We briefly explored the concept of “prisoner letters” in the use of literary constraint. If you are interested, check out more at this link here.

A Void and Gadsby are lipograms. Read more here about lipograms if you are interested. For instance, here’s the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” straight, then without the letter “s” and then without the letter “a.” People really enjoy rules when it come to writing:

Original
Mary had a little lamb
Its fleece was white as snow
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go

He followed her to school one day
That was against the rule
It made the children laugh and play
To see the lamb in school

Without “S”:
Mary had a little lamb
With fleece a pale white hue
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb kept her in view

To academe he went with her,
Illegal, and quite rare;
It made the children laugh and play
To view the lamb in there

Without “A”:
Polly owned one little sheep
Its fleece shone white like snow
Every region where Polly went
The sheep did surely go

He followed her to school one time
Which broke the rigid rule
The children frolicked in their room
To see the sheep in school