Crowdfunding Creative Jam

[ysabetwordsmith]

Welcome to the fifty-fourth Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, August 20-Sunday, August 21. The theme is "Fashion." Visit the Creative Jam over on LiveJournal.


Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Comments

Open Playground: Schrodinger's Heroes

[ysabetwordsmith]

Everyone is welcome to play with Schrodinger's Heroes. (If you're new to this project, you can start here.) This is an imaginary fandom for an apocryphal television show. A team of heroes practice quantum physics and other hijinks to protect Earth against invaders from other dimensions. The team is racially, sexually, and culturally diverse. Because the subject naturally deals with alternate realities, it lends itself well to crossovers and alternate-universe interpretations; you can use my version or make up your own.

Open Playground: Torn World

[ysabetwordsmith]

Torn World is a science fantasy shared world available for writing and creating in. Sea monsters! Giant furred unicorns! Crystals that control time! People of changing gender, or no gender!

For more information about the setting, prompters should start here and contributors should start here. For specific information about submitting your work to our world continuity, rights and allowances, please see our contributor's rules. We have a space for sharing non-canon work on our site, so don't be shy about jumping in, even if you aren't familiar with the setting yet!

[alexseanchai]

Fashion is a language. Some people learned it early and others late. Some learned it fluently and others hardly know five units of meaning. Some use it to say a lot of different things and others only a few.

Fast fashion vs the environment, workers' rights, and so forth.

Historical reenactment fashion. (Bonus points if a skill thus acquired Saves The Day from a non-fashion emergency.)

Cosplay doctors. (You know. The folks who go to cons with easily portable sewing kits and whatnot in case of fashion emergencies.)

Cosplay, full stop.

Scoring awesome $FashionableItem for cheap because it's last year's style.

Fashion with respect to gender and sexuality, and vice versa.

prompt fill

[alatefeline]

This is ... a thing. I will NOT natter about the thing. Yet.

Prompt Fill: Fashion with respect to gender and sexuality, and vice versa.

This went to some very personal places. I should warn for lots of issues. Content Warnings: gender assignment, gender roles, stereotypes, genderqueerness, cis privilege, male privilege, thin privilege, angst and focusing on personal drama, body image issues, negative imagery attached to secondary sexual characteristics. I’m not actually this fucked up most of the time. Like it or not, love it or hate it, here it is.

***

Gaming the System

***

I once played a game.

It’s called Gender Rolls.
It’s on a website.
You read some columns,
roll some dice,
get a three word phrase.

(One example given:
agender sophisticate dragon.
Nice, replies a comic character.
I do admire dragons.
In my untold story,
my cat-wings are smaller
and they are feathered
for soft flight.)

I rolled the phrase
dapper questioning gentleperson.
I like it a lot; it fits,
like my roommate’s
dark wide-brimmed hat
that she joked was a Hat of Power and Authority.
I loved her, maybe a little,
and still do.
I never got to borrow her hat, though.

If I can dress to meet the day
with dapper
I can be courteous, old-fashioned, odd,
delightful, too masculine for one gender assignment
and too fashionable for another stereotype,
fabulous, poised, precise,
plain as my father’s shirts
and rich as my mother’s jewelry.

I can’t wear that every day though.
Bowties are cool
but I’d strangle in them.

***

I once played a game.
It’s called Gender Rules.
It’s in the air.
You read some books,
hear some advice,
get burned.

One example given:
I was a real hippy then, says my mother.
I ask for stories of brown rice casserole
and trips to South America
and don’t ask about sex and love and freedom
until I’m much older.

I looked for my tribe in books
for years before I learned
that they had always been there
and tribe might not be the right term.
I tried on hippy, pagan,
alternative, kutumba,
and they all danced with me
like I danced in the drum circle
in a long skirt flowing.
I was warned
not to dance too close
to one man, though.
And when I finally kissed
a dancing girl
named for a bird
she flew away.

If I can dress to meet the day
with goddess-blessed next generation hippy girl,
I hopefully won’t have to spell it
because the skirts and shawls are lengthy enough
but blow in the wind beautifully.

I can’t wear that every day though -
More and more, I reach
for a comfortable long skirt,
something bright, flowing, free, and soft,
something I’d like to believe in being,
and my hand freezes.

***

I once played a game
called Gender Roles.

I took My Gender Workbook everywhere
and cried over Stone Butch Blues.
It felt like coming home
but I didn’t know what I needed.
I could tell my friend
that he had the right to be himself
T and all
and let my girlfriend come out
one little piece at a time
but I stood aside and between
afraid to exercise cis privilege, afraid not to,
claiming only queer
and wishing other people
heard what I meant when I said it.

