creative writing
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.
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
Some people say "of course creative writing can be taught", while others say the opposite. I take a slightly more nuanced view.
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Creative writing class
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.
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My creative writing course
Read MoreMost books on creative writing tend to be less technical, at least in appearance, than ‘Sentence models’.
Read MoreI 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.
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Aurora and Terry, by Terry Freedman
I’m not known for writing poetry, much less in the style of the 16th century. But I’ve had a go, and I like to think that my poetry is a bit better than my art.
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An outdoor cafe, by Terry Freedman
I’ve written a piece called My Life in Cafés. I wanted it to be bittersweet, a mixture of pathos and humour.
Read MoreFar from being late all the time, I am ridiculously early. We all know that there’s nothing worse than a convert (just try smoking within a mile of where I’m sitting if you’re not convinced of the veracity of this statement).
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The Oulipo: part of my writing ‘toolkit’. Picture by Terry Freedman
Unlike other approaches to writing, Oulipo is based on constraints rather than such devices as free association.
Read MoreThis was written as a creative nonfiction writing assignment I set myself, as a way of paying homage to a dedicated — if fierce — teacher.
Read MoreSome people say "of course creative writing can be taught", while others say the opposite. I take a slightly more nuanced view.
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Question mark - Terry Freedman
Are Creative Writing MAs worth doing?
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Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
This is an article I wrote for a creative nonfiction writing assignment, dealing with dementia. It was first published in an anthology called Between The Lines.
Read MoreHere is what the rush hour looked like on the last day I travelled in London.
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Neon tube map, by Terry Freedman. I’m thinking: does this count as a visual homophone (a homovide?) of a tube map?
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.
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Click the cover to see the book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Click on the cover to be take to the book’s Amazon page (please note, this is an Amazon affiliate link).
You may be very good at condensing a complex argument and proposals down to no more than six bullet points (as one of my line managers always demanded). This book makes it clear that there are more creative opportunities too.
Read MoreI recently did a creative writing course. Here are my reflections on it.
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Frazzled, by Terry Freedman
Why has doing a course on American fiction been so enjoyable, and useful to me as a non-fiction writer?
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