The word Oulipo is an acronym of a French group, Ouvroir de littérature potentielle. This is usually translated as Workshop of Potential Literature, although given its association with the sharing and critique of work on creative writing courses, the word ‘workshop’ might be ditched in favour of ‘work room’.
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One of the techniques employed by the Oulipo is known as N+7. This is where you take each noun, and replace it with a word that is seven words on in the dictionary. Of course, results vary according to what dictionary you use. The following article is an N+7 version of my review of the Penguin Book of Oulipo. Enjoy!
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Short-form writing is neither quick nor easy, but the effort is, in my opinion, worth it. This book explores the form with useful information, challenging exercises, and interesting examples.
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Perhaps a useful aim of writers is to lead the reader to put the book or article down, and disappear in a flight of imagination. After all, surely one measure of success is that what you’ve written led someone to think of something, or to make connections, that had not occurred to them before?
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This is a very useful reference book for anyone who is serious about online journalism.
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With children as the target audience, this book is a fair-paced romp through the history of paintings from cave paintings to the present day. All that in less than 100 pages!
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Here are links to recent book reviews I’ve published on this website. Look out for more soon.
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A few notes about a forthcoming memoir with a difference.
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A no-nonsense style guide that manages to be both humorous and readable too.
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This book suggests exercises to help you get to grip with the writing process. Here’s what I thought of it.
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What’s a book about epilepsy doing on a writing-related website? Read on and find out.
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Should this book be in the reference section of your bookshelf, or is too lighthearted? Here’s my verdict.
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What does this book cover, and is it suitable for writers not based in the USA?
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This very mixed bag of books is now in my possession. Here’s some information about each of them, and why I find them potentially interesting, especially for writers.
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Crossword puzzles are great for writers, as explained in this article, and these four books are worth reading.
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This is an interesting book whose title under-promises and over-delivers.
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Freelance writers’ earnings tend to be very low for most people. However, this book provides suggestions on how to make decent money in this field.
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Once again this year, the London Book Fair will run awards for book bloggers, bookstagrammers and book tubers. This article gives links to the brilliant people who won the awards in 2018.
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What’s a book of paintings got to do with the writing process?
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Rather than wait until I've read books before reviewing them, I think a halfway house is to at least let people know about books and, if possible, my first impressions. My intention is to write full reviews of these in due course. I hope you find these snapshots useful and interesting.
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