I wondered what my dreams had meant
when I was a little boy in a castle
but I knew that I could rock this female body
and the ways it didn’t fit weren’t fixable
here and now
and I mostly definitely wasn’t a guy.
I wondered what my daydreams had meant
when I wanted to be lean, powerful, androgynous
when desire bloomed just
as I was discovering I didn’t want to be
hormonal, hairy, chubby, cranky,
and coming of age as a woman
was a myth and it stunk.
I knew I’d learned to like some parts of it
but there’s a reason I remember
that I got my first period on Pearl Harbor Day.
Attack at high tide on home soil.

(I wear my body every day
and mostly
I don’t hate it.)
***

I once played a game
called Gender.
I didn’t want to play
but they made me be on a team,
last pick.
I don’t know the rules,
and I’m always running too slowly.
When a child says,
I want to go home,
sometimes it means
can we please stop
this game and start another.
Please, can we stop?

I want to play
a game
that isn’t keep away
or dodge ball.
I want
to have a
turn.

***

If I can take off my worries
then I can take off my clothes
which is only showing skin
and if I can take off my self-consciousness
and then I can take off my body
which is only showing one shape out of many
and if I can take off my illusions
then I can take off my preconceptions
which are only showing seemings and temporary tricks
and I can be naked,
which is always in style.

Re: prompt fill

[ysabetwordsmith]

Wow! This is brilliant. I love the twists and turns of word choice.

Re: prompt fill

[alatefeline]

It needs work. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think the repetition and alteration of the key words and phrases is the only real structural strength I have and I'm not satisfied with that; but I am very glad I posted this and I will come back to it later.

Re: prompt fill

[ysabetwordsmith]

No, you also handled the parallels and puns well, creating different sections of the poem for each of several variations on the same phrase. I do that too, sometimes, and it's a very useful structural support for examining a complex idea from different angles.

Re: prompt fill

[alatefeline]

I do like the parallels. I liked the sprawling experience of creating this and the way it insisted on breaking out of the vague format at the end, but I also want to experiment with more-disciplined writing. I think mostly I just need to write more. These creative jams have been great for getting me to say, "Well, I just have to write *something* and get it posted" and letting myself do it.

Really, I'm not managing my spoons super well recently, but honestly I think I am better than average at spoon-allocating and have more of a challenge given how easily I can make a plan and then be dragged off of it by hyperfocus, lack of focus, sleepiness, lack of sleep, among other things. Gah.

If I want to *be a writer* (and I do) I have to *write.* The trouble is, I want to be so *many* things every day; it's hard to prioritize, and people look at me funny for my priorities, which is nonsense and I know it but still it's exhausting nonsense. And I get tired and distracted a lot. BUT I WANT TO WRITE. So I'm writing. I blog a lot! The question is, *what* am I writing and how does it compare to what I want to be writing? And how does that fit with the rest of my life - with trying to juggle chores and job and socializing and love and family and gardening and home-making and emotional support for others and authentic self-expression and smashing anxiety-inducing paperwork to pieces and exercise and cooking and gaming and reading and, just, EVERYTHING?

Re: prompt fill

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I do like the parallels. I liked the sprawling experience of creating this and the way it insisted on breaking out of the vague format at the end, <<

Yay!

>> but I also want to experiment with more-disciplined writing. <<

Forms are good for that. Any kind of form poetry, but also fiction forms such as drabbles or epistolary fiction.

>> I think mostly I just need to write more. These creative jams have been great for getting me to say, "Well, I just have to write *something* and get it posted" and letting myself do it. <<

Yay! That's it exactly. Good practice makes good progress. It doesn't have to be perfect. Write something, polish it, learn from it.

If you post it, then you have opportunities to learn from feedback as well as your own observations. For example, the gender poem clearly works even if its technical finesse could be better. Technical stuff is fixable.

>> Really, I'm not managing my spoons super well recently, <<

Bummer.

>> but honestly I think I am better than average at spoon-allocating <<

This may be true. Modern life is not very healthy; demands often exceed resources, and that is why so many people are unwell and unhappy.

>> and have more of a challenge given how easily I can make a plan and then be dragged off of it by hyperfocus, lack of focus, sleepiness, lack of sleep, among other things. Gah. <<

:/

>> If I want to *be a writer* (and I do) I have to *write.* <<

This is true. For several years in junior high and high school, I wrote a poem every weekday and passed it around to people willing to look at it. Another time, I was writing classes for an online school, and it just got to where whacking out several thousand words of nonfiction just didn't seem like much work anymore.

