How many ways can you organise a library?
Read MoreImaginary libraries
in Creative Writing, Oulipo, Events
Creative Writing
I have been...
Have you ever thought about all the jobs you’ve had, whether paid for or as a volunteer?
Read MorePointless data
An article I wrote for a client is characterised by 24 pieces of data. More correctly: metadata. So what?
Read More
Shoredticth in black and white, by Terry Freedman
Applying constraints to enhance creativity
in Creative Writing, EiS, Events, Oulipo
The standard advice for writers who are feeling uninspired or blocked is to allow your mind to wander where it will or to just start writing aimlessly to see what happens. Therefore to suggest the opposite approach, that of imposing some constraints on your thinking, seems completely counterintuitive.
Read MoreCreative writing using constraints: a course
What is writing with constraints? In a nutshell, it means writing according to specific and tight rules. The “official” name for this is Oulipo, which is a French acronym for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle.
Read More
Blogger, by Terry Freedman
Nonfiction Notebook: Is creative writing teachable?
Some people say "of course creative writing can be taught", while others say the opposite. I take a slightly more nuanced view.
Read More
time’s running out! Picture created in ImageFX
Reminder: Just a few hours left to enter a kick-ass competition to win a copy of A Town Without Time by Gay Talese
This collection of work by Gay Talese is utterly brilliant, and contains items that haven’t seen the light of day in a long time.
Read MoreOn this day: The joy of monochrome
Not everything in life is black and white -- but perhaps more of it should be.
Read More
Creative writing class
Creative assessment on a creative writing course
Reading each student’s work each week, at a rate of ten minutes each, took nearly two and a half hours. Thinking of suitable comments, adding them in to the appropriate place in Google Classroom, and updating my spreadsheet markbook took another hour and a half.
Something had to be done.
Read MoreCompetition to win a copy of Gay Talese's A Town Without Time
Last week I announced a competition to win a copy of A Town Without Time, the new collection of work by Gay Talese. Here is the link again, this time with an unrestricted link!
Read More7 useful literary techniques
Here are seven handy techniques with which to enrich your writing. Used sparingly, they can be very effective at bringing a piece to life.
Read MoreThe hardboiled collection: 3 Chandleresque stories in one post!
Three creative writing experiments: stories written in the hardboiled style.Quick look: A Town Without Time PLUS A chance to win this book!
A short review, plus a chance to win a copy of this new book.
Read More
A writer, by Terry Freedman
My 60 Minute Writer course
Next week I’ll be teaching a course called The 60 Minute Writer. The title always makes me smile because it sounds like I teach people how to be a writer in an hour. It reminds me of a joke by, I think, Frank Carson…
Read More
An A minor harmonica, by Terry Freedman
Poetry writing and me
Poetry writing is not my thing. At least, I don't think it is. The reason for my uncertainty is that although I attended a one-day poetry class some years ago, the feedback provided by the tutor was not very detailed, to say the least.
Read More
drawing of a fish, by Terry Freedman
Fish (flash fiction)
This is a piece I wrote during a flash fiction course several years ago. It’s exactly 90 words long.
Read MoreA literature course I'd like to take if it were available: an Oulipian puzzle
Blogger,+by+Terry+Freedman
Blogging: a course
Every so often I read some pundit, or usually a journalist pretending to be a pundit, suggesting that blogs are dead. What can I say? They’re not.
Read MoreThe spy who went down with a cold
in Creative Writing, EiS
“Good afternoon”, said the doctor. “What seems to be the trouble?”
Read MoreCompare and contrast: Picture Perfect
As indicated by the title, the first thing to know about this anthology is that it comprises both poetry and prose, rather than one or the other. Many of the pieces are quite unusual...
Read More