Wait a Second

I am here today to show my masthead! Not the final, digital version (I'm still working on that one), but the sketch.

I think it looks cute

So here's how I came up with this: I got a blank sheet of paper, my mechanical pencil, and my eraser; I stopped for a second to think what I wanted, but I couldn't really put my finger on it; I  started drawing numbers; I came up with this and I liked it. Pretty simple, right? I said it in a previous post that I wanted something versatile and simple, so I can play around with it, change the color, place it wherever I want it, and that's what I have created. (I'm already decided on its placement in the cover, which is a surprise, so don't even ask).

Now to the controversial comma.

I have shown this to some of my friends and Mrs. Stoklosa already, and they all have said that I should have a meaning for the comma. To be completely and absolutely honest, at first, I just drew it. I was done with the 7 and thought something was missing, so my mind automatically added a comma. I don't know how my mind comes to the conclusions it does sometimes, or has the ideas it has sometimes, but I always embrace it because I know my mind works quite well; if it wasn't for her -yes, my mind is a girl- I wouldn't do one third of the things I do, or come up with one fourth the things I write, draw, and create. I looked at it and why not? Looked cool. But listening to my friends and teacher saying it should have a meaning, I realized that it should have a meaning. Here it is:

Didn't know there were comma butterflies. That's actually cool.

We all know where commas are for; they create a pause, separate things. That's it. But if you think about it, after a comma you always know something is coming. Periods finish off sentences, indicate an end, but commas imply that there is more -yes, so do colons and semi-colons, but you know what, commas are cuter. So -and I'm gonna be all philosophical now-, the comma in my masthead represents the idea that there are many things awaiting the reader inside the magazine; it indicates the continuity, the desire for more than a cover page, the promise of something after that comma. Also, it is a literary magazine after all, and commas are part of the world of each and every writer -they should actually be part of the world of each and every person, but let's not judge.

The comma will also be a recurring symbol in my magazine. I have already designed my table of contents, and it includes the comma on many different places -in fact, I'll be posting that next; I thought this post would aid in explaining what's up with all the commas. The commas will also be on the title of every page -after the title I mean, for example "Thralldom,"- because, well, after the title comes the piece.  It all comes back to the idea of  "there's more after".

Yes, it started off as a simple creative choice, but I had to come up with a meaning so HERE IT IS. Many people thought I wouldn't do it, that there was no reason for a comma there, that it should be a period. Well, I guess there is, isn't it? And just because people doubted me, it's all over my magazine now. Go big or go home. 

Here Comes a Long (One)

Before anything else, I'd like to say that the piece I'm sharing today is, in my opinion, my best work this year. It is a short story that I wrote it the first time for my AICE Lang class, but because I was caged within the walls of word limit, it didn't turn out exactly as I wanted to. After some time I went back to it, tweaked it a little bit -A LOT, actually- and produced something I liked. Then I went back to it again, tweaked it, and had something I loved. Then I went back to it again, tweaked it, and had my best work of the year. I don't care if anyone disagrees or thinks it's trash, because I am very proud of it. It is a simplistic piece, but it has its powerful tone and call -I'm not about to get all cocky about my work so I'll just leave it at that.

Anyway, I am presenting this piece because as soon as I started working on my magazine, I had the vision of this short story as my two-page spread. But, because I am doing this "listening to people's opinions" thing, I am posting it to get some feedback. My only problem right now -in my mind, of course, because I'm not working on the practical part just yet- is the layout. The two-page spread is supposed to showcase the "feel" of my magazine, the pattern I'm gonna have for the design, and how well I can layout a two-page spread. But because this is a longer piece, I see a big ball coming my way, and on bold, red letters it reads "NO SPACE!". Many lit mags have their longer pieces laid down on the pages without anything else -actually most lit mags have pretty simple layouts-, and I understand that the audience would not mind to have something like that -because if they did, literary magazines would be running out of business-, but I, personally, think it is boring and tiring and a waste of hypothetical creative minds working to create a great hypothetical magazine. I don't want to end up with something like this (many many many words, which look like a book):

Metrosphere's two-page spread

Sketch's page

So the solutions I could come up with so far are:

• I could have many many many words in a page and still add something characteristic of my magazine, like a background or a picture.
• I could not have the whole short story in a two-page spread, but maybe the beginning, so I can have more space and play with the layout.
• I still have two more options that I'm considering for the two-page spread, that are not as strong as this one, and don't hold the same special place in my heart, but that will do the job. 

