The typical school writing assignment involves working in a way that no real writer does.
Read MoreIf you learnt how to write well at school, maybe you're lucky
Let's hear it for the introverts!
This review was originally published in Teach Secondary magazine, and so is aimed at teachers rather than writers, but as writers are often called upon to speak in public I thought this might be useful for them too!
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Review: 99 Variations on a Proof
It was, surely, only a matter of time before someone would take Raymond Queneau’s idea of exercises in style and apply it to mathematics.
Read MoreYe olde book signing
I’ve recently finished a course on Macbeth and Othello, and I’ve been doing some research.
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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…
Read MoreAn intriguing interlude on the Underground
Travelling back from my saxophone lesson on Saturday, a very attractive young woman kept looking at me. Did I finally have sax appeal I asked myself.
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Photo by Terry Freedman
An embarassing interlude on the Overground
Last week, Elaine, a friend of hers (D) and I went to an art gallery. On our return we caught the Overground train at Highbury and Islington, heading towards Stratford….
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.
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Review: Adventures in Maps
This beautifully illustrated volume has relevance to several different curriculum areas, containing as it does accounts of intrepid historical journeys that range from 16th century seafaring voyages to Arctic crossings and even the surveys undertaken to facilitate the moon landings.
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Review: Write, Cut, Rewrite
Perhaps the second hardest thing for a writer to do (after commencing work in the first place) is to delete parts of what they’ve written.
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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.
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.
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More about the creative writing course I'll be teaching: books
In London on June 8th I’ll be teaching a course called Creative Writing Using Constraints, an introduction to the world of the Oulipo. This is a round-up of some of the books I’ll be referring to and talking about.
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Terry Freedman. Photo by Elaine Freedman.
How I prepared for one of my courses
in Handy hints
On the 8th June I’ll be teaching a course called Creative Writing with Constraints. (Note the word “constraints”, not “restraints”.) This article outlines how I prepared for it.
Read MoreCould a book on time travel be useful for English teachers?
A book on temporal adventures may seem like an odd inclusion here, but it can actually be used in many ways.
Read MoreReview: A Date with Language: Fascinating Facts, Events and Stories for Every Day of the Year
David Crystal has triumphed again. This is a fascinating book containing hundreds of concise entries on quirky occasions, literary facts and significant events.
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 MoreReview of Triggered Literature -- useful for English teachers
At a time when even Noddy books have been declared ‘problematic’ due to their use of archaic terms such as ‘swot’ (since changed to ‘bookworm’), some of us might may feel the temptation to unleash our inner ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ in response.
Read MoreReview of Handwritten: Remarkable people on the page - Great for readers and writers
In Handwritten we get to see handwritten manuscripts by monarchs, poets, novelists, scientists and many others.
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.
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