100 words

Writing the blues

April 30, 2020 in Creative Writing, Oulipo, Short form

What do these pieces of writing have in common, apart from being examples of creative nonfiction about blues music?

The 100 word constraint

January 29, 2020 in Creative Writing, Oulipo, Short form

Working within a limit of 100 words is both terrifying and liberating.

I've never written a detective story but...

January 28, 2020 in Bad writing, Oulipo

The trouble with detective fiction.

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Since I read Northanger Abbey when I was in my twenties, I have to say that in the interim it has much improved. Clearly, Jane must have taken a creative writing course or two because it is now much funnier, more cutting and more modern, what with her stepping outside the story to comment on her characters and the novel form itself.

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Elborough’s central premise is that artists’ travels have always influenced their art – albeit more obviously in some cases than others.

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The shelves in libraries or bookshops labelled Science Fiction and Fantasy interest me only for the former, not the latter. Games like Dungeons and Dragons have never appealed to me, and much as I like maps and strange lands, the works of Tolkien leave me cold.

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Who would have thought that a material as commonplace as paper could have such a rich history and profound effect on our lives?

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