If all of these go wrong, I'm thinking about doing a different section -especially the comedy one, because I could show a lot of different techniques within it.

But without further ado, here's the piece I've been longing to post on the blog. Ex-cit-ing!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pcfwltNoLEuHT0VuavAVGfRA8NAygl1H-bXaSD5nP3U/edit?usp=sharing

Fourth demonstration of... okay, you know the drill.

Digressing

I'm just passing by to say that I am in love with this magazine: Metrosphere!

Found it on Issuu, which is my new best friend

Metrosphere is the lit mag of Metropolitan State University of Denver, and it showcases the work of students and alumni. Pretty cool.

I love their masthead because it really establishes the brand. On different issues they have it placed on different places, which I think is awesome, for it follows the idea of "creativity in a lit mag"; they also change the color to go with the cover image. I chose to show this cover because of the placement of the masthead, which is rather unusual but still works perfectly -the eyebrows are an important part of the image to create the girl's expression, and that'd be covered if the title was on the top, and because the face is mostly located on the right, the title completes the "empty space" on the left. Metrosphere inspired me to play with my masthead as well: I wanna create something versatile and simple (I'm already working on some sketches and probably will have them up in the blog by next week), which creates the brand of 1867 at the same time.

Everything in the magazine is just so beautiful

Also, as it can be noticed, NO COVER LINES. Why is that, one would wonder? It is because literary magazines don't have cover lines. Cover lines work mostly to attract the audience's attention and present some of the strongest articles inside of the magazine, but lit mags are not about that life. (Yes, I am relatively happy to be saying this right now). All the pieces featured are important, and the audience is -the majority of times- completely established, getting the magazine through subscription. I know I talk about the love for the art and appreciation for the work, but that's because it is true -if it wasn't, I wouldn't say it. I've shown some covers in my earliest posts, and yes, none of them have cover lines. (This is my way of explaining why MY cover won't have cover lines).

Another thing is: I've come to announce that, unlike I had said on my "Not So Random Poem", I won't be having a title for each edition of the magazine. That goes with my decision to have a versatile, simple masthead. But more than that, the mag will hypothetically be composed of submissions, and I can't hypothetically count on people submitting works that fit a theme -unfortunately. Also, the beauty of a lit mag is the variety, the multiple styles and meters and formats. I don't wanna be constrained by a theme.

I have said that I'd be focusing on the table of contents this week, and I AM, TRUST ME, but as I was looking through some mags I came across this one and -epiphany. I couldn't contain it: I had to let my mind think about my cover for a two seconds. This is the outcome of those two seconds.

"Metrosphere Archives - My Met Media." My Met Media. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://mymetmedia.com/category/metrosphere/>. 

"Metrosphere_11/2014." Issuu. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <https://issuu.com/themetonline/docs/metrosphere2015_1>. 

Who Cares about the Staff?

One of the sections of my magazine will be "From the Staff", where a member of my hypothetical staff describes, over dramatizing and romanticizing, an event in his/her life. That's a fun -maybe not fun, but creative way- to have an interaction between the hypothetical staff and the readers -it creates an emotional connection. I haven't seen any lit mags that have any section relatively familiar to this, but I'm choosing to innovate and be creative -in fact, those are the two reasons why I chose to do the magazine in the first place. The section does resemble teenager magazines, which have little spaces dedicated to telling an event, whether it is from the staff or a reader, and I guess I was inspired by that. But I am transforming the simple fact-telling into storytelling, bringing the beautiful magic of literary devices to "From the Staff".

