I like labyrinths, (referring to Terry’s definition of “oulipians”, however, with walls low enough that I may see over so as to not get so lost. Not saying I don’t like a good adventure, but, as someone who maxed out with a GED, this country gal prefers a simple, more direct writing tone as in conversational storytelling. (If that’s even a thing?)
I wish I had the cranial capacity at almost 72 years to remember new writing skills, but with my over indulgence on my iPhone and laptop, not to mention many years of having imbibed too much alcohol, some of my synapses are not firing on all cylinders. Although I’m always learning, I don’t think I could stuff one more class into my ‘dayness’.
I do love that you are always experimenting with words, phrases and writing. ❤️🤗
I hear you re the labyrinths, Gail! And I'm not sure that all of my own synapses pass muster either, for that matter!
It was such a fun course, and I've learned so much. It's made words feel even more exciting, and it's fun to catch unexpected ideas which jump out from the page as a result of playing around with constraints.
Gail -- I maxed out with a bit more formal education, and have had a few fewer birthdays than you, and I STILL questioned my capacity for this sort of writing play. Recently, as you may know, Rebecca and Terry began sharing crossword clues. I admitted straight off that despite my love of words, I'm no good at solving word riddles. I'm just happy there are people of all stripes and strengths in this world. Something for everyone! :)
That sounds like such a lovely day out - in the Big City, learning new stuff, testing your creativity, under the tutelage of the best. I imagine he made it lots of fun. Good for you for allowing yourself this well-earned self-indulgence. Sometimes we really need to get away and focus on something completely different. Great reporting, girl!
That was a fun newsletter today!!! Thank you!!! It reminds me of an exercise in one of my painting classes in college: take a scene from real life and paint it but switch the colors seen in the real world scene for the opposite color on the color wheel. For example a yellow flowe became purple, green leaves became red... made for a psychedelic painting and I learned a lot. 💚
Thanks, Sue! Oh wow - that sounds like a really fun painting constraint - I love that.
Terry introduced us to Oulipo-esque variations in other artistic forms, such as photography (Ouphopo) and painting and drawing (Oupeinpo), and I'd love to have a look at some of those!
Sometimes I struggle with - how can I put this? - paralysis of choice with what to paint or draw, and how - and choosing a tiiiiiiny piece of paper, or a colour I wouldn't normally touch, or only allowing myself to work with my right hand - well, if I HAD to follow a wacky rule I can imagine I would relax and just go with it! I would no longer feel responsible for it - 'well, I HAD to use sky-blue pink and paint on a piece of wood not a piece of paper - Oulipo told me to!'. Gosh, that would be sooooooo liberating!!!! xxx
Re choice of what to paint: Well then, let me tell you about my secret game of dice-y art. I have a list of 6 objects that I like and can easily access in real life like coffee cup, pencils, books...etc. I have another list of 6 characters which in my case are animals I like to draw, hedgehogs, rabbits, bugs, cats, etc. I have a 3rd list of common actions like holding, reading, flying etc. I also have a list of 6 colors.
Then for each category I roll one piece of dice. If the dice rolls 4 spots I select item number 4 for the object category...and roll again for the other categories. This game takes the mystery away from "what to draw" and is an accessible starting place.
Perhaps it would be good if I were to write a newsletter about my dice game??? 🤔
What a brilliant idea! I'd love to read a post about your dice game - it's ingenious - so YES!!!!
Around the end of last year I was playing with the idea of challenging myself to start writing flash fiction, and bought a set of Story Cubes (nine dice, each with six pictures). I brainstormed an idea which I haven't followed up on, and - you'll laugh at this, given the subject of this Oulipo post - set myself some word-count constraints based on how many of the pictures resulting in my rolling all nine cubes I would use as places/objects/characters/ideas in the resulting story. I had it all worked out and even wrote a draft post about it... and then I chickened out of using my new 'system', such is it was, to anything because I've never tried fiction and the idea suddenly scared me!
But I LOVE the idea of using dice for art! I'm going to dig them out and have a play - and whether I use them to prompt words or pictures, well, it's bound to be fun!
