ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED.  Thank you all 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 "Alternate History."  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 fish out of water, historians, famous figures, obscure people who made a big difference, adventurers, diplomats, traders, inventors, families, nomads, loners, hermits, superheroes, supervillains, social engineers, alternate artists as warmongers, college selection personnel have more historic influence than anyone realizes, urban planners, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, rebels, wild young things, other people who make history, building or using a time machine, making a historic discovery, arguing over what history was really like, changing things, missing an opportunity, spotting an opportunity, picking fights, making friends, solving disputes, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, social engineering, cooperating, bartering, speaking, listening, taking over in an emergency, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, creating connections, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, time travel nexus points, Jerusalem, Londinium/London, Cahokia Mounds, lost cities, traditional ethnic structures, alternative building styles, multigenerational homes, apartments and complexes, intentional communities, cohousing, caravans, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, wilderness, rural areas, supervillain lairs, other places where people live, alternate history main topics, alternate history sitemap, types of timeline, the butterfly effect, linchpins and ripple points, points of divergence list, alternate agriculture, metaphors about time, metaphors of time travel such as time is a stream, fixed points in time (which either can't be altered like a volcanic eruption or shouldn't be altered because it's too dangerous), ethics of time travelculture gap, culture shock, forgeign languages, language shock, emergency language issues, negotiation, mediation, cooperation, enemies to friends, enemies to lovers, truces in improbable contexts, unexpected bonds, symbiosis, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, independence, interdependence, values conflict, solitude, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Celtic Bingo Fest Card 3-1-21

Hurt/Comfort Bingo Card 6-15-20


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

Alternate Artists as Warmongers is a new idea I want to explore, positing how our world's famous artists might be some other world's infamous tyrants.

Beneath the Family Tree is a community of three different hominid species in prehistoric Europe.

Clay of Life is historic Jewish fantasy.

Los Conquistados features mishaps in Spain's attempt to conquer the Americas.

Fiorenza the Wisewoman is historic Italian fantasy.

Frankenstein's Family includes humans, werewolves, vampires, a mummy, and two doctors in historic gothic fluff Romania.

Hart's Farm is a free-love community in historic fantasy Sweden.

Lacquerware is Edopunk about the development of alternate computer technology in historic Japan.

Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animals soups trying to live as best they can. This includes many divergences from the timeline of local-Earth.

The Steamsmith is historic British steampunk. The Arc of Joan uses the same setting but an earlier time, in which Joan supports the English instead of the French.

The Time Towers posits that there is no such thing as a fixed point in time, because time works like a Jenga tower: some blocks are loose and easy to move, while others may require many moves to alter the pressure dynamics enough to move the one you really want to move.

Or you can ask for something new.

I have a linkback poem, "Of Gold and Standards" (9 verses, standalone).


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 "Alternate History."  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: I have a spare series poem available, and each linkback will reveal a verse of the 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.  "Of Gold and Standards" has 9 verses and stands alone.


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 Friday 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 "Alternate History."  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 "Of Gold and Standards."  The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 07:54 pm (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman

Last few desperate survivors tweaking history, changing it to accelerate development, so that the 2169 asteroid impact doesn't wipe out humanity.

Time Tourism exploring the backwaters of What-If?

Pranking historians..a guide.

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 05:23 am (UTC)
kengr: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kengr
Gee, that's remarkedly like the plot of a Canadian SF series from as few years back. Travellers.

Possibilities

Date: 2021-03-02 07:55 pm (UTC)
ng_moonmoth: The Moon-Moth (Default)
From: [personal profile] ng_moonmoth
I like the Michelangelo/Leonardo/Pietro di Medici hookup that came out of the Artists as Warmongers discussion.

For something different, suppose that instead of getting wrapped up in confrontations, attacks, and retaliations, the North American First People decided to go in seriously for undermining the European invaders: "capture" some slaves and indentured servants, and give them the opportunity to be their own people within the local framework. Educate them in, and incorporate them into, the prevailing culture. I bet the result would include enough immigrants who become trustworthy enough to be armed and join the raiding forces, and get more laborers to join in. That would change the economic dynamics in a hurry.

I absolutely suspect that more of this happened than The Stuff They Teach You In School admits. I just haven't gone looking for the appropriate sources yet.

And that stimulates another idea. The narrative difference between The Stuff They Teach You In School and the Stuff They Won't Teach You In School (because it dramatically conflicts with or even undermines the former Stuff) amounts to alternate history by me. How about you?