>> The trouble is, I want to be so *many* things every day; it's hard to prioritize,<<

One way to handle this is to prioritize different things on different days. For example, you might cook from scratch one night a week, visit a gym on MWF, and aim to fit in one social event per week as opportunities permit. The Creative Jam is great for writing because it happens on one weekend a month. So you could prioritize that weekend for writing, and then think about other ways to fit some writing time into your schedule on a weekly basis -- such as trying to write one small thing a week, or blocking out a few hours here and there.

>> and people look at me funny for my priorities, which is nonsense and I know it but still it's exhausting nonsense. And I get tired and distracted a lot. <<

Those are pesky. First, people who don't support your goals are not the best to have in your life. Try to find people who are more supportive. Remove or replace, or at least reduce the time with, those who are not. Sometimes it helps to find some affirmations or other phrases that you can repeat, not only to yourself, but also to other people. If you are making schedules or goals, try telling people about those: "I can't chat right now, because this time is slated for writing. If you want to chat, I haven't filled my social slot for the week and you can be that. Let's make a time for it." People who refuse to respect your schedule are really not good for you. If you can't avoid them, at least be aware that they are not your friends.

>> BUT I WANT TO WRITE. So I'm writing. I blog a lot! <<

Blogging is good practice.

>> The question is, *what* am I writing and how does it compare to what I want to be writing? <<

What is most important to you? What do you want to accomplish with writing? Those will help you decide what to write.

Try writing different sizes of things. Small things are easier to fit into a busy schedule and to finish, but may require more skill to do well because there's so little room. Larger things give you more room to develop ideas, but take longer to complete and require more skill with organization.

>> And how does that fit with the rest of my life - with trying to juggle chores and job and socializing and love and family and gardening and home-making and emotional support for others and authentic self-expression and smashing anxiety-inducing paperwork to pieces and exercise and cooking and gaming and reading and, just, EVERYTHING?<<

You can write about any of those things which you value, and then you're killing two birds with one stone. You cannot do everything all of the time. You can probably do the things which are most important to you by shuffling them around so that you focus on each one at different times.

Re: prompt fill

[alatefeline]

Thank you for the advice. <3

>> You cannot do everything all of the time. You can probably do the things which are most important to you by shuffling them around so that you focus on each one at different times. <<

Two very important reminders. I need to schedule; I need to respect my schedule; and it needs to be a schedule that is realistic and has ample room for things that make me HAPPY. And I cannot do ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME and I will only go smash if I give in to that temptation, however good the reasons for it seem.

Re: prompt fill

[ysabetwordsmith]

More thoughts on schedules:

* Some people do better on a schedule that is very precise and maps out everything possible. If that's you, try to list everything you want to do so that it gets done at least occasionally.

* Some people don't like schedules as much, only using them as needed. If that's you, schedule the most important stuff and leave plenty of room for flexible responses to changing circumstances.

* All schedules benefit from firebreaks. Make sure you have some blocks of 15-30 minutes so that one late bus or other mishap doesn't mangle a whole day.

Re: prompt fill

[alatefeline]

>> Some people do better on a schedule that is very precise <<

I can follow a precise schedule, but for myself, do better with scheduling the start of something and doing it until it's done; then taking a break. And using timers to prevent myself losing time to deep focus on one thing. With a super-tight schedule, I start worrying about following the schedule more than I am thinking about doing the things on the schedule.

>> try to list everything you want to do so that it gets done at least occasionally. <<

Now, this list can also be independent of scheduling the things, and can be looked at as a menu for "I have some time/energy for something productive, what should I do?" which I like, or a to-do list which some other people like.

>> All schedules benefit from firebreaks. <<

This is true. My ability to *switch* focus is more often impaired by random brain chemistry than my actual *focus*, so it takes extra effort and reminders and sometimes a bit of a wrench to stop doing one thing - whether that is work or leisure - and start doing something else. That makes it both harder to take breaks in order to prevent avoidably running out of steam, and harder to stop breaks on time. But, I have trained myself to do pretty well with certain time signals. Watching a clock is not one of them; I forget to look at it.

>> Some people don't like schedules as much, only using them as needed. <<

And some people like them sometimes but have a lot of days when they have to cancel everything, apparently. When coordinating with other people, I find it works best to know my own schedule in high detail, communicate about shared schedule in medium detail, and know the relevant outlines of their schedule around whatever we're doing together in outline. I don't need to tell everyone "I am going to give myself 30 minutes to get everything ready and then take a fifteen minute break before heading out the door to meet you at X", but I do need to know that I need to do it, if I need to do it.

