LIVE! #22
2 August 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: Nell Freudenberger
- The It Girl of 2003 - bidding war for 1st novel, The Dissident
- She ended up declining a $500,000 two-book deal for $100,000 from Ecco Press.
- - - Pantster - -
- Lost and Wanted -- sold in 2013
- Threw away entire draft (protagonist was a writer)
- Turned Helen into a Physicist after 2+ years of research
- Finished 2018; Published in 2019
- "It's always worked better when an idea seems like something that I couldn't do."
- Freudenberger on writing as a physicist
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
Lost and Wanted - Stats
- Marketing: Friendship Fiction, Ghost Fiction
- Genre: Realistic Modern-Day Arch-Plot Long-Form
- Word count: 112,242
- Print Pages: 316
- Reading Level: 7th grade
- POV: Helen
- Publish date: April 2, 2019
- Publisher: Vintage
- Sold By: Random House (mass market)
- Audio book narrated by: Narrated By: Ann Marie Lee
Writers Who Read: Coming Up
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