It’s the 23rd June 2022, and this year’s National Writing Day. Here are links to reviews of useful books about writing, resources for use in schools (some are good for adults too!) and top tips (ditto).
Read MoreWriter, by Terry Freedman
Creative Writing
CREATIVE NONFICTION: THE TYRANNY OF CHOICE
Here’s a creative nonfiction piece I wrote recently.
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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Writing the Oulipo: A taster update
This course is running tomorrow (18 June 2022), and I’ve added a few more exercises for people to try out.
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Squared notebook, by Terry Freedman
Writing the Oulipo: A Taster of "constrained writing"
If, like me, you enjoy writing for the sake of it, and maybe even enjoy a secret life as a short story or novel writer, this might interest you.
Read MoreMe? Do poetry analysis? Come on!
It’s true though! Having had a wonderful morning listening to people reading out, and dissecting, one of their favourite poems, I thought I’d have a go myself.
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Terry cycling cartoon, by Terry Freedman
Playing with context (revisited)
People say “It’s all a matter of context”. But I think that it’s when you take ideas, styles or objects out of context, or juxtapose them with apparently incongruent other ideas, styles or objects , that things start to look interesting and exciting.On being late
Far from being late all the time, I am ridiculously early. We all know that there’s nothing worse than a convert (just try smoking within a mile of where I’m sitting if you’re not convinced of the veracity of this statement).
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Image from John Hain on Pixabay
Is satire dead?
It seems to me that for satire to work it has to walk a fine line between being so close to reality that it’s not funny, and so far-fetched that it’s not credible.
Read MoreReview: Story Craft
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 MoreThe get-rich-quick itch (Updated)
I would love to be able to write blog posts or conduct my social media affairs in such a way that I became an overnight sensation, as verified by an astronomical rise in my bank balance. But…
Read MoreUsing Twitter for creative writing (updated)
Twitter allows only 280 characters per “tweet”. That’s around 20 to 25 words on average. How can that be any use for creative writing?
Read MoreA randomly created short story
She walked over to the window and reflected on her deprived surroundings. She had always loved urban Truro with its plain, pong parks. It was a place that encouraged her tendency to feel worried.
Read MoreCreative writing exercise: reflections; I remember
The exercise was to take photos on the theme of reflections, and then write about one of them.
Read MorePseudo-intellectualism (corrected)
(Corrected) This article is around 50 years old. Unfortunately, it is still pretty relevant.
Read MoreA phone call to technical support reported as a one-sided conversation
Under normal circumstances you can only hear one side of a conversation over the telephone. With that in mind, I’ve reported this (true) conversation from my side only. You should be able to infer what the person on the other end was saying.
Read MoreThe Big Sweep
I think it’s important for writers to not only read widely, but also write widely. By trying out different styles and genres, you can start to see how they work.
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Photo by Rumman Amin on Unsplash
Bath time
Bath is a very beautiful city. It has a lovely cathedral, a nice canal walk (although I didn’t like the sheer drop on the edge of it), and an open, airy feel. But that’s not what made an impression on me.
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Review: Creative writing for social media
Good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) practice may decree that the ideal blog post length is between 1760 and 2400 words, but I prefer to write for people rather than an algorithm.
Read MoreOscar
The following was written as an assignment for a course called Creative Writing for Social Media.
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The Oulipo: part of my writing ‘toolkit’. Picture by Terry Freedman
The Oulipo, and how it has helped me as a writer
Unlike other approaches to writing, Oulipo is based on constraints rather than such devices as free association.
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