E is for ... ELEMENTARY MORALITY

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So today is the 5th of April, which must mean that it's the fifth day of the A to Z challenge.  I've decided to share my love of writing through this challenge, and hopefully introduce people to the world of Oulipo.  I first heard about Oulipo when I was at university, and I was fascinated by their approach to writing that I decided to delve deeper into the world of experimental writing.

In a nutshell, this group of writers likes to assign constraints to their work in order to push creative boundaries.  Not only is this fun to do (the process of writing something with a constraint really does open the mind), the results are brilliant.



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E is for ... ELEMENTARY MORALITY

"First come 3 series of 3 + 1 pairs, each pair consisting of a noun and an adjective (or participle), freely including repetitions, rhymes, alliterations, and echoes; next, a kind of interlude of 7 lines, each line 1 to 5 syllables long; last, a conclusion of 3 + 1 pairs of words (noun and adjective or participle), more or less recapitulating several of the 24 words of the first part." 

Oulipo Compendium ed. Harry Matthews & Alastiar Brotchie (London: Atlas Press, 2005) page 142.

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(It's supposed to look better than this, but I don't know how to format things on here!)

Scared writer         Hopeful soul          Determined spirit
                             Blank page
Timid waiter          Clock watcher       Time waster
                             Black page
Bleak winter         White cover            Overpowering brightness
                             Blocked page

                            Writers' block
                             causes
                            a troubled mind
                            to double back
                            and create
                            empty thoughts
                           on an empty page

Right writer         Flowing words           Black lines        
                           Covered page