Mad Fun

It seems fitting that following my last three posts regarding experimental writing I offer you a way to challenge yourself in that regard. Therefore, I bring you a call for submissions for The Mad Hatters' Review, an irreverent online literary journal that weds "edgy and enlightened literature, art and music in the age of dementia."

In specific, the call for submissions is for a special spring/summer 2009 issue called MaSh up & MayheM & haw where The Mad Hatters' Review teams up with the satirical online journal, Bunk Magazine. (The current issue of Bunk features the newspaper banner of "The Los Wikiless Timespedia," beneath which is an explanatory article headlined "LA Times Switches to All-Wiki Format in 11th-Hour Battle for Life.")

The submissions guidelines for the hallowed marriage between these two unhallowed pubs offers this tantalizing challenge:

Mashup is the spirit of the day (second only to dementia): Mash a Democrat and a Tory. Mash a Hip Hop CD with Beethoven's Ninth. Mix the movie Dark Victory with a modern Japanese horror movie sound track. Cross eclairs with ecosystems, a Bush speech with a toilet brush... Mashup is what happens when content is no longer king, usurped by the mischievous jester adept at standing on his head and hands, spouting irreverent nonsensical sense, walking with frivolity on ceilings, pirouetting on paradoxes...

I'm sure you get the point.

After reading the multi-colored, multi-font directions for submissions, this is what I've been able to garner are the choices for writers and artists:

• those who wish to be mashed: submit poems, short fiction, literary nonfiction, videos, music, still images and animation that will then be mashed by a Mad Bunker masher. "We cannot predict how we will mash your work, only that we will mash it and you will receive proper acknowledgment." The deadline for submission is Oct. 15.

• those who wish to mash (see above): submit a proposal of how you'd mash the material others submit. The deadline for proposals is Oct. 15.

• those who wish to mash their own. The deadline is Nov. 15.

There are a more directions on how and where to send the information (emails only, as attachments if text, etc.), so be sure to check the guidelines.

The only catch is, if your work is chosen, the two coastal receptions for writers and artists are at The Mad Bunkers' Mash & Racket Club in the Bronx (yes, the Bronx) and "somewhere off the L.A. Freeway, date TBA." I think we all agree the locations and how to get there are small glitches compared to the honor of inclusion in such a serious literary endeavor.

Happy writing!

To Challenge or Not

In this third installment regarding experimental writing, the question comes down to how many readers you'd like to attract. The more unusual the writing, the fewer the readers for the reasons mentioned in the last post: that if unfamiliar with the technique of of writers using words as a medium of art, like watercolors or metal, readers are usually frustrated by what writers are trying to say.

If you don't care about audience size, however, and feel the need to expand both in mental and writing ability, try climbing outside the box.

But before you do — before you break the rules of writing — know the rules of writing. For example, a woman in my critique group said her early schooling offered a lousy foundation in grammar. Therefore she's studying The Art of Styling Sentences by Ann Longknife and K.D. Sullivan. The book is filled with explanations about the various parts of speech, common patterns of sentence structure and exercises to complete. Add to this list all the books that give you the rules to writing correctly and clearly.

Then when you understand how to write a basic paragraph or format a story properly or create a genre plot, you can purposely bend the rules in order to create a certain atmosphere or convey a particular concept. You can leave out all punctuation like James Joyce or put in too much or deliver a shotgun of fragments that give the effect of flying shrapnel. You can create visual patterns or throw away the traditional storytelling format and use that of recipes or disclaimers or doctoral theses.

Even if you're a die-hard traditionalist who gets muddled by such antics, experimental writing is worth the mental exercise, even if you never seek publication of the work.

Have you ever tried experimental writing? If so, with what results?