Alex Conall, social justice bard (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alexconall) wrote2013-10-04 09:05 pm
alexconall) wrote2013-10-04 09:05 pm
Entry tags:
Fiction Fishbowl October: endings and beginnings
The fishbowl is CLOSED for prompts. Fills will be trickling in over the next week or so.
Most of the time, writing is a solo activity. A writing fishbowl (asysabetwordsmith shows) is writing in public: 'under glass', as Harlan Ellison has been known to do, sitting in a bookstore window and writing an idea provided by an audience member.
This is my bookstore window.
The theme of this month's fishbowl is endings and beginnings. Please leave prompts about characters, settings, plot elements, and such related to that theme. I will write poems and short stories based on your prompts.
This is an exercise in crowdfunded creativity. An excellent way to inspire me to do a thing is to pay me to do it; if you like what you see and you want to see more, feed the storyteller.
There are several options for feeding the storyteller:
1) Sponsor the fishbowl. I have a Paypal button for donations. The recommended minimum donation is $1, because Paypal takes a fee from every transaction. Any Dreamwidth user who donates (make sure you mention your username) will be on my access list (where I post at-least-weekly excerpts from my works in progress) for two months. Anonymous donations are of course welcome, but cannot get that bonus.
If donations reach $50—keep an eye on the ticker—I will post a two-thousand-word prose short story; this month it will be "Dragon Phoenix Match", based on "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight".
2) Sponsor a story. Each story will have a price tag, using the same semi-pro rate as above, rounded down to the nearest dollar. A two-hundred-word prose story will cost $5, a two-thousand-word story $50, comparable to what Duotrope Digest assures me I would make by selling the story to a semiprofessional market. Similarly, a poem of up to ten lines will cost $5, of up to twenty-five lines $10, of up to forty lines $15, of up to sixty lines $20, and a longer poem, we'll talk. When you sponsor a story (prose or poetry), tell me which story you want to sponsor—every time I complete a story for the fishbowl, I will comment to the prompter with the title, the medium, a brief summary, and the price—and I will immediately post it publicly to this journal, with your username listed as sponsor.
3) Spread the word. Link to this post from any social media, suggest that people come and leave prompts, and leave a comment saying you did so. If you link back and you leave prompts, I will use one of those prompts. If I see a new prompter or donor (anonymous people, sadly, do not count), I will post a free story; this month it will be the poem "this is why I tell stories (let it crumble)".
Whenever I write a story to one of your prompts, I will send you a private copy of the story, via Dreamwidth PM to logged-in prompters or email to anonymous prompters who give their email (anonymous prompters who do not leave contact information cannot get private copies of stories). Please do not share it with anyone.
At least one of the stories resulting from the fishbowl will be posted for free, so y'all have a better idea of what you're getting into.
At the end of the fishbowl, I will post a list of all the unsold stories, to simplify life for anyone looking to see if you might want to sponsor something.
This fishbowl will last until the evening of Sunday, October 5. Fills will appear over the subsequent week or so.
Leave your prompts here! This month's theme is endings and beginnings.
Most of the time, writing is a solo activity. A writing fishbowl (as
ysabetwordsmith shows) is writing in public: 'under glass', as Harlan Ellison has been known to do, sitting in a bookstore window and writing an idea provided by an audience member.This is my bookstore window.
The theme of this month's fishbowl is endings and beginnings. Please leave prompts about characters, settings, plot elements, and such related to that theme. I will write poems and short stories based on your prompts.
This is an exercise in crowdfunded creativity. An excellent way to inspire me to do a thing is to pay me to do it; if you like what you see and you want to see more, feed the storyteller.
There are several options for feeding the storyteller:
1) Sponsor the fishbowl. I have a Paypal button for donations. The recommended minimum donation is $1, because Paypal takes a fee from every transaction. Any Dreamwidth user who donates (make sure you mention your username) will be on my access list (where I post at-least-weekly excerpts from my works in progress) for two months. Anonymous donations are of course welcome, but cannot get that bonus.
If donations reach $50—keep an eye on the ticker—I will post a two-thousand-word prose short story; this month it will be "Dragon Phoenix Match", based on "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight".
2) Sponsor a story. Each story will have a price tag, using the same semi-pro rate as above, rounded down to the nearest dollar. A two-hundred-word prose story will cost $5, a two-thousand-word story $50, comparable to what Duotrope Digest assures me I would make by selling the story to a semiprofessional market. Similarly, a poem of up to ten lines will cost $5, of up to twenty-five lines $10, of up to forty lines $15, of up to sixty lines $20, and a longer poem, we'll talk. When you sponsor a story (prose or poetry), tell me which story you want to sponsor—every time I complete a story for the fishbowl, I will comment to the prompter with the title, the medium, a brief summary, and the price—and I will immediately post it publicly to this journal, with your username listed as sponsor.
3) Spread the word. Link to this post from any social media, suggest that people come and leave prompts, and leave a comment saying you did so. If you link back and you leave prompts, I will use one of those prompts. If I see a new prompter or donor (anonymous people, sadly, do not count), I will post a free story; this month it will be the poem "this is why I tell stories (let it crumble)".
Whenever I write a story to one of your prompts, I will send you a private copy of the story, via Dreamwidth PM to logged-in prompters or email to anonymous prompters who give their email (anonymous prompters who do not leave contact information cannot get private copies of stories). Please do not share it with anyone.
At least one of the stories resulting from the fishbowl will be posted for free, so y'all have a better idea of what you're getting into.
At the end of the fishbowl, I will post a list of all the unsold stories, to simplify life for anyone looking to see if you might want to sponsor something.
This fishbowl will last until the evening of Sunday, October 5. Fills will appear over the subsequent week or so.
Leave your prompts here! This month's theme is endings and beginnings.
Prompts
* Death as a beginning instead of an ending.
* Voyager reaching the end of the solar system and the beginning of interstellar space.
I'm boosting the signal on DW, LJ, and FB. I've also posted on
Re: Prompts
I feel as though I'm never going to manage the level of success with the fishbowls that you have. Which, no shit, if I spend several weeks doing everything but fishbowl.
Re: Prompts
I appreciate the update. It's okay if it takes longer.
>> I feel as though I'm never going to manage the level of success with the fishbowls that you have. <<
*hugs* Some things to remember:
* I've been writing poetry since I was six, and writing it regularly for decades. That much practice builds up a lot of momentum.
* My Poetry Fishbowl project is about at its sixth anniversary. Crowdfunding projects take time to mature. I've seen a few fast-start ones with hot new ideas, but usually it takes at least a year to get rolling.
* I know it's tempting to compare yourself to the most successful person in your field that you know or like. I've done it too. But a more effective and encouraging measure is to compete against yourself to see if you can beat your previous performance, and set goals that will accomplish things meaningful to you.
>>Which, no shit, if I spend several weeks doing everything but fishbowl.<<
True, there needs to be time to write. That's a key reason why I do an all-day event. But some folks find it easier to spread out the writing over a longer time, because they can't clear a whole day. People and projects are different. That's fine.
What matters is that you get something done. When you run into hitches with that, and you will because everyone does, use those to figure out what you need to improve in later rounds. Every piece you write is an accomplishment.
Re: Prompts
Things to think about. Thank you.
no subject
Thank you!
Re: Thank you!
:)
no subject
• "What if this storm ends and I don't see you as you are now ever again?" (The Lightning Strike, Part I: What If This Storm Ends?)
• "One of these days, you'll miss your train and come stay with me." (Goodnight and Go - Imogen Heap)
I boosted the signal on Twitter & LiveJournal.
no subject
no subject