I created one of my own to demonstrate how that would kind of go, and that's also the title I'll be using on my TOC (I have linked the google doc with the piece below). Bare in mind that this actually happened to me, back on a mid-summer night in 2014.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-qiKGZif_m-MuM_Nq1sKkgqcJmCZ85o_z6L7UVs53Jo/edit?usp=sharing

Third demonstration of writing skills on the blog. I hope I'm not becoming annoying.

Contents of Productivity

Please hear it from the drum roll... I'M WORKING ON MY TABLE OF CONTENTS! Yay, me being productive, how cute. Proud of myself.

So anyway, I'm doing this. First, I've been looking over my sections and I'm feeling much magazine and little literary, so I decided to cut out the news section. Yes, I know, terrible loss, but when I first decided to mix things up a bit I was still hoping to hold the artsy feeling of a lit mag, and I personally feel like I'm killing the artsy feel slowly. That's bye, bye, news. Second, I got my TOC (that's table of contents, I'm gonna write it like this from now on because it's easier) written down.

I'm proud of myself

Third, let me explain some things about the TOC.

• The prose and poetry pieces are ones that I wrote -expect for three, who I borrowed from my friend- and am using the title to create the table of contents.
• I decided to use my teacher's idea, Mrs. Stoklosa, to have the Op-Ed be about the digitization of literature -a.k.a. E-books. I think that's a very wide topic and it has become huge in the literary world -New York Time's best selling list even has a section for E-books-, so it'd be great to explore it. I'm thinking of two contrasting op-eds, one of someone who's pro the digitization, and one of someone who's against.
• The review (which can be noted, I change to review/interview because that way it can vary) was inspired on an Op-Ed I read last year, on New York Times. It was Stephen King talking about how productive a novelist can be, and I think he has a good point. But because King himself is a VERY productive novelist, I thought of having a review on his newest book Finders Keepers embedded on an interview with King about his productivity. 
• I've established that my target audience is adults, but I'd love to create an appealing magazine for young adults to read also, so I've decided that the comedy section will appeal to this younger audience. I got the inspiration when, while I wondered through Twitter this afternoon, I saw many tweets on Hannah Montana's 10 year birthday. So I thought: this audience is made of people in my age group, and my age group grew up watching, among other stations, Disney Channel. One thing that we are, COLLECTIVELY, always complaining about is how different Disney Channel is right now -and yes, maybe it is because we have grown and matured, but the shows are also worse, because we haven't grown and matured that much. Plus, many adults did watch at least a little bit of Disney Channel if they have kids. (Kind of an universal theme). And in the case of Hannah Montana, everyone knows who Miley Cyrus is and that before she became a short-haired promiscuous figure, she was a sweet, innocent girl playing Ms. Montana. There is also the fact that so many Disney artists grew to take a place in pop-culture. A lot to explore withing this subject, and definitely many jokes to be made. 

1966 table of contents

But moving on from the theoretical part (although it is my favorite, because the practical part involves my perfectionist self going CRAZY), I'm thinking of the design right now. I have been looking into some literary magazines, and what I noticed is that most of them have a really clean look. (By the way, I have found this website called issuu that has tons of free magazines as digital versions). Much like the rest of the magazine, the table of contents presents a clear, simple background, is very organized, but still gives out the "feel" of the magazine. 

580 Split table of contents

1966- Every edition presents the TOC the same way, including the title -but of course, changes the name of the pieces-, which creates a brand for the magazine.

580 Split- I love how everything is very organized and neatly divided, and the lines sort of create a path. The doted lines are repeated throughout the whole magazine, and orange is the color of the issue.

Elysium table of contents -a.k.a. the literary magazine from the high school that
always beats my high school's lit mag on competitions.

Elysium- it is not AS clean as the two other ones I presented, but it still is. The background gives a different look to the pages, but it doesn't distract the reader's eyes from the actual content. But like the two previous magazines, the background is a technique used throughout the magazine -a creative choice. But I really like how the pastel colors match and give a calming look to the TOC.

Yes, I want to follow this clean pattern, mostly because the focus should be on the art more than anything else. I don't want distraction from the so carefully chosen words of the hypothetical writers that wish to share their souls with the world -that's something that should be respected and appreciated. I will be working with InDesign and Photoshop to create my magazine, and I should be starting the table of contents as soon as I finish this post. I'll be posting about my progress or creative blocks, don't worry. But until then, that's it. 

