LIVE! #33
5 September 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: Douglas Stuart
- Born and raised in Glasgow
- After graduating from the Royal College of
Art in London,
he moved to New York City, where he began a career in fashion design - His writing has appeared in the New Yorker and on LitHub
- Shuggie Bain is Stuart's first novel
- Writing teleplay for Shuggie
- Second novel, Young Mungo will be published in 2022
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
Shuggie Bain - Stats
- Marketing: Coming of Age Fiction, Family Life Fiction, Literary Fiction, TV Movie & Game Tie-In Fiction
- Genre: Realistic Recent-Past Archplot Long-Form
- Word count: 155,280; avg. wds/sent.: 12.48
- Print Pages: 448
- Reading Level: Grade 7; Lexical Density: 49.01
- POV: multiple
- Publish date: February 11, 2020
- Publisher: Grove Press
- Sold By: Grove Atlantic, Inc.
- Audio book narr.: Angus King (17 hrs, 30 mins)
- Awards: 2020 Booker Prize; Finalist, 2020 National Book Award
- Recognition: A Best Book of 2020: NY Times
Writers Who Read: Coming Up
October 3: Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell (UK, 2020)
November 7: Inside Story - Martin Amis (UK, 2020)
December 5: Deacon King Kong - James McBride (USA, 2020)