So glad to know you, Sue! You're so encouraging, and your posts are always packed with everything that's wonderful. 😊 And I'd love to read one about your dice game - it's brilliant! 🎲
I have 2 different sets of Story cubes too!!! That's what led me to think of my dice game that I shared with you!! I wanted to "tailor" the Story cubes to my particular interests - thus my numbered lists and regular dice!!!
I'm glad you like my game and would like to see a newsletter from me on the topic!! I'll see what I can do. May be a bit of time because I have stuff going on. When I come to it will it be okay with you if in my newsletter I link to your newsletter that began our conversation???
So super duper interesting and what fun to take a class with/from Terry with other like-minded folks. I imagine the brain waves jumped so vigorously in that room that one could cut them with a knife!
Censorship regulations are one way Oulipo can work in mass media. Hollywood during the days of the Hays/Breen Office was full of subversive storytelling approaches, and makers of television animation have longed played head games with those censoring them.
Very interesting! I'm a fan of Oulipo - and of Perec in particular. For a great collection of Oulipo writing, check out The Penguin Book of Oulipo (Ed. Philip Terry, 2019). It's the ultimate dip-in-dip-out (toilet) book!
And as for the liberation of constraint ... Since late adolescence when I got into writing sonnets (I know, I know) I've appreciated the opportunities that arise when constrictions are put into place. If you don't have to worry about your rhyme scheme, rhythm, metre, etc. you can use the 'what type of poem am I going to write' hours to actually write the thing. Or, to use another analogy, as a teacher I think it's like school uniforms: because the kids don't have to worry about what they're going to wear to school, all that time can be turned over to making themselves stand out in other ways. Not that that's always a good thing ...
I’ve got that book on my wishlist, Bryan - I’ve heard some excellent reports of it, so I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it.
I love how you've put this, that you've 'appreciated the opportunities that arise when constrictions are put into place' - that's exactly right! When I was writing this post I'd thought a lot about boundaries which are put in place by parents for their children, and how those can be very freeing for all parties. When you know what expectations are, you can act accordingly - and indeed get very inventive. Same with finances. During the Covid lockdowns, around 35 years rather too late I finally got to grips with my budgeting. I'd feared that I'd feel limited by the firm eye I was keeping on my bank balance and my spending intentions, but goodness me, it's quite the reverse! In fact, it feels liberating to have constraints in place - again, I get to be inventive, and my thinking around so many things (priorities, needs, that kind of thing) - and even my values - has altered for the very much better!
I had gone into this quite a bit in an early draft of this post, but at the rate I was going with the word count it would have made a series of posts lasting many weeks! I decided to, well, limit myself! 🤣
Brilliant account of how counterintuitive the whole thing is! Hope you get a copy of the book soon - it was a Christmas gift a few years back, and I’ve enjoyed dipping in and out of it ever since.
Sounds like you are having a lot of fun 😀 This reminds me of painting class, when the teacher would ask us to all paint the same thing, and then wonderous variety ensues. The great irony of constraints, eh?
Oh, that’s brilliant, Lani - the differences that result simply from being independent humans can be staggering, and it’s wonderful that that shows in art class, too. 😊
Great post! This is fascinating (although I struggle enough to write with no constraints!) Perhaps trying this will help. Anyway, it's already given me an idea for a post, so many thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! I know I’m going to have fun playing around with some of the constraints I’ve learned about, and if ever I branch into writing fiction I’m going to be happy that they’re in my toolkit. In the meantime I’ve got an Oulipo reading list as long as my arm (and I’m hoping that Terry’s not going to test me on it all!!!). 😁
This was so much fun! Thanks so much for sharing your class examples and more! I love ‘wuthering heliports’: the juxtaposition of a rather romantic older word with the very mechanical heliport is brilliant. And most of all besides being useful the class sounds like it was barrels of fun 🤩
LOL - ‘wuthering heliports’ is my new favourite expression! Thank you so much - and yes, the class was brilliant fun. Loved it! 😊
I’d originally booked to do it last year, when it was due to be held online. Sadly it didn’t go ahead, and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to do it in person instead!
