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I'll post some patently ridiculous pages from Uberhoot if the reading audience promises to remember that the periodical was created by undignified college town juveniles in the heyday of low-budget Xerox publishing.
I didn't even touch on the topic of a website for such a journal as the one I've proposed, but there'd be one of those, in theory, too. Possibly it would have different, though complementary relation to the print edition.
Names for the project? I know there is this trend of figuratively eviscerating typewriters for their seldom-used part names (I wrote that all wrong, does it still make sense?) e.g., platen this, typebar that, strikethru and shift key and yada yada, but I'm drawn to the simplicity, and dual meaning, of Typecast: A Literary Journal.
Feel free to add any angle to this hare-brained scheme that I haven't considered.
Random vision (there should be an HTML tag for random visions): I'm seeing each piece accompanied by a photograph of the typewriter/pen/whatever that created it, with a paragraph from the author telling an anecdote about that machine/implement.
Postscript: I just realized that my accidental omission of the second n in penniless above connotes something a little... uh... unintended. Damn typecasts!
Banning the Big Black Box
5 hours ago
30 comments:
I think this is an inspired idea. Perhaps you could have themed issues. You ask people to submit typecasts or writecasts on the same broad and widely interpretable theme and have a panel of editors decide which submissions will be included. I'm all for it. Let me know if I can help.
I'm from the Land of the Southern Lit Journals down here - we just covered up in them. If I walk across campus, I can have coffee with the Oxford American staff. If I walk aross the hall, I can have coffee with the Exquisite Corpse staff.
My office houses the undergrad lit mag - the Vortex - where anyone is invited to admire the awards on the wall, drink coffee, and maybe help me grade some papers. Volunteers?
Bottom line - let's do it. 8 1/2 x 11 (for obvious reasons) with onionskin overlay on the title page. The layout is a breeze.
Love the typewriter/pen/whatever implement picture idea with each 'cast. Dream big and open submissions to typewriter art as well. There's your cover. You can either keep this small or advertise submissions in AWP. Many options.
Now, all you need are submission guidelines, editors, and some money. I've got the PERFECT printer who can do absolutely anything at a reasonable cost.
Let's go.
I'm in. My own little college lit 'zine, the Literary Stunt Dogs, was whipped up on the 'puter and printed down at the newspaper. Typed ought to be even more fun.
Re: typewriter/pen/letterpress photos: why not go whole hog and devote a full page to a photo at the end of each article? As long as you stick to halftone b&w, it won't drive up the printing cost--much.
Barring the fact that I can't think of one of one single thing to improve on the idea, I am so in. I'll even lend my mediocre web-head skills to whoever wants to run the site.
I also like J.B.'s ides of themed editions.
OK, I am now way too excited. My wife just asked me why I was giggling to myself over at the computer.
Me, I'm going to start looking into advertisers...
Is there a particular reason why you would not want to include genre fiction?
JBR, I like the themed idea too. I like stuff that is focused and not all over the map.
Monda, yes to all thoughts! How do your lit journals select editors? (Obviously you've got more resources out there in academia than a rowdy band of typecasters...)
Olivander, your photography just needs to be in there anyway. Cause it's awesome. I like your idea. Some people take crappy photographs though (me coughcough)
Speegle, I too was cackling over the idea. Five minutes later it hit me that it was insane. So then it turned into insane cackling.
Typograph, simple reason- I don't like genre fiction. That's the dilemma though-- you set a bar like that, and you start pissing people off! This might be a place to start talking about what people want and don't want to see. I like short stories of the literary fiction variety. I like serials. I am open minded about poetry. Photography and art, good. I also like indie comics. A lot actually.
What kind of material would other people like to see?
This is a great idea.
The best idea, I think, is, if the 'zine is presented on a computer, is to scan the submitted pages so that the readers can see the work as it was originally presented. If a print 'zine is intended then a photocopy of the originally submitted work is the best bet.
The manner in which the material is submitted says a lot about the nature of the submission.
As far as the judgement of quality is concerned, I would ventured to say that as long as the contribution falls within Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and contains no non sequiturs or vulgarity it should be considered for the 'zine.
Just because a 'zine does not pull in the jack or have the production values of the New Yorkers or The Atlantic does not mean that it should be second rate. In fact, I would posit that a 'zine should find the hidden gems that the strip miners have missed.
I frequently consult Strunk & White. I also frequently tell them to blow it out their ear.
Agreed: themed issues is the way to go if at all possible.
The only problem with fiction is that it tends to run a bit long for this type of format. I propose that a trademark of this new 'zine be the ridiculously short short story. I once read an anthology of stories that were all under 100 words long. (I am well aware of the six-word short story format, but that may be pushing it too far--not to mention leave excess white space.)
