LIVE! #25
1 November 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

Literary Forensics

 

What do I bring?

What do I feel?

What do I notice?

What do I study?

Literary Forensics

 

What do I bring?

What do I feel?

What do I notice?

What do I study?

Introductions

What do I bring
to this book?

“I write in these often quite short paragraphs and there’s space around them. And the reason I do that versus in a sort of linear continuous thing is that I’m often trying to figure out how to write and have something working on two different scales at the same time.” - Jenny Offill

“That sort of ability to swing back and forth all of us are quite good at, and part of what I was interested in trying to do in this novel was: What happens when it becomes less easy to do that?”

Literary Forensics

 

What do I bring?

What do I feel?

What do I notice?

What do I study?

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

Literary Forensics

 

What do I bring?

What do I feel?

What do I notice?

What do I study?

What do I notice?


  •    • Language and Grammar

  •    • Context

  •    • Point of view

  •    • Character & character development

  •    • Pacing

  •    • Horizontal structure

  •    • Layering of themes

  •    • Overall effect

Two Things:

  • 1) Save-the-cat moments (Lizzie-Henry)


  • 2) Deprevation vs. Abundance (First two sections)

Literary Forensics

 

What do I bring?

What do I feel?

What do I notice?

What do I study?

Weather - Stats

  • Marketing:Kindle: Psychological Literary Fiction, Literary Sagas, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction; Hardcover: Christian Mystery & Suspense Romance, Psychological Fiction, Family Saga Fiction
  • Genre: Realistic Present-Day Arch-Plot Short-Form
  • Word count: 31,069
  • Print Pages: 224
  • Reading Level: 6th grade

  • POV: Lizzie

  • Publish date: February 11, 2020
  • Publisher: Knopf
  • Sold By: Random House
  • Audio book narrator: Cassandra Campbell

  •  

Topic Modeling

Topic Modeling

Contour Map

Literary Forensics

 

What do I bring?

What do I feel?

What do I notice?

What do I study?

Writers Who Read: Coming Up

December 6: The Nickel Boys (USA, 2019) - Colson Whitehead




Thanks to: Boulder Writers Alliance

Contact Gary: hello@garyalanmcbride.com
Literary Forensics Resources

Happy
Sleuthing!