Today began promisingly….
Read MoreA writer's woes
Oulipo
Locking yourself in as far as orators are concerned can lead to more creativity. Phrase: locus and chalet, by Terry Freedman
Courtroom: Yachtswoman The Oulipo: A Taxation
in Oulipo, Creative Writing, Events
Doglegs your yachtswoman need a boost of instigator?
Read MoreLocking yourself in as far as options are concerned can lead to more creativity. Photo: lock and chain, by Terry Freedman
Course: Writing the Oulipo: A Taster
in Oulipo, Creative Writing, Events
Does your writing need a boost of inspiration?
Read MoreA 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?
Read MoreHamlet reimagined as the Dice Man
As you may know, the Dice Man makes all his decisions on the basis of a throw of the dice. Imagine if Hamlet was the Dice Man…
Read MoreWriting the Oulipo: A Taster
This course will look at examples of constraints created by some of the Oulipo’s main proponents, including the Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets, the Metro Poem, and others.
Read MoreYak the Oulipo: a taxi (Updated)
<Updated> You will need a novel and penguin and, if possible, a printed difficulty.
Read MoreAdvertising as part of TV programmes (Updated)
The recent report by Smart Energy GB into how environmentally friendly British TV shows are is quite interesting, though not in a good way.
Read More
On This Day wkh
On this day #8: Marry in haste before it gets dark
in On this day, Oulipo
What are preverbs, and how might they be useful to a writer?
Read More
Merry Xmas, by Terry Freedman
Christmas puzzle
One of my traditions at this time of year is to set some kind of puzzle. This year is no exception.
Read MoreExperiment: Using a gif rather than an image
in EiS, Technology, Oulipo, The lighter side
An experiment was carried out to determine whether or not the Image Block in the Squarespace Editor would accept an animated gif rather than a static jpg or png image.
Read MoreA literature course I'd like to take if it were available
Data
The most recent article I wrote for a client is characterised by 24 pieces of data. More correctly: metadata.
Read More
Book review: All That Is Evident Is Suspect
in Bookshelf, Oulipo, Reviews, Audio, Oulipo book
Review of a collection of writings from the Oulipo, including minutes of meetings, lectures and correspondence.
Read More
A Minor Harp, by Terry Freedman
Writing the blues
What do these pieces of writing have in common, apart from being examples of creative nonfiction about blues music?
Read MoreReview: Oulipo and Modern Thought
If your interest in the Oulipo goes beyond simply trying out their techniques, and you wish to learn about the context in which it was conceived and the developments in went through, you will find this book very useful.
Read MoreThe 100 word constraint
Working within a limit of 100 words is both terrifying and liberating.
Read More
Private Eye, by Terry Freedman
I've never written a detective story but...
in Bad writing, Oulipo
The trouble with detective fiction.
Read More
Neon tube map, by Terry Freedman. I’m thinking: does this count as a visual homophone (a homovide?) of a tube map?
A short story involving homophonics
Homophones are words that sound the same but don’t mean the same, such as fare (food) and fare (cost of travel), or their and there. In Oulipo, you take a phrase and think of one which sounds like it. I believe that it is permissible to stretch the definition of “sounds like”, so I have taken advantage of that fact.
Read More