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1st February, 2025 - a challenge for the month

I've set myself a challenge for February.


Every day of this month I'm going to complete 15 minutes of copy work. Not a lot of time really but by the end of the month that will be 7 hours spent copying the work of writers I admire.


I've done odd bits of copy work before and have found it a useful exercise. It's a great way of close reading. I find it almost like a cheat: like I'm hot-wiring the ability to engage deeply with a text. All I have to do is copy it out and I automatically start noticing things that I can simply take note of.


I've started this morning with Gabriel Josipovici's short story, 'Christmas'. It's a great story that's heavy on dialogue. Narration is striped down to the bare minimum to keep us moving forward.


Already there is so much to be gained from this story:

  • Its ability to draw attention to facets of the story's background with little more than a few well chosen words in a line of dialogue

  • How little narration you really need to progress a scene

  • The way it builds tension and intrigue by withholding information to make the reader a part of the story's creation

  • The way characters become defined by their relationships and interactions with one another.


Day 1 done. 27 more to go.

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