Cat Oars Fiction Collective
June 25th, 2007[In a recent post on Blooking Central I wrote about the Cat Oars Fiction Collective's blooks. I asked the publisher if he could tell me more about the online group of writers. This is the introduction to the introduction to The Banana Project.]
The Cat Oars group formed in late 2004 after someone posting with the handle Talker asked a question on the Literary & Writing forum, a board on the Craigslist Web site. He had wanted to write a story about a starving artist who was forcing a chimp to paint canvases on the street so that he could sell them to passersby. He thought his artist would come into possession of the chimp by working at the zoo and stealing the creature, but wondered if the Litfo contributors might have a better idea. A discussion followed. After several dozen postings over the next two days, a forum regular who calls himself IAA (for “I’m an Asshole”) suggested we all write our own versions of the story because it had somehow struck a chord with so many of us – the concept seemed so rich with possibilities.
I had started a new job at the beginning of that year. My previous job was so easy it gave me time to do personal writing. So I completed two collections of short stories and a novel there. The new job, well, it was and is much, much more difficult. I wasn’t sure I could keep going with my literary ambitions.
But that weekend, I decided I had to write my own version of the starving artist and chimp story. And I did. It was a rebirth. I’m not sure I would’ve started writing again if not for the discussion and IAA’s suggestion.
Along with another forum regular who goes by Sheisty, IAA and I posted our chimp stories. I quickly realized that the project was too good to be lost in the ether of Litfo history. Brimmer, another Litfo regular, had turned me on to Lulu, which offers free pre-press services, low-cost printing and a platform for Internet sales. I was experimenting with it for my own books, and decided to give it a try for The Starving Artist and the Chimp. It worked. It was a narrow theme, though, with a short deadline, so there were only a few participants.
Then someone posted something about an overweight girl longing for love. IAA responded with a story about a fat girl who wanted him in college and how his insensitivity to her has haunted him with regret. I remembered a similar story from my college days. R_Toady did, too. I suggested we all write stories with the theme of “She Wanted Me,” or “He Wanted Me” for the ladies. This time, I gave a one-month deadline. The turnout improved and several other forum regulars and newcomers contributed.
I still pick up Book of Desire & Regret and leaf through it every now and then. It’s a fantastic collection of great stories. True, I’m not an impartial observer, but if it were borderline I would say so. It isn’t. It’s wonderful.
The next project, Black & White, was born from a discussion of both racism and how we fail too see the nuances in complicated situations. I was expecting it to be more substantial than Desire & Regret, but I didn’t know how much more substantial. Desire & Regret included ten stories; Black & White twenty-two (a twenty-third was added later). As we were posting our B&W stories, I realized it was going to be an extraordinary collection. Each work was excellent on first read. Almost every one brought a new thrill of discovery. Each entry got raves and kudos or other great comments from the participants. Instead of the more common insults (yes, it’s true, the forum becomes a hostile place at times), anonymous posters left kind and encouraging comments. It was beautiful.
Even with R_Toady, GhostofMajestic and BowlOfCherries as co-editors it was a lot of work. So when contributors asked for a new theme that weekend, I didn’t think I could do it. So I turned the next projects over to R_Toady and BowlOfCherries with Minivis and Crazy Love, respectively. Minivis is a poetic form inspired by a post from Meme_in_Situ; Crazy Love was our Valentine’s Day festival. I know that both books are going to be excellent. Toady and Bowl are completing them as I write this and I’m really looking forward to seeing the first two Cat Oars books that I’ll discover as a reader instead of as an editor.
Who are we? A museum guard in Portland. A water engineer in Phoenix. A businessman in San Francisco. A mom in New York. A phantom and a former female drag performer in Seattle. (The phantom part is a joke, but he is really in Seattle; the former female drag performer is not a joke; she’s in Seattle, too.) Surprise: We’ve got a guy from Tobago participating. I could go on, but I won’t. We’re an interesting bunch, I think. The largest contingents, unsurprisingly, I guess, are in New York and Los Angeles.
Cat Oars Cat-alogue:
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Wow that is really cool. I think CWA could do something like this.
Comment by Shawna R. B. Atteberry ? June 25, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
That’s what I’ve been thinking. We have many more short story writers than novel writers, I think. And the practice of critiquing each other’s work would be helpful - if only as a aid to discussion.
Comment by Cheryl ? June 25, 2007 @ 5:01 pm