LIVE! #21
5 July 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
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
Why was this book written?
Who is the protagonist?
Do you believe in spirits?
What's up with the color blue?
Bangkok Wakes to Rain - Stats
- Marketing: Historical Asian Fiction, Asian American Literature & Fiction
- Genre: Magical-Realistic, Historical / Modern-Day / Future, Arch-Plot Long-Form
- Word count: 100,680
- Print Pages: 368
- Reading Level: 8th grade
- POV: Multiple
- Tense: past; 3rd person singular
past; 3rd person plural (Outpour, Uprising, Netherworld) - Publish date: February 19, 2019
- Publisher: Riverhead Books
- Sold By: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Audio book narrator: Euan Morton
A short, incomplete history of Thailand
- 1238-1438: Sukhothai Kingdom
Thai alphabet created - 1351-1767: Ayutthaya Kingdom
Theravada Buddhism made official religion - 1782-1932: Rattanakosin (Krungthep) Kingdom
กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตน์ราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์
1850s: Third Cholera Pandemic
1851-1868: Rama IV: King Mongkut (Anna and the King)
1855: Bowring Trade Treaty - 1932-present: Constitutional Monarchy / Military Rule
Military Coups: 13 successful, 9 unsuccessful - 14 Oct 1973: Pro-democracy demonstrations: 77 dead
- 6 Oct 1976: Thammasat University massacre: 100+ dead
- 18 May 1992 (Bloody May): 200,000 protestors; 56 dead
- 1997: Asian financial crisis
Writers Who Read: Coming Up
August 2: Lost and Wanted (USA, 2019) - Nell Freudenberger
September 6: Olive, Again (USA, 2019) - Elizabeth Strout
October 4: The Testaments (Canada, 2019) - Margaret Atwood
November 1: Weather (USA, 2020) - Jenny Offill
December 6: The Nickel Boys (USA, 2019) - Colson Whitehead