The idea behind the website is creativity and expanding our horizons. From a young age, mostly through the school system, creativity is slowly bled out of us or not encouraged as a prominent part of life. My belief is that it is integral to the very core of our existence, it’s what makes us human. Now that may seem like slogan-spewing but the difference is I genuinely believe this. We need to encourage creativity not only among ourselves but among those around us. We need to inspire each other. While being a writer, musician, painter, photographer, etc. may not yield a career opportunity that is not the point. Engage our minds and we will grow.
Also, I want to make sure every piece of work submitted to me for the site remains 100% the intellectual property of the person who created it. While this is a community effort, I want credit to be given where credit is due. You do the work, you get the accolades. We’re looking at creative commons and also the writers’ guild.
None of this would be possible without Robb Clarke, who is designing the site from the ground up with input from myself and a few others. So I wanted to throw a gracious bit of thanks his way before I got down to the meat of the proposal.
What I am looking for:
1)Writers.
For short stories, essays, critiques. I will be writing a short story for the launch, as will Isaac Thompson. Katelin Dean is preparing a multi-style piece I am very excited to read as well. The writing on the site will hopefully be plentiful and updated regularly. If you want to try your hand at a short story or a serialized longer story, let me know and I’d be happy to work with you to get that going. I am available as an editor as well as a publisher and a writer in this case.
I have told a few people about the essays portion and have received questioning looks in return. They say “but essays aren’t creative”. By and large they aren’t, but convention is going out the window here. What I’m looking for is for people to think of a topic they are interested in research the hell out of it and write a properly sourced and formatted essay. The difference is in the way it is written. Put your own creative flair into the turns of phrase. Make it so the reader finds the material interesting. Convey why it is fascinating to you in your own dynamic way. I expect this section to start slowly but it could be excellent.
The essays also fall in line with columns. Too many times in newspapers and magazines columns are nothing more than opinionated exposition with very little substance. I’m not talking about reviews of music or movies, they require opinion, but political columns require more care than simply spouting partisan viewpoints. I would like a regular series of columns that do more than simply comment, but maybe shed light on a topic of great interest.
Critiques will be a large part as well. I will be writing movie reviews, Matt Jones has expressed interest in writing video game pieces. If you want to also take part in those areas, that can be done as well. I would even post two separate reviews of the same thing just to add perspective.
Interviews with artists or feature pieces or travelogues are also welcome and encouraged. Let me know.
2)Musicians – I want recorded original music for the site. I myself am not much of a musician (taking piano lessons starting this month) but am a music enthusiast. Andrew Wiley will be recording some tracks but I want more as well. I think Jason Methot is willing to help out in this department as well.
3)Photographers – For photo stories, photo series’ or good photography in general. It’s an underappreciated art.
4)Painters/sketchers – Jody Coughlin, with whom I worked at the Carleton FreePress, is a big inspiration for this website. Her column in the FreePress combined writing with art and it got me thinking a website dedicated to the combination and freewheeling of different art forms would be spectacular. I want original art from anyone who paints, draws, sculpts, what have you. Laurel Green is preparing an exhibit for the launch and I’ve seen some of the work so far and it is great.
Adam Atherton is a busy guy and I hope he can contribute comics every once in a while depending on his schedule. I know Brad Young has done comic work before and he’s a fairly busy lad as well. A semi-regular comic or a couple semi-regular comic strips would be a wonderful addition.
5)Video – Phil Hawkins is the mind behind Charlie Bomb and a series of short flicks with his and my friend Charlie McCartney. Phil has expressed interest in taking part and through a broader network like I hope to create we will be able to make a series of shorts or movies or even a serial show that could debut monthly. Let’s get writers and filmmakers together to make this happen.
6)Audio – Aside from music I want to have a series of podcasts where members of the site join me or join one another to discuss the art, the world, spirituality, sports, whatever. A few years ago, Unfiltered Smoke was the name of my CHSR radio show and I would like to keep some of that element in touch with this new version of the name.
This is a tentative list of what I am looking for and is always open to suggestion, requests and input of any kind. Please get in touch with ideas of what you would like to contribute. Call me any time, my contact information is below.
email – ratedargh@gmail.com
Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you.
