Lords, Ladies and Knights, would you join me on a quest?
The land of Medium is vast and varied, with many treasures to be found. Unfortunately with riches this plentiful, large parts of it remain unexplored. Many travelers choose to stay on the well-established paths, and even those who dare to wander can not discover all the hidden gems Medium has to offer. Many priceless words are hidden in this land, entertaining only the eyes of the lucky few who happened upon them.
The Lords, Ladies and Knights of The Order Of The Green Heart are on a noble quest to put these treasures on display whenever they find them on their journeys through the land of Medium, so all may gaze upon them in wonder.
The Order of The Green Heart is a publication. The purpose of the publication is to promote good writing and good writers of any type. I’ve seen complaints about people not being able to find ‘the good stuff’. I’ve seen the popularity of the sort of ‘this is what I am reading’ stories and the replies of ‘thank you for pointing me to a writer I did not know of’ never fail to show up. I really want to give these sort of lists -some of the very few good listicles* in my opinion- a home. But I want it to be a little more that just a collection of lists. The publication is still under construction. I’ve commissioned my daughter for the artwork (you can take a look at her work on her deviantart page) what’s in place are concepts. I’m writing this now because I am looking for Lords, Ladies and Knights who would like to help get this started.
Who would be a good Lord, Lady or Knight:
The sort of person who, once they read something they love, feels a urge to tell everyone willing to listen about it. Who regularly thinks “I wish I could recommend this a hundred times”. Who enjoys actively looking for stories they feel are worth reading and thinks writing lists linking these stories and writers so others can discover them too, is something they would like to invest time in.
And who think it would be kind of fun to imagine themselves as a Lord or Lady or Knight, member of a ‘sacred’ order on a quest to find stories and poetry with heart, and could see themselves writing an short introductory for their lists in that character.
What I expect of the members of The Order Of The Green Heart:
I expect the members to take note (for instance, bookmark or link directly to a draft) stories on Medium that moved their heart or their mind and they feel should be shared as widely as possible. Once you’ve collected 4 of these stories, submit the list to the publication.
What you need to do to be a member:
Make a character for yourself, it can be as fictional or true to life as you wish. For example, I could be Lady Aura Inksplatter of the House of Knobs. Write a short (3 or 4 sentences) bio for the character to be used as introduction. List the topics of the stories you are most likely to discover; tags you follow or interests you search for. Send that in an email to theordergreenheart@gmail.com. I will have a cartoon drawing made for your character, based on the name and description. If you would like to have your character resemble yourself, please include a picture. But note it will not be a portrait or caricature drawing. A copy of this drawing will be mailed to you.
Submission Guidelines:
The Order of The Green Heart is not meant for original stories. It’s meant for highlighting existing stories you found. New and old stories are both equally welcome. You should link the writer of the story you found by name (by using @ ) and the link to the story by copying and pasting the address of the story and hitting enter. (so it appears in a nice box)
If you wish to write a sentence or two about why you loved the story, please do so from the perspective of the character you’ve chosen.
Submit your lists with the picture of your character on top, followed by it’s bio.
Members have as primary mission to promote heart worthy stories. You are allowed to promote your own stories from time to time, but the focus should be on other writers. If you are looking for a way to organize your own writings, there is a great publication by alto; The Writer Archives, for this purpose.
If you feel your character needs a nemesis on their journey, this would naturally be click bait content. But, do not to make any one writer or story your nemesis without their prior consent.
In closing
I am hoping everyone will have a lot of fun reading and creating The Order Of The Green Heart, and find a lot of great things to read in the process. The ‘official’ launch of the publication will be August 1st. Questions and suggestions can also be emailed to theordergreenheart@gmail.com
(* As Jennifer Brown pointed out, not all listicles are created equal. Those that don’t take themselves too serious can be great)
