These are the sessions that especially appeal to me
Read MoreLondon Book Fair, by Terry Freedman
London Book Fair Wednesday sessions
in Events, News & views
London Book Fair, by Terry Freedman
London Book Fair 2023
in Events, News & views
The London Book Fair is back again this year, in Olympia. As usual there are loads of seminars and even more stands. And if you’re an author, there is even more reason to attend.
Read MoreUsing codes when note-taking -- republished with discussion
You might think that recording an interview, and then transcribing it using an app like Otter, would be much faster than writing everything down at the time.
Read MoreMy 6 word review of Lolita, plus commentary, updated with comments
Why I can’t read Lolita, but am reading Nabokov’s short stories.
Read MoreReview: The Writer's Journey
Where do authors’ ideas come from? Even Stephen King finds that a difficult question to answer. One possible answer might be ‘Everything they see on their travels’, because as Roland Barthes once suggested, writers are never truly on holiday…
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Image created by Dall-E for Terry Freedman
Trains: an Oulipian exercise and challenge
in Oulipo
This post is a puzzle for you, and an experiment for me.
Read More12 websites for free illustrations for your articles UPDATED! (again)
News of a new version of this original post featuring websites where you can find high quality pictures that are free to use on your own website or blog. I’ve listed more than 25 resources.
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Image created by Dall-E for Terry Freedman
Crossed wires: creative nonfiction
“Terry has a great ability to grasp and capture the everyday, as well as an excellent feel for the quotidian conversations and dialogues that make up so much of our ordinary lives out in the real world. And from this he is able to mine real meaning and insight.” From Tom Bevan’s introduction to this essay.
Read MoreRewriting the classics: should we do it?
in News & views
Should we rewrite the classics? My view is: Yes, kind of, but not in the way you might think.
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Rainham Marshes, by Terry Freedman
Hiding in plain sight
Can you spot the hidden theme word?
Read MoreReview of Old Truths and New Clichés
It is bordering on the preposterous to think that a writer best known for his fiction, and who died nearly thirty years ago, has anything relevant to say to us today.
Read MoreOur corrections policy
in News & views
My corrections policy wasn’t easy to find so I’ve created a dedicated page for it.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreDictator Literature: a lesson in unreadability
There are loads of prizes for writers, but maybe there should be one or two for readers as well.
Read MoreEveryone has a book in them, and with any luck that's where it will stay
This is how Tom Gauld sees it…
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Review of the Hieroglyphs exhibition
If you’re looking for some great inspiration for your writing, or you want an excuse to not write for a day, I highly recommend this exhibition at the British Museum.
Read MoreCalling all writers: a free gift!
If, like me, you write a lot, or you have a blog or a newsletter that features guest writers, you might like this free spreadsheet.
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my reading plan, by Terry Freedman
My reading plans for 2023
You may have noticed that I read a lot. I’ve outlined my reading plans for 2023…
Read MoreCan ChatGPT Create Good Course Outlines?
I’ve been experimenting with using ChatGPT to write course outlines, and for one of the courses I compared the result with the outlines I had already written (and taught to). The results were interesting.
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Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
I asked an artificial intelligence bot to write advertisements for my newsletter
I asked ChatbotGPT to write an advertisement for my newsletter in various styles. Here’s what it came up with…
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