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Re: Possibilities

Date: 2021-03-03 01:16 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Seminoles

I also have seen occasional references of early (1600s) women colonists preferring to live with more egalitarian Native communities, and poorer colonists preferring to run away from the civilized areas 'Where the beatings will continue until morale improves!' For obvious reasons, the establishment would have insisted they 'rescued' people from the 'kidnapping.'

Also look up Newton Knight, more oft recalled as 'that guy with the scruffy beard in Free State of Jones, and his band of guerilla deserters. (Essentially, whitefolk deserted the Confederate army, and joined escaped slaves hiding in a swamp.) From the film:
"They runaways?"
"Ain't you?"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Knight

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(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 07:58 pm (UTC)
technoshaman: Tux (Default)
From: [personal profile] technoshaman
Hmmmm. Values conflicts. We never saw the Conversation between Hefty and Fiddlesticks after Alicia intervened in lifesaving fashion... might there be an Objection to how that was done? (Also, she said she'd give the energy back... that didn't happen either, might that be at least a partial Resolution?)

Also, the Maldives being a government based in Islam... we've seen before how justice gets done, but that's been when there's a proper squeaky toy... perhaps, something more complicated? Interactions with Kraken, perhaps?

We haven't visited Boston in a while... Kelly and Dale perhaps elucidate some of the younger folks on older times? (What it was like when they were baby gays? Been a lot of those feels going around lately, comparing AIDS to COVID...)

prompt idea

Date: 2021-03-02 08:15 pm (UTC)
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
From: [personal profile] dialecticdreamer
I want to see Drew work out some kind of truce between two or more other parties, something important and unusual/unexpected.

Re: prompt idea

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(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 09:33 pm (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman

Also.. Image prompt: Bucky was short for Rebecca.

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 01:20 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I like this one!

Also (related), see:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/meet-the-night-witches-the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis-by-night

First time I read about them, I thought they sounded like a female Russin version of the Tuskegee Airmen - have to work twice as hard to be thought half as good.

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Re: Well ...

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(no subject)

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Re: Yes ...

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(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 09:47 pm (UTC)
erulisse: (Default)
From: [personal profile] erulisse
Can you tell us more about how/when Terramagne split from our own timeline? (Or at least I've always assumed it was a more or less parallel universe...) or point to some places where you've already done that?

...how would Terramagne be different if super powers existed but there wasn't the same kind of mainstream acceptance? What other kinds of alternate history/alternate timelines do people think about in Terramagne?
What kinds of temporal hijinks show up in their sci-fi?

Would love to hear more about the social roles that art has played in arts and crafts America, particularly things like protest art. Are there some significant ways that differed from how things went down here?

Clay of Feet Prompt

Date: 2021-03-02 10:33 pm (UTC)
hangingbyastitch: A close up photo of a blue rose with dew droplets. (Default)
From: [personal profile] hangingbyastitch
I would love to see a poem of Menachem and Yossele in Jerusalem! Maybe they were inspired by the "Next year in Jerusalem!" that we say at Pasach? Other ideas I had for this 'verse were building traditional structures in village, or saving a village from a pogrom. Really, any bit of historical Jewry I get would be precious!

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(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 10:47 pm (UTC)
kengr: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kengr
I'd like to see what would happen if there was a person/persons present at some significant points in history such as the founding of the Massachusetts Colony that was familiar with the languages *and* cultures involved and was thus able to provide nuanced translations (bonus points if they are time travels and know what sort of shenanigans either side my be up to)

Mack Reynolds The Other Time, an unfinished manuscript that Dean Ing finished after Reynolds death is that sort of thing. An American anthropologist gets tossed back in time to encounter Cortez and the aztecs. Thing do not go well for Cortez...

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 11:23 pm (UTC)
readera: a cup of tea with an open book behind it (Default)
From: [personal profile] readera
This sounds super interesting. I would love to see it.

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] kengr - Date: 2021-03-02 11:42 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 11:09 pm (UTC)
readera: a cup of tea with an open book behind it (Default)
From: [personal profile] readera
What might evidence of time travel or a meddler leave behind when creating alternate history dimensions ( realities? I'm not sure of the right term?

In another direction, Alternate History as a book genre is one of my favorites. What would T America's take on it be? Could it have genre conventions or events like filk or cosplay?


