes Adam, werewolves, vampires, and mummies.
Monster House contains characters, human and nonhuman, with different shapes and origins.
The Moon Door features werewolves.
Not Quite Kansas involves various angels and demons, some of them shapeshifters.
Peculiar Obligations has a lot more megafauna that survived the Pleistocene extinctions. Galloping crocodiles, anyone?
Polychrome Heroics has various characters and locations relating to composites, notably primal soups, mystic shifters, and victims of mad science. Many superpowers feature enhanced senses or whole different senses. Officer Pink has mystic shifters and centaurs.
Quixotic Ideas incluees many mythical beasts.
Schrodinger's Heroes could turn up pretty much anything you can imagine.
Or you can ask for something new.
You can reveal a verse of any open linkback poem by boosting the signal for this fishbowl.
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 "Cryptids." 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 Dreamwidth, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, 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: Each linkback will reveal a verse of any open linkback 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.
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 Sunday 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; four of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be four 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, there will be a half-price sale in one series.
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 "Cryptids." See above for details. 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 New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco 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 any open perk poem. The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.