An article I wrote for a client is characterised by 24 pieces of data. More correctly: metadata. So what?
Read MorePointless data
Audio
Review: Oulipo and Modern Thought (Update)
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 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 MoreMy 6 word review of Lolita, plus commentary, updated with comments
Why I can’t read Lolita, but am reading Nabokov’s short stories.
Read More
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: Audio for Authors
These days it’s as difficult as it is daft for writers to ignore the benefits of using audio applications.
Read MoreI, The Dictator
in Audio, Technology
One of the few good things about fracturing my right elbow on the 21st of August 2021 was that I was finally forced into experimenting with dictating articles instead of writing them.
Read More
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.
Read MoreBooks of 2020
These are the books I’ve encountered in 2020. I’ve read most of them, and reviewed many of them.
Read MoreReview: Ethan Frome
(Amended) The pages in my copy are marked (in pencil of course) all the way through, to highlight wonderfully-crafted sentences.
Read MoreA Writer’s Reference Toolkit: Style Guides (Updated)
There are two broad kinds of style guide. There is the generic type, containing advice on such things as whether to use “different from” or “different than”. And there is the specific type, ie specific to a particular publication. For example, should “internet” be spelled with a lower case “i”, or as “Internet”?. The specific style guide will tell you.
Read MoreThe Professional Writer: Other people’s practice
What can writers learn from the way other writers work?
Read MoreHow I write: Articles
in News & views, How to, Audio
Do you go into a blind panic when you’re asked to write an article? Here are the 7 stages I go through, and how I eventually get started.
Read MoreWriters: beware when you share
in News & views, Audio
Should you share your small writerly achievements on Twitter or other social media system?
Read MoreThe Professional Writer: Bad company
Should you write for poorly-edited publications featuring poorly-written articles?
Read MoreQuick look: Audio for Authors
in Audio, Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
This book provides compelling reasons for including audio as an integral part of the writer’s portfolio and tools of the trade, not merely an add-on or afterthought.
Read More
Question mark - Terry Freedman
Who needs a Creative Writing MA?
Are Creative Writing MAs worth doing?
Read MoreNew online blogging course
Updated! Here are some preliminary details of a blogging course I’ve been asked to teach.
Read More
Buzzsaw screenshot, by Terry Freedman
Bad PR jargon, and how to detect it
If you’re tired of people “reaching out” or “circling back” or sending you sales “literature” that bears no relevance to you whatsoever, you will enjoy learning that you’re not alone.
Read More
Click the cover to see the book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Review: A-Z of Storytelling Techniques
As the title suggests, this book comprises 50 “techniques” of storytelling.
Read More