Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

Many years ago, the host of CBC radio's "Morningside" issued a 'challenge'
to his listeners to write a one-page lipogram in "e".    My entry is here:
http://www.justus.ca/writings/lipogram.htm

I was recently reading about Georges Perec's novel, La Disparitio, which is
also a lipogram in "e".  The material I was reading implied that a lipogram
must not only omit the 'target' letter but must also include every other
letter of the alphabet.  Is this second 'requirement' correct?  If so, my
1983 lipogram failed to satisfy that rule.

This got me to thinking about other possible writing challenges.  One idea
that came to mind is the last letter / first letter game.  That's the game
where someone says a word and then the next person must say a word that
starts with the last letter of the previous word. This could easily be used
as a criterion for an author wanting a 'fun' challenge.  Has anyone ever
written a substantial work what follows this pattern; that is, each word
begins with the same letter that ends the previous word?