“Good afternoon”, said the doctor. “What seems to be the trouble?”
Read MoreThe spy who went down with a cold
in Creative Writing, EiS
EiS
Experiments in Style: A Borgesian Story
in Creative Writing, EiS
One of the things I’ve been trying out is reworking a piece of text into a completely different style. This one was written in the style of Borges.
Read MoreWhat makes a great and successful writer?
in Creative Writing, EiS
This is a transcript of a conversation between Fred Terryman and myself. It’s been lightly edited, with the pauses taken out for ease of reading.
Read MoreExperiments in style: Art critic
in EiS, Creative Writing
One of the things I’ve been trying out is reworking a piece of text into a completely different style. In today’s experiment I’d like to tell the story in the style of a review of an art exhibition.
Read MoreThe case of the disappearing noble: A Sherlock Holmes mystery
in Creative Writing, EiS
Holmes and I were in our lodgings in Baker Street. He was drawing out a melancholy tune on his violin, whilst I was reading the latest edition of The Lancet. The silence was unexpectedly broken by the ringing of the bell.
Read MoreA story in the style of Bertie Wooster
in Creative Writing, EiS
I clambered out of the four poster, but at altogether the wrong angle, so blowed if I didn't go careering straight into the wall. I tell you. I tried to ignore it and dragoon the well-known Freedman stiff upper lip into service, but the old noggin was having none of it.
Read MoreExperiments in style: Hardboiled + Analysis
in EiS
A good way of honing your writing skills is to rewrite a simple story in different styles. That’s what I’ve been up to over on my Eclecticism newsletter. I post a new style every Sunday, and often on the following Friday I explain how I did it, what the challenges were, or the literary devices I employed.
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Terrified, by Dall-e
A comic book page by AI
in Creative Writing, EiS
Someone challenged me to write a graphic novel of my short story A Bang on the Head, which forms the basis of my experiments in style, à la Queneau. Well, I’m useless at drawing the kind of comics I like to read, so I thought I’d enlist the help of AI. I used this prompt, mistakenly, with ChatGPT…
Read MoreLitotes
in EiS
Litotes, pronounced lie-toe-tease, is a literary technique whereby you express things in a negative formulation. What would it look like if a whole story was written in this fashion?
By the way, if you’ve been thinking of taking out a premium subscription for my Eclecticism newsletter, the mega deal of 20% off forever ends tomorrow, 22nd August 2023.
Read MoreA new 'Experiment in style': cockney rhyming slang
in Creative Writing, EiS
I’ve been taking a short and very bland story and rewriting it in different styles. This time I’ve chosen cockney (defined as someone born within the sound of Bow bells, in other words a true working class Londoner) rhyming slang.
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A bang on the head, yeah?
This article is part of series I am writing called Experiments in Style. It is my version of Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style.
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A bang on the head -- N + 12
The results are different depending on which dictionary you use; there is nothing to stop you cheating…
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A bang on the head -- in code
Although the result is nonsensical, I think it has a musical quality of its own.
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A bang on the head -- DIY version
In this version, I’ve decided to pass the story over to you.
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A bang on the head in the future tense
In the middle of the night, I will wake up (if you can call being semi-conscious being awake), walk purposefully towards the door to go to the bathroom — and almost knock myself out.
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A Bang on the Head -- inspired by Malevich
This article is part of series I am writing called Experiments in Style. It is my version of Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style (Amazon affiliate link), in which the author takes a very mundane incident and reworks it in various ways. A graphic version of the same thing is Matt Madden’s 99 Ways to tell a story (ditto). I think it’s quite interesting to see how a change in style can dramatically alter the feel of a piece. My ‘experiments’ are based on the article I wrote called A bang on the head.
A bang on the head, by Terry Freedman
This series of articles is an example of Oulipo. I’ll be taking a very short course called Writing the Oulipo: a taster, on 19 June 2021. As it’s name implies, this is an introductory class, and lasts for just two and a half hours. If you’re interested in learning a few techniques to expand your writing ideas, along with suggestions for further reading, then sign up. It will take place online, so from a geographical point of view it doesn’t matter where in the world you are. Details here: Writing the Oulipo: A Taster.
A bang on the head as a cloze exercise
in Creative Writing, EiS, Oulipo
I failed to do much __________ , but I was pleased to have __________ a further 17% of my __________
Read MoreWhat I've learnt from experiments in style
in Creative Writing, EiS, Oulipo
On the face of it, experimenting with reworking a piece of writing is pointless. I mean, why bother?
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Experiments in style, by Terry Freedman
A bang on the head as a (not entirely accurate) comic strip
in EiS, The lighter side
I think it’s quite interesting to see how a change in style can dramatically alter the feel of a piece.
Read MoreA bang on the head
in EiS
I waited petrified among people for whom “social distancing” means not quite touching you, and who wore their masks as a chin-warmer.
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