I was very pleased to be able to give a load of women the benefit of my wisdom and experience on a Jane Austen course a few months ago.
Read MoreMansplaining Jane Austen
in News & views
News & views
Me feeling somewhat exercised
Playing the feminist card and blaming the 'patriarchy'
in News & views
Playing the feminist card strikes me as intellectually lazy.
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A writer, by Terry Freedman
My 60 Minute Writer course
Next week I’ll be teaching a course called The 60 Minute Writer. The title always makes me smile because it sounds like I teach people how to be a writer in an hour. It reminds me of a joke by, I think, Frank Carson…
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The 60 Minute Writer
in Events, News & views
My creative writing course
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
Blogging is not dead!
in Events, News & views
There is still a great interest in writing blogs. One of the reasons I know this is that my course on blogging currently has twelve sign-ups. That may not sound a lot, but many courses at the City Lit have far fewer.
Read More20 autobiographies: excessive? On the contrary
So are elevator speeches completely useless? On the contrary, I think you need to develop several of them.
Read MoreNano reviews
You’ve heard of six-word stories. How about nano non-fiction?
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A blogger, by Terry Freedman
AI for bloggers
In my recent blogging course, I abandoned my carefully-prepared lesson, or part pf it, threw caution to the winds, and suggested to the class that we experiment with using AI for writing blog posts. Here’s a partial blog post it came up with, which you will agree is utter rubbish…
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My writing-related filing cabinets, by Terry Freedman
Creative writing using constraints: a bit of a post-mortem
I think evaluations are very odd devices to be honest. Someone once “marked me down” on her evaluation of a one day course I was running on the grounds that the traffic was terrible.
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Photo by Terry Freedman
Remuneration
This is an updated version of an article I published on this website in 2015. In my experience, it absolutely applies to artists, teachers and other creatives as well as writers or consultants.
Read MoreJust William
An example of popular academic writing
A long-held belief of mine is that no writing is wasted. I hear of people who have spent time writing something, decided it's rubbish, and then deleted it. But the process of evaluation that someone goes through to arrive at the conclusion that the thing they've just slaved over is rubbish is valuable in itself.
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New Online Blogging Course
I will be running another online course in blogging in the evenings of the 17th and 24th November 2023.
Read MoreComing soon* Review of How Words Get Good
in News & views
I recently reviewed How Words Get Good for Teach Secondary magazine. It’s a great read, and delves into all the processes that go into producing a book.
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Why would anyone write badly?
Why do some writers write badly? Plus links to examples of bad writing.
Read MoreWho needs a Creative Writing MA? (Revisited)
I wrote this article in 2020. Having read it again, I still agree with the views I expressed then. In fact, I’d go further. When anyone who has achieved the benefits potentially offered by X tells you that you don’t need X, I think a huge dollop of cynicism is in order.
Read MoreOulipo taster course: discount for today only
in News & views, Oulipo
Oulipo techniques are great for dispelling writer’s block, and generating new works.
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London Book Fair, by Terry Freedman
London Book Fair Wednesday sessions
in Events, News & views
These are the sessions that especially appeal to me
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London Book Fair, by Terry Freedman
London Book Fair 2023
in Events, News & views
The London Book Fair is back again this year, in Olympia. As usual there are loads of seminars and even more stands. And if you’re an author, there is even more reason to attend.
Read MoreRewriting the classics: should we do it?
in News & views
Should we rewrite the classics? My view is: Yes, kind of, but not in the way you might think.
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