venta: (Default)
venta ([personal profile] venta) wrote2012-02-04 06:21 pm

A thirst for knowledge

I've never been sure whether I was a fan of constrained writing techniques. They always strike me as way more fun to write than they are to read. (In general, of course... largely, the more constrained, the less fun. Unless the writer is dead clever.)

But anyway, today I have just learned about Oulipo. Via the medium of someone doing a Pulp cover. He doesn't really apply the rules quite as rigorously as he claims, but it's definitely worth a listen:

[identity profile] secondhand-rick.livejournal.com 2012-02-04 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
After the first couple of lines it's a bit like Onion text.

[identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com 2012-02-05 10:51 am (UTC)(link)
He got as bit lucky hitting "Penguins". Anything is made better by penguins!

[identity profile] venta.livejournal.com 2012-02-05 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Nah, I suspect his values of 12 and 27 were chosen to give him <decent adjective> penguins ;)

[identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com 2012-02-06 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, sneaky! I'd assumed those were traditional offsets handed down through the centuries!