Comics...anyone here good at creating typewriter art? ;-)
I like the notion of a theme per issue, and also the short-short story format.
You know what else might be fun? Awhile back Olivander had a post about make believe social letters. What do people think of devoting each issue to a particular format -- e.g., one issue, fake social letters. One issue, short-short stories. One issue, poetry. Heck, one issue genre fiction, for heck's sake. Any other ideas? Lists? (that could get interesting). All issues could contain photography and art, though.
That's an idea, or the theme could be more of a subject matter theme: content about X, content about Y. I think the former idea might be a little more fun though.
I'm definitely open to being challenged on that opinion.
I think that the lists are a great idea. Maybe give your adoring public a little taste of who their writers are with a top 25. If this is a bit of overkill, maybe a features section that has things like comics and lists every ish.
What do you guys think of doing themed essays?
Oh, and Ollie's idea of the make believe social letters would be a most excellent first issue.
Little help for us Great Unwashed here: could I get a definition of "literary journal" (ideally using small words and large pictures.) I have to admit to spending my mopey, self-reflective teen-and-college years not writing a lot of stuff, but instead taking endless pictures of fences and gravestones and such.
I'll play along, as long as it doesn't turn into something, you know, like work.
After sleeping on it, I awoke with a question. To paraphrase Monda, the world is covered up in lit journals. Other than being hand-/typewritten, what will separate this journal from all the rest? Will the topics be typewriter/pen-oriented? Or will it be standard lit journal material that happens to be hand-/typewritten? 'Cause if it's the latter, then the low-tech production of it just becomes a gimmick, and I'm not sure that that on its own is sustainable over the long run.
Sorry to dump a bucket of water on this whole thing.
Let me formally announce that I hate Google/Blogger, since it ate my oh so thoughtful response, and here I am, typing it *&%$ again.
Olivander, this IS the bucket of water phase. I think your question is a very good one. There are indeed a lot of lit journals out there, and why will this one be different?
MPC, lit journal might be the wrong word here, since we haven't established what in fact might be in the thing. Certainly photography (yours and Olivanders I both like very much) should be a part of it, no doubt.
I'd hesitate to make the whole thing *about* pens/typewriters, since I'm not seeing collectors as the audience, exactly. But interviews, essays, and similar material about retrotech would be in my opinion very interesting.
So far the ideas for material to include are:
Photography
Typewriter art
Fiction (short short or otherwise)
Poetry
Essays (about retrotech)
Interviews (about retrotech)
Comics
Make-believe social letters or other types of epistolary material
Ephemera (e.g., old documents found in typewriter cases)
Anything to add? Delete? Dispute? Discuss.
Wow, it just ate my response as well. Suck.
Anyway, what I was trying to say (much more eloquently than I am going to here) that I think it might be better to not have it be entirely about retrotech. It's a nice spin to have, but it might be nice to have the journal be more accessible to the great unwashed.
I also have visions of myself traveling to the University and the myriad coffee shops that surround it, seeding typographical wonders. I know that I have a tendency to repeat this ad nauseum, but we just really don't have anything like this around here. You folks have your cities with your trees and your culture, but here, not so much. I'd like nothing more than to slap down a pile of whatever we're going to call this thing on top of a pile of Las Vegas Weekly.
Lastly, I had a dream last night about a dashing hero and his steam-powered typewriter. Clichéd? Sure. Would steampunk be a good fit for a themed issue? Signs point to yes.
Thanks for the definition, that clears things up. I'm afraid I did not hang with the 'zine crowd (if we even had such a thing) but rather with the let's-get-Tetris-on-the-mainframe crowd.
Hey! Wet blanket! I can do that. (It's Monday and gray and raining.)
This proposed journal would be in what ways different from a communally-written, theme-of-the-month type blog? Editorial control, I suppose, and actual paper-distribution, but otherwise... ? I'm not picking, I'm just curious.
In my original hazy vision for the project, it was less a group of known people contributing to the journal exclusively, and more about soliciting submissions from outside (certainly the known people could contribute also) with an editorial quality bar/judges/etc. After my zine (and later communal blog) experience, I don't have a huge amount of enthusiasm for the former approach-- you get mixed quality and a self-limiting audience. Let's just not use the word "zine" at all. It evokes scuffed Doc Martins, scotch tape, and riot grrrls.
Like I said, keep bringing on the wet blankets, buckets of water, and grey clouds. I want some critical thinking here about whether the idea is worthwhile or possible.