King, Stephen. "Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2016 <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/31/opinion/stephen-king-can-a-novelist-be-too-productive.html>. 

"Enjoy the Largest Collection of Free-to-read Publications from Incredible Publishers around the Globe." Digital Publishing Platform for Magazines, Catalogs, and More. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. <https://issuu.com/>. 

"English Graduate School | 580 Split Literary Journal | Mills College." English Graduate School | 580 Split Literary Journal | Mills College. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. <http://www.mills.edu/academics/graduate/eng/about/580_split.php>. 

"Elysium Literary and Arts Magazine 2015." Issuu. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. <https://issuu.com/elysiummagazine310/docs/elysium_magazine_2015>.

Not So Random Poem

I have been thinking -yes, nice, very good, thanks. I have been thinking and I've been thinking hard
And I've just decided I'm going to turn this post
Into a poem
It won't rhyme
and it won't be deep
But it will be divided into stanzas
So we'll call it poetry

I've come to announce
That my magazine will be out
Four times a year
Because lit mags are very clear
On their target audience
And mine is completely set
But also because
I find twice to be too little

I've also been thinking
That for every edition
I should have a small title
Summarizing the theme of the issue
Which will make each 1867
Special in their own way
And will make my life harder
Trying to (hypothetically) find pieces
That match each other

But most importantly
I've come to the conclusion
That the art should always
Be together in a section
            -the Art Section
Because it is to be admired
In its own separate time
And that's a convention
From the majority of lit mags
I would like to keep for mine

This post was meant
To explain many decisions
I've taken in this last week
And didn't think could become
A whole post each
So here I am now
Sounding totally nerdy
For turning a post into
Silly, raw poetry

(Some parts kind of rhyme, I'll give myself that)

Flow of Creativity(-ish)

Yes, I am working on my table of contents -slowly but surly. I WILL have it done by the end of spring break -this is a pinky promise I have made to myself, and I take pinky promises very seriously. But I am a writer working on a literary magazine, so everything I write asks me "Should I be your two-page spread?". The answer most times is 'maybe', but eventually it is 'yes'; I've said yes to more than one piece, and I only have one two-page spread. Is the problem clear? Okay, good. To be honest, I don't consider myself a very indecisive person, but I'm never fully confident with my work, which leads me to ask for many different opinions. So now that I have a blog IT'S EASY AND FAST TO ASK FOR AS MANY OPINIONS AS I WANT. When would've I imagined that I'd like the idea of having a blog? (The answer is never).

This is a poem I worked on a while ago and came across this week. I like to think of it as Charles Bukowski-like, simple but meaningful, (mostly because he's my favorite poet and idol) and it is one that I could consider as my two-page spread. I think I'm better off with prose, because I'm a stronger prose writer, but it doesn't hurt to share. 

Fabricated Safety

Seven billion people in the world

And that’s all we are

Numbers.

Statistics

On screens

On their screens

Altogether collaborating

Unwillingly

In the manipulation

No

Creation

Of this world

A fabricated world made up of pixels

And search histories

And social media

And the constant processing of information

My information

Your information

Our information

Ones and zeroes

Zeroes and ones

Which contains a thousand intricate functions

To make you feel untouchable

People can’t access your Instagram

If you don’t allow them to

While your Google search is determining

What you buy

What you listen to

What you like

And we accept it as a norm

It is how the world works

It is how it’s supposed to

You lock your door every night

You feel protected

And post your life on Twitter

For friends

Acquaintances

Rapists

Terrorists

To see

Your online bank account password has 13 characters

You feel safe

But if you stop spending as much

Your bank calls you to ask

If everything is okay

Is everything okay?

You are just a collection of digits

Working as a group to add up and compose

The perfect realities

Delivered in a silver plate just for you

So you can continue to play your role

In their world

Which is consequently

Our world

And there is no secret to numbers

Second demonstration of writing skills in the blog. Cool.

Now I'm gonna force my friends to read it and give their truest opinion -as long as they don't make me cry.