Countdown to Early Harvest
What makes a good theme for a literary mag? Something encompassing, but not too big, neither too narrow. A phrase or a word that allows writers – or poets, or comic artists – to fidget about in, and invent stories of their own. A kind of guiding light through the creation process, without being too blinding.Sometimes we started with a word quite small, and worked outwards to a place where that word could sit comfortably, but allow other writers the chance to bring along stories of their own. One student started with Llamaas a theme and eventually found their way to Design and Architecture. How, you might ask? Let’s just say the llama found its way into being somebody else’s fashion accessory.Some students are thinking backwards this year with the theme. Medieval. The First Century. Greek History. The 1990s. Some students feel chaos is the flavour of 2016 – what about Mayhem, World War III or The Impossible? We have a few satirists on our hands – To Be President and First World Problems were strong contenders from St. Peter’s, Sunshine West. Others feel Go Call My Mum is the theme most apt for storytellers in 2016.We’ve also been writing themed Choose Your Own Adventures, one of the more time-consuming and unpredictable responsibilities for the Early Harvest editorial board. No changes here. It’s the same smorgasbord of rather horrific and untimely deaths – although Albert Einstein gave us a magic stick to defeat our zombie grandparents yesterday, so that was something.Thank you to all the students who shared their ideas for themes. Early Harvest begins again on Saturday July 16 - stay tuned to meet the editors of issue 5!