So, I do this thing.. or prompted fiction and writing directly to the audience

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

So, I do this thing where I take prompts from readers and random passers-by, and write short fiction to those prompts. It's my favorite kind of writing, direct to the audience's wishes, and it's a lot of fun.

I've tried a few different ways of doing it: at first, I called for prompts on a theme, much like ysabetwordsmith's Poetry Fishbowl and, indeed, modeled after the fishbowls. It worked all right, but I found that I was having an enthusiasm gap: I just wasn't getting into it.

Next, and certainly most productive and profitable (and most entertaining, if exhausting), was my Drakeathon, an 8-hour livewriting marathon over two days to raise funds to help offset the costs of my diabetic kitty's insulin, needles, and vet visits.

For 4 hours on Saturday & 4 on Sunday, I took prompts and wrote from them in a GoogleDoc open to anyone who donated.

I received $155 in donations, got 20 prompts from 16 people, 13 of whom donated. (that's 31 times the amount of money I got from the original prompting plan, by the way :-) In addition, I put the stories together into a short e-book, Tales for the Sugar Cat, a collection of short, flash, and micro stories spanning genres and universes, from scifi to fantasy to romance, all written directly to sponsored requests. I'll definitely do this again - for more details on my ups and downs, see the Aftermath Report.

Writing to people's prompts is the most direct form of crowd-sourced writing I've found to date, though I like to kick it up a notch and then, on Twitter/IM/etc., ask my readers for more input: names, descriptions, colors, and so on (this is how I ended up with McAliens, as a note).

My latest iteration of prompting was a two parter: for 24 hour two weekends ago, I took prompts for flash fiction written free, and then opened up those flashes to sponsorship for continuation in what I'm calling a giraffe sale. The income is, I'm not denying it, nice, but knowing what people want to hear more of is both gratifying and free market research!

What's more, I've found new corners of worlds and, indeed, whole new worlds from prompts! I'm currently writing short fiction in enough settings I need a cheat sheet to keep track of them, and then a cheat sheet of my cheat sheets!

If you haven't written to your audience's prompts, I'd urge you to try it. It's a fun way to take your writing in an unexpected direction!

Comments

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated by your creativity in format, the way you keep trying different iterations of crowdfunded fiction. A lot of people seem to stick with one approach, especially if they hit on something that works.

>>I like to kick it up a notch and then, on Twitter/IM/etc., ask my readers for more input: names, descriptions, colors, and so on<<

Hmm, that could be worth a try.

Re: Wow!

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

I've found ... *cough*... you know how they sell books to kids with their names printed into it?

Adults like that too. They really like seeing characters they got to name, or "oh, neat, that was my charm-to-untangle-knitting!"

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I've seen a couple folks doing fill-in-the-blank poems or songs, actually.

Ironically, the one time I spontaneously put someone's username into a poem, they didn't even notice until I pointed it out.

I have done a few custom pieces, though, for handfastings or other special occasions.

Re: Wow!

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

Fill in the blank songs sound awesome!!

I wrote a poem (and read it) for my friends JilliJohn's wedding... then letterpress set it in a later class. That's about the fanciest I've done.

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

The challenge is getting things to scan decently when you're working with names of things or people. One thing I like to do is start with a symbol set, like the language of flowers, and work that into a customized poem, such as for handfastings. A big enough set gives flexibility with the syllable count; you can pick things that work with it. So if someone wants their last name included, and it goes DA-da-da, you can look for flower names with the same rhythm.

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

McAliens, I love it. I've been joking about McFantasy for ages.

Re: Wow!

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

*grin* indeed!

Poetry Fishbowls and other prompted literature

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