I'm apparently late to the party, and I see the wet blanket brigade has already been here. Which is okay, because the only response I have is: awesome. And this: why didn't I think of that?
I know precisely zero about 'zine (or whatever you choose to call it) production, but dang if I wouldn't love to be in on it. In some unspecified way.
Also: whenever I try to explain to someone why I collect typewriters, and all I can verbalize is some hazy retro-tech-sentimentality, all I have to do is pull up some of Olivander's pics and the job is done. No more words needed. I swear I feel dirty sometimes, looking at those pics.
I like typecasts done on all manner of odd papers. Each piece is it's own artwork and it's just a scan away from layout.
I sure hope Tom Hanks reads this blog, because I've got a feeling he's a typecaster at heart and could contribute.
I'm be interested, and I'll actually have the time to contribute, once I'm finished with this novel that's been at 90% for a month now. Any Day Now (tm).
Also: the constant comment-eating habit of Blogger made me migrate to Wordpress a year ago, and I've not regretted it once. They even import all your old posts and comments for you.
Zines! I was just remembering the couple issues of the zine ("not an underground newspaper") I put out with some buddies in High School and thinking: those were good times. Then I thought: wouldn't it be fun to start something up on campus here with a typewritten zine . . . and then I read this post.
So if something develops from this idea I'd sure like to know!
If I can add something that fits in, I'd be happy to do that!
Regarding your concept, perhaps we are already doing that- as a group-with our respective (and eclectic!) blogs. Perhaps a "best-of-the-typosphere" [and pencil/graphitopolis :-) ]web site might give a start to the 'zine? Or accompany the 'zine?
As we can all attest, the beauty of blogging our ideas and images is in the array of readership and interaction.
I think Speculator has a really good point here-- part of the value of the typecasting genre is the interaction between typecasters and across sites. I see that. If something were to be committed to paper, it would have to be something of unique value to the paper format, that we or ephemera-heads in general aren't getting by hopping around in the typosphere.
I still think there is a role for something paper-based, but it's still in the thinking phase...
Oooh, sounds like a goo idea. We have a literary journal on campus, and I must say I'm unimpressed. However, it's college, and no one cares. We set it up with just a bunch of people trying to be as non-biased as possible. Not too sure how that would work here, but we tried. The mag's decent, and considering out budget is poop, I think we do a good job. The only advice I can give is majority rule, but also why this should or should not go. Most people who write to a literary journal/magazine have at least decent writing skills.
Oh, by the way, I TOTALLY want in on this. :]
Hi. Me again. This seems to be collecting quite a bit of steam, which is very exciting. I think the point about the journal needing to offer something beyond the gimmick of its presentation is an important one.
It seems to me that the people who would be interested in reading something like this, the people who would be most drawn to the typecast format, would be people like us, which is to say nostalgists and Luddites. What if we made that the foundation for the journal? What if all the content related in some way--even tangentially--to the idea of the past, to the idea that not all progress is goog?
Maybe it would help to come up with a name and a tagline. Anyone up for a brainstorm?
You should try to get Dirk in on this--he might have some ideas.
Wet blanket #557: "Print? Are we kidding? Who will pay for it?"
I think this is the first post on any blog that I'm going to subscribe to the comments section.
To avoid the deadly zine and genre vibes, just use the term "small press" and that makes for being "literary" automatically as well.
Even if you don't have an actual, like, press.
Ok, I am coming to at least one conclusion here-- how about a limited print run of a collection of typed or handwritten peices or photographs *about* retrotech, as several of you have suggested? Something other than a blog post-- fiction, poetry, an interview, an essay "the history of.." instructions "How to do retrotech thing" -- etc. The submission could not be more than two 8x11 pages.
Who's with me? Or against me? Speak now.
I'm in.
Hi folks;
I've done a few typecast blog entries, and lurk here fairly often. I'm interested in how the production value of the zine will appear; that is, can we get the published version to display the nuances of the scanned work's paper texture and color? Is this strictly for B/W printing, or is color too expensive? I, for one, enjoy the quality of the scans I see on the various typecast blogs I read.
Regarding the content of the zine, themes are a great idea, along with challenges for the upcoming issue; but a lot of it depends on the level of participation. If you have way more entries than you can publish each edition, then that's a good thing, as it gives more diversity in the options available to deciding how to thematically arrange the publication. But what would suck is if it's the same old five people. Not that there's anything wrong with that (as Jerry Seinfeld would have said.)
I look forward to seeing where this all goes.
~Joe
Joe,
Agreed about having too few submissions-- that is always a problem with these kind of projects in my experience. That said, are you signing up? :-)
I am thinking black and white for the production.
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