k_a_webb | The Poetry Fishbowl: by Elizabeth Barrette

Some of you probably recognize me from my comments and posts about what Kayleigh Jones (link to LJ mirror) writes. She volunteered to let me make a guest post here about my own work. I do all kinds of writing and editing stuff, but today I want to focus on my biggest project.

The Poetry Fishbowl is something that I run once a month in my blogs. I started this because I enjoy outside inspiration and audience interaction. I’ve been running it for just over five years now, and it has become a major part of my writing career.

A fishbowl is traditionally a classroom exercise where somebody does an activity while the rest of the class watches and discusses what’s going on. In writing, that usually means giving ideas, which are often written on the blackboard. I wanted to develop a virtual version.

What I do is set a theme and invite readers to give me prompts. I write poems based on whatever I get. I post one poem free in exchange for the collective inspiration. For the first couple of sessions, that’s all I did. Then I gave people the option of sponsoring more poems. So now it’s common for a lot more poems to get sponsored and posted where everyone can see them. The fishbowl far outstrips my sales to ordinary magazine editors these days, although I still do a little of that.

I love crowdfunding because it lets me explore topics outside the mainstream. I don’t have to wait for some editor to like it; any of my audience will do. Whatever oddball thing that happens to interest me and at least one reader or donor, we can work with that. If people like a particular character or setting, they can request more — that’s how the Serial Poetry got started. Over time, my audience has given me a lot of the great ideas that make this project work, such as microfunding the expensive epic poems so that people can buy them line-by-line. You can see an example of a microfunded poem in “The Honeypot.”

So you’re all welcome to drop by and see what you think of the Poetry Fishbowl project. The next session will be on Tuesday, April 2 with a theme of “fantasy in other eras,” covering everything outside the typical medieval/Renaissance timeframe. I’d love to see some new participants! Meanwhile if you have any questions, just ask me.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.