Can you spot the hidden theme word?
Read MoreRainham Marshes, by Terry Freedman
Creative Writing
A new 'Experiment in style': cockney rhyming slang
in Creative Writing, EiS
I’ve been taking a short and very bland story and rewriting it in different styles. This time I’ve chosen cockney (defined as someone born within the sound of Bow bells, in other words a true working class Londoner) rhyming slang.
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Aurora and Terry, by Terry Freedman
Creative writing: My attempt to write a Carolean Verse Romance
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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Epistolary writing: an update
As you may know, I’ve been exchanging letters online with Rebecca Holden. We agree that we’d write three letters each. We’ve enjoyed the experiment so much that we’ve decided to continue with it after the Christmas break.
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Snow in station by Terry Freedman
A Sunday break
Here in England it’s cold, though not quite as cold as it has been, and walking and cycling are treacherous.
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An outdoor cafe, by Terry Freedman
Some creative non-fiction
I’ve written a piece called My Life in Cafés. I wanted it to be bittersweet, a mixture of pathos and humour.
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mail, by Terry Freedman
Epistolary writing -- it's in the post!
Have you read any works written in the form of letters? Or have you written anything like that yourself? I've been interested in that genre for a long time, so I was delighted when, a few weeks ago, a course came up at the City Lit institute looking at epistolary fiction.
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Me reflecting on stuff. Photo by Elaine Freedman
I don't only write about writing!
I write about literature, life in general, odd things that have happened, the odd bit of fiction, experimental writing.
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Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Three memorable meetings
It’s a very rare occasion that finds me attending a large-scale meeting. In my experience, quite often nothing gets done as a result of it.
Read MoreBlogging: not dead yet
Every so often I read a blog post or a ‘commentary’ on Twitter by some self-appointed guru or other saying that blogging is passé.
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Fodder, by Terry Freedman
The point of pointless writing (Updated)
What’s the point of doing exercise or yoga? The answer is, usually, to keep yourself generally fit and toned up. Unless you’re preparing for an athletic event, there is no specific or direct point to any of it.
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Writer, by Terry Freedman
National Writing Day 2022: resources, reviews and tips
It’s the 23rd June 2022, and this year’s National Writing Day. Here are links to reviews of useful books about writing, resources for use in schools (some are good for adults too!) and top tips (ditto).
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CREATIVE NONFICTION: THE TYRANNY OF CHOICE
Here’s a creative nonfiction piece I wrote recently.
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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Writing the Oulipo: A taster update
This course is running tomorrow (18 June 2022), and I’ve added a few more exercises for people to try out.
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Squared notebook, by Terry Freedman
Writing the Oulipo: A Taster of "constrained writing"
If, like me, you enjoy writing for the sake of it, and maybe even enjoy a secret life as a short story or novel writer, this might interest you.
Read MoreMe? Do poetry analysis? Come on!
It’s true though! Having had a wonderful morning listening to people reading out, and dissecting, one of their favourite poems, I thought I’d have a go myself.
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Terry cycling cartoon, by Terry Freedman
Playing with context (revisited)
People say “It’s all a matter of context”. But I think that it’s when you take ideas, styles or objects out of context, or juxtapose them with apparently incongruent other ideas, styles or objects , that things start to look interesting and exciting.On being late
Far 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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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: Story Craft
An especially useful idea is the ladder of abstraction, which is equivalent, in cinematic terminology, to the level of detail in a scene, from close-up to long shot.
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