Writers Who Read
LIVE! #13
LIVE! #13
3 November 2019
American Spy
by Lauren Wilkinson
by Lauren Wilkinson
Agenda
- Why We're Here
- Literary Forensics
- - What do I bring?
- - What do I feel?
- - What do I notice?
- - What do I study?
- Next Month's Reading & Study
Why We're Here
We Writers want to improve our craft
by Reading like a Writer
through Literary Forensics training
we learn from each other
Roundtable Rules
Always refer back to the book
We practice active listening & serendipity
Every feeling and observation is valid...
but not every conclusion
Always refer back to the book
Today's author: Lauren Wilkinson
- - Born in 1984
- Studied writing at Columbia with Paul Beatty
- Has taught at Columbia and the Fashion Institute of Technology
- A 2013 Center for Fiction Emerging Writer's Fellow - Statue of Yennenga in Ouagadougou
What do I feel?
What in the book elicited that feeling?
Every feeling and observation is valid...
but every conclusion should be questioned
We practice serendipity
- nothing is too crazy
Always refer back to the book
What do I notice?
- • Language and Grammar
- • Context
- • Point of view
- • Character & character development
- • Pacing
- • Horizontal structure
- • Layering of themes
- • Overall effect
![](/literaryforensics/books/im/2019/Spy/cover0.png)
American Spy - Stats
Marketing: African American Historical Fiction, African American Literary Fiction
Genres: Thriller, Historical Fiction, Spy Fiction
Genre: Realistic, Recent Past, Arch-Plot Long-Form
Word count: 103,268
Print Pages: 292
Tense: 1st Person: Past
POV: Marie (addressing sons)
Publish date: February 12, 2019
Publisher: Random House
Sold By: Random House
Noteable: Barak Obama's 2019 Reading List
Word Cloud
![](/literaryforensics/books/im/2019/Spy/wordcloud.png)
Writers Who Read: Next Up
December 1: The House of Broken Angels - Luis Alberto Urrea (USA, 2018)