LIVE! #27
3 January 2021
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: Megha Majumdar
- Born: Kolkata, India, 1987
- Harvard: BA, Social Anthropology
- Johns Hopkins: MA, Anthropology
- Editor: Catapult Books / Magazine
- A Burning: 1st novel
- - 4 years to write; 15-45 mins / day
- - Wrote 3 separate arcs, then combined
- "I really like when a character is able to hold contradictions."
- "Who gets to star in their own story?"
“A challenge that I set myself was: I wanted to write a book that would be intellectually serious and say something about living during this time of extremism, but also a book that would be entertaining. I think that it takes real craft and skill to entertain someone.”
- Megha Majumdar
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
A Burning - Stats
- Marketing: Terrorism Thrillers, Political Fiction, Political Thrillers
- Genre: Realistic Present-Day Arch-Plot Long-Form
- Word count: 61,947
- Print Pages: 304
- Reading Level: 7th Grade
- POV: Jivan, Lovely, PT Sir, chorus
- Tense: Mostly present
- Person: Jivan, Lovely: 1st; PT Sir: 3rd;
interludes: 1st, 2nd, 3rd - Publish date: June 2, 2020
- Publisher / Sold By: Knopf
- Audio book narration: Vikas Adam, Priya Ayyar, Deepti Gupta, Soneela Nankani, Neil Shah, Ulka Mohanty
- Recognition: 2020 NYT Notable Book, Today Show #ReadWithJenna book club pick
Shortlisted: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction
Writers Who Read: Coming Up
February 7: Red Pill - Hari Kunzru (England, 2020)
March 7: Interior Chinatown - Charles Yu (USA, 2020)
April 4: Apeirogon - Colum McCann (Ireland, 2020)
May 2: The Lying Life of Adults - Elena Ferrante
(Italy, trans. 2020 by Ann Goldstein)
June 6: The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett (USA, 2020)