#the allo aro zine tag

[alloaroworlds]

I’ve spent this weekend putting together a mockup zine layout to try and get a handle on what it is we’re looking to make and what our size limitations are. This isn’t a formal sign-up post; I just want to give folks a break-down of where I think this project is going and what we need to consider.

While I suspect that the most use and promotion of this will be digital, I think a good goal is to create something we can release under a Creative Commons license so anyone can freely print it off and hand it out at events/meetings. I can make PDF versions suitable for professional printing (you take it to a print shop and have them print and saddle stitch it) and at-home printing (print double-sided, fold pages together, staple outside edge unless you have a really long stapler) in addition to an interactive PDF, so that’s not a problem, but it does impact how long this will be.

(My intention is to have a landing page on my WordPress site telling people how to print and bind it, along with any credits and contributor information we can’t fit in the zine itself, and a link to said page in the zine.)

The easiest-but-still-readable size for a document that’s going to contain some amount of text, I think, is A5 - or an A4 page folded in half, more correctly. That means we can have four, eight, twelve or sixteen pages (one, two, three or four sheets of paper, folded, printed both sides). At sixteen pages, we’re really pushing it in terms of the whole “print at home or school and self-assemble” aspect, so I’d consider that the absolute maximum, and twelve is probably better. Anything more than that I think is better held over for a second issue.

So, if we go for twelve, by the time we take out the cover and a credits/contents/licensing/links page, we’ve ten pages left.

Now, using a not completely-tiny type size and leading in the following mockup, I get roughly 300 words per page or 240 per title/header page:

(Yes, I used my own stories. I dislike Lorem Ipsum because it’s harder to get a sense of true paragraphing. I also hate not keeping lines together at the start/end of paragraphs, but it wasted far too much space.)

A two-page spread, with header and author credit, gives us 540 words. A three-page article gives us 840 words. With ten pages, we’re looking at two three-page articles and two two-page articles, or one three-page, three-two page and a one-page article. Whatever we’re writing, it’s going to be short (hence my feeling that we’ll likely have to push it out to sixteen pages). If we insert images or add pull quotes to break up the text, that gives us even fewer words!

Now, given that this is meant to be an introduction to allosexual aromanticism, I think the content we’re looking at for the first issue includes:

How to make your a-spec community welcoming for allo-aros (@crimsonsquare and I are calling dibs)

Why allo-aros need aro information separate from asexuality (my thinking here is the Standard Allo-Aro Experience Narrative and a demonstration of how it impacts us: the I didn’t know that I’m aromantic because it’s so often regarded as an asexual experience story)

An article with terminology explanations and definitions (allo and allosexual, queerplatonic, etc)

An article on how to avoid allo-aro antagonism/microagressions/amatonormativity

An article or articles on allo-aro identity and the difficulty in finding our sense of identity?

Short 50-100 word pieces from allo-aros talking about what being allo-aro means to us (these are good for filling up half-used pages)

Anything else folks want to pitch, because if it doesn’t fit in here we’ll do as many issues as folks want to make things for

We could also consider doing a print edition that’s more compressed and a digital edition with longer articles and more pieces, if there’s a lot of interest. I know a few of the suggestions above could be covered from multiple angles by multiple allo-aro folks, so if this is the case, a longer/complete digital edition may be the best way to go. Or discarding the print version of this entirely and sticking with digital-only, perhaps?

We also need cover art (it’d be really cool to have something from an allo-aro artist) and a title. I have a few awful puns in mind (Hallowed Arrows? Alloyed Arrows? Allocating Arrows?) but suggestions are so welcome on this point.

I’d also like at least one other editor, if anyone’s interested in volunteering. If folks want to translate the zine content into the language of their choice, let me know because I’m happy to place the translated content into the zine layout and host the translations on my WordPress site.

I would clarify that this project will be run entirely on a volunteer basis: nobody is paid and all creators retain full copyright over their work and can publish it anywhere else they feel like at any time they feel like. (But please consider that by submitting, you’re giving me the the right to a) possibly have your work translated into another language and b) publish your work under a Creative Commons license for free and unrestricted non-commercial distribution offline and off.) Folks can be published under whatever name they like (real name, pseudonym, Tumblr username); the only real requirement is that you identify as, in part or in full, as allosexual-aromantic or a member of the allo-aro community.

I’m not yet at a point where I’m ready to take submissions; I’ll do a formal, fancy post when I am. What I’m doing now is just talking about the limitations, the process, what I think could work for a first issue, early expressions of interest, and then seeing what folks think.

So. What do folks think?

[alloaroworlds]

Just to clarify: I know I have a few asks in my inbox I need to reply to and post, and there’s a few posts in my drafts folder that I meant to reblog/post that I never got around to posting. I’d like to work on that this weekend between frantically trying to make creative content posts for AAW on @aroworlds, but I think it’s fair to be acknowledge that there’s stuff waiting for my attention so you know that I know about it. So to speak.

When AAW is over, I’ll make a post about this zine. It’d be great if, in the meantime, folks can think about what they’d like to see in it and how they may be able to contribute: I think it’d be cool to have as many allo-aro-identified folks engaged in its making as possible. If there’s an article you want to write, this is the place for it. If you’d like to volunteer your editing work, or you’d like to see your artwork on the cover, please don’t be shy. If there’s something creative or a non-fiction piece you’ve made relating to allo-aro identity or experience and you think this is the place for it, it is.

I think that it’d be cool to have a section where allo-aros submit paragraphs on what it feels like to be allo-aro or common allo-aro experiences, just to give folks a sense on what being allo-aro is like, so that’s worth thinking about now, too. It’d be great to have something fairly intersectional, where folks discuss being allo-aro in the context of their other identities--for me, it might be autism or a fluid sexual orientation, for example. Something that shows our diversity.

My life right now is a mess, but I am genuinely feeling excited about the thought of making a zine that other people can share, pass around and hand out at events. The more I think about it, the more I really want this to exist.