Also here is a link to a related board game. The Evil Baby Orphanage

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128565/evil-baby-orphanage
Edited (Added link info) Date: 2021-03-02 11:11 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-02 11:48 pm (UTC)
kengr: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kengr
Evidence could range from the subtle (finding Yinmin blue pigment in art anywhere from pre-history to the Renaisance) to the blatant (finding a pocket calculator in a previously unknown cache of Leonardo da Vinci's stuff)

I recall a story where someone left an inscription in English inside a box that they knew was going to be unearthed soon in a dig in Egypt.
Edited Date: 2021-03-02 11:50 pm (UTC)

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Prompt

Date: 2021-03-03 12:53 am (UTC)
nsfwords: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nsfwords
Eloquent Souls Series - How would the Holocaust have been changed by the existence of Soul Marks? Would the atrocities have included something like tattooing over captured peoples soul marks in a horrific attempt to erase them? Or would the Nazi's have met increased resistance coming to power if the soul marks made it harder to villainize & dehumanize groups of people?

Re: Prompt

Date: 2021-03-03 01:37 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Eloquent Souls Series

Are there any cross-species soulmarks?

Also, (if sapience automatically involves soulbonds) do different species have different types, i.e. humans getting soulmates, dolphins getting heartsongs, birds finding a soul stone that will match their partner's and so on? And how does that work?

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 02:01 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Some lynchpin historical event from our world...as it happened in the A Brother's Price 'verse.

Handling a large group of time-traveling refugees. (I have seen this done exactly /once/ in Ministerio del Tiempo).

Alternately, reality- hopping refugees from alternate timelines. (How many folk would try to jump ship to a stereotype flip 'verse where they'd have more rights? Would anyone decide that their freedom isn't worth the oppression of others?)

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 02:06 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
The Steamsmith

How'd they legalize gay/poly marriage in the 1800s?

Do indigenous folk have their own forms of alchemy?

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 02:43 am (UTC)
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)
From: [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon
Oooh, I like the second suggestion here. All of them, really.

Collective Action

Date: 2021-03-03 03:03 am (UTC)
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)
From: [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon
I'd love to see something where collective action could have made a big difference, if people understood it and got together to do it. Except, of course, in the alternate world, they did do it. I don't think most people really understand collective action in our world, so showing how it's organized and happens as well as the alternate that splits off because of that action would be very cool.

Re: Collective Action

Date: 2021-03-03 03:10 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Early Christianity seems to have a lot in common with modern counterculture activist groups. (By early I mean back when it was still actively oppressed to grudgingly tolerated by the police state known as Rome...)

Re: Collective Action

From: [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon - Date: 2021-03-03 05:55 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 03:40 am (UTC)
chanter1944: Uhura in the foreground, Chekov looking quizically at something off to the right in the background (TOS - Chekov and Uhura: nerdy joy)
From: [personal profile] chanter1944
Some alternate 'verse, somewhere, notably not Terramagne as it's already canon that this did not happen there: Santos-Dumont survives at least to the end of World War I. Whether or not he actively invents during any of his further time, his continued existence must matter to *someone*. Does his influence make a greater impression on aviation, or at least on some facets of aviation? How does that influence appear in the wider world, if in fact it shows?

Maybe Terramagne, but maybe not: Watson and Crick are called out for certain actions *cough*, and Franklin gets due recognition in her own time. I'd love to see the ripple effect on the male-dominated sciences, and male-dominated western cultures, that would've had.

Medical Divergence

Date: 2021-03-03 04:07 am (UTC)
fuzzyred: Me wearing my fuzzy red bathrobe. (Default)
From: [personal profile] fuzzyred
Our medical system is all kinds of messed up, although what came to the forefront of my mind is the hundreds-of-times trumped up prices of vital meds and the burying of cures that would cost the medical field their profits (i.e. cancer cures or a diabetes cure). How did T-America handle this? Is it any better than here? If the government systems still suck, are the supervillains doing anything about it? And what?

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 04:42 am (UTC)
mama_kestrel: (Default)
From: [personal profile] mama_kestrel
What if Galileo's daughters, rather than being put in a convent, were able to marry and participate in the society of the Renaissance? By all accounts, they were as brilliant as their father.

What if, instead of Europeans "discovering" North America South America, Native Americans had "discovered" Europe?

For Path of the Paladins: what if some members of the pantheon were (by human standards) neurovariant? How would that affect their rituals? Or their followers?

(no subject)

Date: 2021-03-03 05:01 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
>>What if Galileo's daughters, rather than being put in a convent, were able to marry and participate in the society of the Renaissance? By all accounts, they were as brilliant as their father.<<

Alternately: in our world, convents were one of the few places that educated women (unless your family had private tutors).

What about a Rennesance convent that was a way for brilliant women to be educated and do work as brilliant polymaths?

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ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith

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