Applied Poetics Applied Poetics
A lab for constrained writing

Take a chance
and read what changes.

Applied Poetics is a writing space built on the OuLiPean tradition and nearly a century of computational text. Bring a text; remove a letter, sort the words by length, let the digits of π decide what survives. Inhabit a space where the aleatory meets the constrained.

40+ constraints· Oulipean · algorithmic · formic· free & open
Cast a constraint original

The wager of constrained writing is that a constraint does not limit a text but casts into a realm of possibilities. The machine is not the author, but a peculiar collaborator.

The constraint library

Forty ways to engage a text

Constraints are grouped by lineage — from the OuLiPo workshop to algorithms and received forms. Each runs an operation, then leaves the writing to you.

Oulipean Grammar Algorithmic Formic Numerology Pop Culture

…and many more inside — Univocalism, Homophonic Translation, Pi-thon, The LOST Numbers, Travesty, Concordance.

How it works

Write, restrict, and take a new direction.

01

Write, paste, or import

Start from a blank page, bring a text you already have, or pull one from Wikipedia or Project Gutenberg. The writing space stays the center of the experience.

02

Apply an operation

Highlight any passage and a contextual menu offers available operations; highlight a passage or change everything.

03

Keep what changes

Every operation lands in your Changes log. Keep it, revise it by hand, or apply a new constraint. The text remembers each turn of chance.

Bring a text. Change it.

It's free; something interesting is always one operation away.

Start writing