LIVE! #16
2 February 2020
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
“It’s a novel about how we tell our story, and who else might be trying to tell our story, since our story is usually entangled with somebody else’s . . . ”
- Susan Choi
“. . . I wanted the characters to be in a place that isn't a cultural capital . . .
They're always yearning for
and aspiring to go
where the bright lights are.”
- Susan Choi
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
Trust Exercise - Stats
- Marketing: Contemporary Literary Fiction, Romance Literary Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction
- Genre: Realistic, Present Day, Arch-Plot Long-Form
- Word count: 92,492
- Print Pages: 262
- Reading Level: 8th-9th grade
- POV:
- Part 1 (Sarah): 3rd Person Omniscient
- Part 2 (Karen): 1st Person; 3rd Person Close ("Karen")
- Part 3: 3rd Person Close (Claire)
- Publish date: April 9, 2019
- Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
- Sold By: Macmillan
- Awards: 2019 National Book Award For Fiction
- Named a Best Book of 2019 by: The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, Elle, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Bustle, Refinery29, Town & Country, Cosmopolitan, The Millions, TIME
- Barak Obama's 2019 Book List
Writers Who Read: Coming Up
March 1: The Lady In The Lake (USA, 2019) - Laura Lippman
April 5: Fleishman Is In Trouble (USA, 2019) - Taffy Brodesser-Akner
May 3: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
(Poland, 2009, translated 2019 by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) - Olga Tokarczuk
June 7: Agent Running in the Field (England, 2019) - John le Carré