LIVE! #17
1 March 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
Today's author: Laura Lippman
- Former Baltimore Sun reporter
- Daughter of a Baltimore Sun writer
and a Baltimore Public school librarian - Author of 23 novels and 2 short story collections
- Awards: has won the Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, Nero, Gumshoe and Shamus
- Husband David Simon is a former reporter at the Baltimore Sun and creator of The Wire
Det. 'Bunk' Moreland - The Wire
“Everything is factual except for what isn’t.”
- Laura Lippman
- Laura Lippman
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
Lady in the Lake - Stats
- Marketing: Historical Mysteries, Ghost Suspense
- Genre: Realistic, 1960s, Arch-Plot Long-Form
- Word count: 91,303
- Print Pages: 352
- Reading Level: 7th grade
- POVs: Maddie (3rd person; past)
- Cleo and 18 others: (1st person; present)
- Publish date: July 23, 2019
- Publisher: William Morrow
- Sold By: Harper Collins
- Awards previously won: Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, Nero, Gumshoe, Macavity, Shamus, and Strand
- Bawlmer, Baldamore (Baltimore)
- Inspired by:
- Helen Bentley – Maritime Reporter, Baltimore Sun
- And two 1969 murders:
- - 11-year-old Esther Lebowitz
- (d. 1969) – Murdered in basement of aquarium pet store; sand was the clue to solving the crime
- - Shirley Lee Widgeon Parker, a beautiful barmaid and former Urban League secretary
- (d. April, 1969) – Found in Park’s Lake Fountain
- Background
- - Baltimore Sun
- - Baltimore African-American
Writers Who Read: Coming Up
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