How wonderful you were able to attend Terry's writing class. I find writing with constraints to be SO difficult. It is also new to me so I hope that, while it may not get easier, I will become more proficient at clearing the constraint hurdle the more I practice. I appreciate how you laid out these exercises.
Thanks, Donna! I’m looking forward to reading around the subject some more, and trying out some of the challenges of the lipogram techniques in particular! Writing a sentence - never mind a whole story, or even a 300-page novel, as Perec had done - which omits a single letter is hard work, but has the advantage of making me having to really, really think about which words to use which, although different, will keep the meaning of what I’m trying to say along the the right lines. I’m going to try to include a paragraph using that technique in my next letter to Terry, if I can manage it!
I really need to reread your post when I more 'compos' as it's filled with info.
But may I say when I saw the opening of Dear Reader, in my anaesthetic-befuddled mind I thought I'd slipped into a haze of purple wistaria and faux Regency and that Lady Whistledown (Bridgerton) was writing exclusively to me...
"Who’s that?’ I asked Kabir as he transferred tangerines from an overfilled box onto his trestle table.
The seller raised his head only briefly, and went back to piling up the fruit.
‘A nomad’, was the answer"
This is a great example of how the oulipo can create "potential literature" .
Very interesting write-up, and it's nice how you've adapted and invented techniques to make them your own.
Queneau defined oulipians as rats who create the labyrinth from which they then try to escape 😁
Thanks, boss! I found last Saturday fascinating - it was fab to obtain so many tips from such a savvy Oulipian!
⬆️
Lipogram in e! 🤣
Wow!
Love that definition.
Wow! This is a little—ok much—over my noggin.
I like labyrinths, (referring to Terry’s definition of “oulipians”, however, with walls low enough that I may see over so as to not get so lost. Not saying I don’t like a good adventure, but, as someone who maxed out with a GED, this country gal prefers a simple, more direct writing tone as in conversational storytelling. (If that’s even a thing?)
I wish I had the cranial capacity at almost 72 years to remember new writing skills, but with my over indulgence on my iPhone and laptop, not to mention many years of having imbibed too much alcohol, some of my synapses are not firing on all cylinders. Although I’m always learning, I don’t think I could stuff one more class into my ‘dayness’.
I do love that you are always experimenting with words, phrases and writing. ❤️🤗
I hear you re the labyrinths, Gail! And I'm not sure that all of my own synapses pass muster either, for that matter!
It was such a fun course, and I've learned so much. It's made words feel even more exciting, and it's fun to catch unexpected ideas which jump out from the page as a result of playing around with constraints.
Gail -- I maxed out with a bit more formal education, and have had a few fewer birthdays than you, and I STILL questioned my capacity for this sort of writing play. Recently, as you may know, Rebecca and Terry began sharing crossword clues. I admitted straight off that despite my love of words, I'm no good at solving word riddles. I'm just happy there are people of all stripes and strengths in this world. Something for everyone! :)
I agree, it’s what makes the world go round and an interesting place to live.
A thoroughly enjoyable read. I’m so glad you found Terry’s course so interesting and useful. I look forward to further updates. Hugs from afar. 🤗🤗
Thanks, Beth - it was such fun! And of course super to see Terry again! 😁
Thanks for kind words. Don't forget to send me your invoice. 🤣
🤣
Sounds like a fun day and great exercise! Always great to learn! 💚
It was brilliant! 🤩
That sounds like such a lovely day out - in the Big City, learning new stuff, testing your creativity, under the tutelage of the best. I imagine he made it lots of fun. Good for you for allowing yourself this well-earned self-indulgence. Sometimes we really need to get away and focus on something completely different. Great reporting, girl!
It was such fun, Sharron - there were lots of laughs (but I WAS paying attention to the teacher, honest!)! Thank you for such lovely words! x
That was a fun newsletter today!!! Thank you!!! It reminds me of an exercise in one of my painting classes in college: take a scene from real life and paint it but switch the colors seen in the real world scene for the opposite color on the color wheel. For example a yellow flowe became purple, green leaves became red... made for a psychedelic painting and I learned a lot. 💚
Thanks, Sue! Oh wow - that sounds like a really fun painting constraint - I love that.