I struggle with the communicating part, though; I wish I could always make plans in person because doing them over phone or email is a challenge, but people are basically addicted to phoning each other to set up coffee get-togethers and such. Text-message works okay. Public meetups for my personal interests are a nice way to meet people, but I have to give myself lots of reminders to not chicken out or just fail to be ready to go do the Thing With People.

I want to get better at connecting and *staying* connected. I've lost touch with a lot of lovely people over time, and can't blame it on anything except my lack of successful efforts at contacting them and the understandable reluctance of most folks to have a long-distance friendship that may go radio silent for months. So reliability (specifically reliability for 'staying in touch' kinds of things, not so much with chores or timing or follow-thru on specific joint plans) is actually something I'm working on, and I can see that part of the reason it's been a challenge in the past is my failure to accurately account for my small supply of social spoons, my attempts to force myself to plow through anxiety to use less-than-me-friendly interfaces, and my insufficiently comprehensive scheduling because if I don't put "text a friend" in my plan, it won't happen.

Which brings us back to ... yes, I should put a bit more time into writing down my schedule, and framing it in a positive way.

Re: prompt fill

[fyreharper]

I <3 this

Re: prompt fill

[alatefeline]

I'm glad it spoke to you.

I'm not satisfied with it; I think it needs editing; but it's definitely about something important. So I'm glad I wrote it.

I <3 comments; thanks!

Re: prompt fill

[alexseanchai]

This is...I don't have words. Wow.

Re: prompt fill

[alatefeline]

I'm glad it spoke to you.

I'm not satisfied with it; I think it needs editing; but it's definitely about something important. So I'm glad I wrote it.

Wow yourself; you're shiny.

Prompts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Image Prompts:
SF fashion
Model with anthropomorphic dog
Fashion stone tools

Title Prompts:
"Fashion an Answer"
"Future Fashions"
"A Dress That Becomes Him"

Text Prompts:
Fashions divided by something other than gender.
What fashions say about the people who wear them.
Fashioning tools from whatever is at hand.

Re: Prompts

[alatefeline]

Prompt fill for "Fashion Stone Tools"

..

Stone Point Haiku

Leaf delicate blade -
Knapped for use - or for beauty?
Sun glows through agate.

...

With bonus images:
Translucent black and dark-brown obsidian shards, on a white cloth:
https://lifeisanadventure.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/img_5786_1_1.jpg

An ancient shape of hand-ax tool in modern knapped flint:
http://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Tools/palaeo_tools-2.jpg

Four arrowhead pendants made of agate; L to R, dark brown, reddish brown, white, green:
http://images.bigcartel.com/product_images/163009189/1439419264536.png?auto=format&fit=max&h=1000&w=1000

A sunwheel pattern of concentric circles of tumbled agate and jasper:
http://geology.com/gemstones/states/oregon-beach-agates.jpg

Re: Prompts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Wow! Beautiful haiku and images.

Re: Prompts

[alexseanchai]

:-D

Beautiful choices of pics, too!

Re: Prompts

[alatefeline]

Truthfully I like the pictures more than I do the haiku; it's got some inessential words in it and doesn't quite distill the picture in my head (a translucent, green-gold, symmetrical, stone point in a leaf shape) down to one small poem, which is necessary for haiku. But I'm glad I wrote it. :)

Re: Prompts

[ysabetwordsmith]

If you need just a little more room, try tanka form. If you need somewhat more, try a haiku chain.

Re: Prompts

[alatefeline]

Heh. The problem is I need more room to get all of the idea out, but I need less words to not be talking about anything *besides* the important idea. I may have to over-write and cut down. Small syllable counted poems seem like a good way to practice that. Hmmm.

Re: Prompts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Writing up and cutting down is one way to do that.

Another is to jot down just the important ideas you want to include, sort them into a logical order, and then fill in the rest of the poem around them. Even in haiku, you usually need at least a few filler words to make the grammar work properly.

Re: Prompts

[alatefeline]

Both good things to try!

[alatefeline]

With a dearth of inspiration, I'm stealing some:

"Love fashion? Love people? We're hiring!" The wackier the better.

A garment similar to a cape, that drapes freely from the top of a hat to trail over arms and attach at wrists. Purpose: to provide shade, while permitting airflow and fluttering lightly behind and above the wearer. (Improvised one today using my ubiquitous Purple Thing, a large lightweight rectangle of purple batik'd fabric that has become almost every imaginable garment.)

Hammock making; will it ever be truly in (or out) of style?

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

Your hammock prompt inspired "Suspended in Time and Space," today's freebie.

Re: Poem

[alatefeline]

Yay! Thanks!