creative cache pitches
creative cache
mikayla tallon – a&c editor
Hi, I’m a second year journalism student and am super excited to be working with the Carillon.
The best way to contact me is through email: arts@carillonregina.com. Please let me know the topic you’d like to write on, what you plan to talk about, your preferred article length (half page articles are 550-750 words while full page articles are 950-1,150), and whether or not you would like to provide an image or have our graphic editor provide one for your article. Our editorial staff is always happy to support contributors in their work, so if you’d like other supports, tips, or advice, please note that in your email as well and we’ll do all we can!
If you ever want to write, or already have written, a fiction-based piece with an underlying message that fits in this section that you’d like to see about publishing, always feel free to reach out and we’ll see if it fits our publication! Messages that fit in this section include art’s impact on people, what constitutes art, what is culture, challenges against dominant culture, and other commentary on art and culture in the modern world.
Contact me via email: arts@carillonregina.com
Poems
There are a lot of topics for poems: fantasy, folklore, romance, horror, self-reflection, healing… you name a topic, it probably exists in poem form. And in this issue of the Carillon, we’re looking forward to seeing the variety of poems from contributors.
This pitch idea is for poem-lovers and poets, so send in one of your very own poems! It’s not about having a “perfect” poem, but rather about the act of making a poem. Poetry, and creation in general, isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be joyless or enraging. This issue is about entertainment, and what’s more entertaining than the musings of someone else?
Some ideas on what to write a poem about if you would like to send in a poem but don’t have one already include:
-The good in life
-The legacy you hope to leave
-Your aspirations
-A romance gone wrong
-What you would do if you had magic
-Past lives your soul could have lived and lives your soul might live in the future
-The path of creation or success
Short stories
Ideas on what could fit in this topic include short romances, short horror stories, or even fantastical concepts that have been shortened to fit within the word count. For example, have you ever seen the “humans in space” stories? Things similar to that could work well in this section, including satirical pieces about the future. Hyperbole is probably one of the best writing devices for this sort of topic.
I won’t tell you how to write your piece, but I do ask that you adhere to the word count requirements so we can make sure there is space for your full work (550-750 words for a half page and 950-1,150 for a full page).
If you want to take this pitch but don’t know what to send in, some ideas include writing a short story about your future (“Where are you in five years?” sort of deal), a day in the life of a cryptid, or a story set in the future when students at the U of R uncover a time capsule buried by students this year.
If you’re still stumped, try to write a short story including this prompt: “‘You know, I’ve been thinking, and considering everything that’s been happening… I think you might actually be a re-incarnated deity.’ They laugh as I finish, but I see the light in their eyes dim, I see their brow furrow, and I swear the forest around us just got a lot quieter.”
Tropes and genres
Do you have thoughts about a certain trope or genre (no one is saying it has to be a published one if you’d rather write about fan-fictions you’ve read)? Tell us about it! Maybe you’ve been on “BookTok” and read some of their highly recommended books, but didn’t like them. Why not? Maybe you REALLY liked them. What made them so enjoyable?
Also, no one is saying this has to be about books; genres and tropes are not exclusive to written experiences. Did you watch something or listen to something that came highly recommended? What did you think of it? Did you listen to something that is highly underrated? Why is it underrated?
And, although there have been show, manga, and book recommendations printed in the usual section, feel free to send those in as well if you want! Remember to explain the recommendations, of course, as it’s a recommendation and not an advertisement.
Advice article
“Creativity cannot be used up, it grows as you use it,” is one thing I wish I had thought about more when I was younger and had more free time to create things.
Creating things can be hard, but that work is not in vain! You’ve created a thing, and maybe you don’t like it, maybe you do, but the thing exists now and you can decide whether to keep going or not. Another piece of advice I wish I had heard a lot earlier is to just do a draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t even have to be legible. Put the words or the ideas down and work from there.
This pitch is all about those things you wish you learned or realized earlier. What is one piece of advice you’ll never forget and why will it be impossible to forget? What is something you want others to know that they might not?
Or maybe you received some really awful advice, like “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” Sometimes doing it half-assed is actually better than no-assing it, as our Editor-in-Chief, Holly Funk, has written about previously. Writing about advice you wish you’d never been told can be just as important as what you wish you’d learned sooner. If you overcame a belief that was instilled in you by others, explain why you overcame it and how it has affected you since.