Terry introduced us to Oulipo-esque variations in other artistic forms, such as photography (Ouphopo) and painting and drawing (Oupeinpo), and I'd love to have a look at some of those!
Sometimes I struggle with - how can I put this? - paralysis of choice with what to paint or draw, and how - and choosing a tiiiiiiny piece of paper, or a colour I wouldn't normally touch, or only allowing myself to work with my right hand - well, if I HAD to follow a wacky rule I can imagine I would relax and just go with it! I would no longer feel responsible for it - 'well, I HAD to use sky-blue pink and paint on a piece of wood not a piece of paper - Oulipo told me to!'. Gosh, that would be sooooooo liberating!!!! xxx
Re choice of what to paint: Well then, let me tell you about my secret game of dice-y art. I have a list of 6 objects that I like and can easily access in real life like coffee cup, pencils, books...etc. I have another list of 6 characters which in my case are animals I like to draw, hedgehogs, rabbits, bugs, cats, etc. I have a 3rd list of common actions like holding, reading, flying etc. I also have a list of 6 colors.
Then for each category I roll one piece of dice. If the dice rolls 4 spots I select item number 4 for the object category...and roll again for the other categories. This game takes the mystery away from "what to draw" and is an accessible starting place.
Perhaps it would be good if I were to write a newsletter about my dice game??? 🤔
What a brilliant idea! I'd love to read a post about your dice game - it's ingenious - so YES!!!!
Around the end of last year I was playing with the idea of challenging myself to start writing flash fiction, and bought a set of Story Cubes (nine dice, each with six pictures). I brainstormed an idea which I haven't followed up on, and - you'll laugh at this, given the subject of this Oulipo post - set myself some word-count constraints based on how many of the pictures resulting in my rolling all nine cubes I would use as places/objects/characters/ideas in the resulting story. I had it all worked out and even wrote a draft post about it... and then I chickened out of using my new 'system', such is it was, to anything because I've never tried fiction and the idea suddenly scared me!
But I LOVE the idea of using dice for art! I'm going to dig them out and have a play - and whether I use them to prompt words or pictures, well, it's bound to be fun!
So glad to know you, Sue! You're so encouraging, and your posts are always packed with everything that's wonderful. 😊 And I'd love to read one about your dice game - it's brilliant! 🎲
I have 2 different sets of Story cubes too!!! That's what led me to think of my dice game that I shared with you!! I wanted to "tailor" the Story cubes to my particular interests - thus my numbered lists and regular dice!!!
I'm glad you like my game and would like to see a newsletter from me on the topic!! I'll see what I can do. May be a bit of time because I have stuff going on. When I come to it will it be okay with you if in my newsletter I link to your newsletter that began our conversation???
Oh wow, that’s such a coincidence! I must dig mine out and have a play. And yes of course, do feel free to link - that would be lovely! ☺️
Will do!!!! And have fun playing!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚💚
So super duper interesting and what fun to take a class with/from Terry with other like-minded folks. I imagine the brain waves jumped so vigorously in that room that one could cut them with a knife!
LOL! It really was great, Mary! I learned loads both from Terry and the other students, and enjoyed the day so much. 😊
Censorship regulations are one way Oulipo can work in mass media. Hollywood during the days of the Hays/Breen Office was full of subversive storytelling approaches, and makers of television animation have longed played head games with those censoring them.
Gosh, David, that’s such a fascinating point - thank you so much for sharing! 😊
Wow! There is a lot to unpack here and sounds like an amazing day of learning and creating. Thank you for sharing what you learned Rebecca. :)
Aww, thanks, Julie! It was great fun - and more than just slightly bonkers! Always a good thing!
ha! Too funny. I hope you had a lovely weekend.
Very interesting! I'm a fan of Oulipo - and of Perec in particular. For a great collection of Oulipo writing, check out The Penguin Book of Oulipo (Ed. Philip Terry, 2019). It's the ultimate dip-in-dip-out (toilet) book!
