An especially useful idea is the ladder of abstraction, which is equivalent, in cinematic terminology, to the level of detail in a scene, from close-up to long shot.
Read MoreReview: Story Craft
Bookshelf
Review: Index, A History Of The: A Bookish Adventure
This book has two indexes, one computer-generated, the other compiled by an indexer, so you can compare the two.
Read MoreReview: Audio for Authors
These days it’s as difficult as it is daft for writers to ignore the benefits of using audio applications.
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Click to see this on Amazon
Quick look: The 12 Week Year for Writers
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
This is a book about strategy and meeting objectives rather than a how-to-write guide.
Read MoreShort-form writing (book review)
When your word count is restricted, you have to make every word count.
Read MoreReview: Ex Libris, by Matt Madden
This is quite unlike any other graphic novel I’ve read, and here are the reasons.
Read MoreQuick look: Overthinking My Novel
in Bookshelf
This book is free, today (2 October 2021) only.
Read MoreThe very first article on this website...
… was a review of a book called The Well-Fed Writer. That was in 2010, and the book seems to be still available. Do I still agree with it’s suggestions?
Read MoreReview: 99 Ways to tell a story
in Bookshelf, Oulipo, Oulipo book, Reviews
The book works in so many ways that it’s hard to know where to start.
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Click the cover to see this on Amazon (affiliate link)
Review: A Little History of Literature
As for non-students whose memories of Eng Lit conjure up trying to make sense of Shakespeare, you may discover that “A Little History of Literature” will help you to erase such memories!
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Click the cover to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Review: Exercises in Style
in Bookshelf, Oulipo, Oulipo book, Reviews
Anyone interested in the craft of writing should read this book. It’s not a primer, or dictionary, or anything of that nature. But it does exactly what it says on the tin.
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BOOKS, by Terry Freedman.png
Oulipo books reviewed on this website
Here is a selection of books about or featuring Oulipo that I’ve reviewed on this website. It’s not an extensive list, but I’m adding to it all the time.
Read MoreReview: Book Parts
When you start to read a new book, what’s your routine? My routines differ according to whether the book is fiction or non-fiction, and whether I’ve been sent it to review or not.
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Book review: Your Press Release Is Breaking My Heart
in Bookshelf
Most press releases are boring. Even worse, some are annoying. And the people who send them can be even more annoying.
Read MoreReview: Writing Tools, by Roy Peter Clark
Roy Peter Clark describes and analyses fifty five strategies for writers.
Read MoreReview: Storycraft, by Jack Hart
Like Chekhov's gun (if a gun appears in Act 1, it has to be fired at some point), actions like someone clearing their throat are pointless if they add nothing to how we see them as a character.
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Review: The Go-Between
I also started to ponder: why the obsession throughout the book with belladonna?
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Review: How to write short
This is a very different book from Short-Form Creative Writing: A Writer's Guide And Anthology, both in content and style, but covers similar ground.
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Click the cover to see the book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Quick look: You talkin' to me? The Unruly History of New York English (The Dialects of North America)
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
One of my ambitions, once this pandemic is over, is to visit New York if I can. In the meantime, this look at the various cultures and dialects in New York is a reasonable substitute for actually being there.
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Listening, by Terry Freedman
Books of 2020 -- now with audio
Yesterday I published a blog post entitled Books of 2020, a list of the books I’ve (mostly) read in 2020. Well, it’s a bit of a long read at around 4,000 words, so I’ve created an audio version of it as well.
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