And as for the liberation of constraint ... Since late adolescence when I got into writing sonnets (I know, I know) I've appreciated the opportunities that arise when constrictions are put into place. If you don't have to worry about your rhyme scheme, rhythm, metre, etc. you can use the 'what type of poem am I going to write' hours to actually write the thing. Or, to use another analogy, as a teacher I think it's like school uniforms: because the kids don't have to worry about what they're going to wear to school, all that time can be turned over to making themselves stand out in other ways. Not that that's always a good thing ...
I’ve got that book on my wishlist, Bryan - I’ve heard some excellent reports of it, so I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it.
I love how you've put this, that you've 'appreciated the opportunities that arise when constrictions are put into place' - that's exactly right! When I was writing this post I'd thought a lot about boundaries which are put in place by parents for their children, and how those can be very freeing for all parties. When you know what expectations are, you can act accordingly - and indeed get very inventive. Same with finances. During the Covid lockdowns, around 35 years rather too late I finally got to grips with my budgeting. I'd feared that I'd feel limited by the firm eye I was keeping on my bank balance and my spending intentions, but goodness me, it's quite the reverse! In fact, it feels liberating to have constraints in place - again, I get to be inventive, and my thinking around so many things (priorities, needs, that kind of thing) - and even my values - has altered for the very much better!
I had gone into this quite a bit in an early draft of this post, but at the rate I was going with the word count it would have made a series of posts lasting many weeks! I decided to, well, limit myself! 🤣
Brilliant account of how counterintuitive the whole thing is! Hope you get a copy of the book soon - it was a Christmas gift a few years back, and I’ve enjoyed dipping in and out of it ever since.
On the day I gave out a reading list and that was my top recommendation
Sounds like you are having a lot of fun 😀 This reminds me of painting class, when the teacher would ask us to all paint the same thing, and then wonderous variety ensues. The great irony of constraints, eh?
Oh, that’s brilliant, Lani - the differences that result simply from being independent humans can be staggering, and it’s wonderful that that shows in art class, too. 😊
Great post! This is fascinating (although I struggle enough to write with no constraints!) Perhaps trying this will help. Anyway, it's already given me an idea for a post, so many thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! I know I’m going to have fun playing around with some of the constraints I’ve learned about, and if ever I branch into writing fiction I’m going to be happy that they’re in my toolkit. In the meantime I’ve got an Oulipo reading list as long as my arm (and I’m hoping that Terry’s not going to test me on it all!!!). 😁
I am. Snigger
🤣
This was so much fun! Thanks so much for sharing your class examples and more! I love ‘wuthering heliports’: the juxtaposition of a rather romantic older word with the very mechanical heliport is brilliant. And most of all besides being useful the class sounds like it was barrels of fun 🤩
LOL - ‘wuthering heliports’ is my new favourite expression! Thank you so much - and yes, the class was brilliant fun. Loved it! 😊
I’d originally booked to do it last year, when it was due to be held online. Sadly it didn’t go ahead, and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to do it in person instead!
How wonderful you were able to attend Terry's writing class. I find writing with constraints to be SO difficult. It is also new to me so I hope that, while it may not get easier, I will become more proficient at clearing the constraint hurdle the more I practice. I appreciate how you laid out these exercises.
Thanks, Donna! I’m looking forward to reading around the subject some more, and trying out some of the challenges of the lipogram techniques in particular! Writing a sentence - never mind a whole story, or even a 300-page novel, as Perec had done - which omits a single letter is hard work, but has the advantage of making me having to really, really think about which words to use which, although different, will keep the meaning of what I’m trying to say along the the right lines. I’m going to try to include a paragraph using that technique in my next letter to Terry, if I can manage it!
Well done! I'll look forward to reading it.
I really need to reread your post when I more 'compos' as it's filled with info.
But may I say when I saw the opening of Dear Reader, in my anaesthetic-befuddled mind I thought I'd slipped into a haze of purple wistaria and faux Regency and that Lady Whistledown (Bridgerton) was writing exclusively to me...
LOL, Prue!!! Hope all’s going well for you. Sending hugs (but very gentle ones, of course). 😘
You write what you read. If you can't read it, you can't write it
An excellent point! 😁