LIVE! #59
7 April 2024
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
Meet today's author: Curtis Sittenfeld
- Sittenfeld grew up in Cincinnati, the second eldest of four siblings.
- Attended Vassar, transferred to Stanford, where she studied creative writing, wrote articles for the college newspaper, edited that paper's weekly arts magazine, and was chosen as one of Glamourʼs College Women of the Year.
- Earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.
- Married Matt Carlson in 2008. They have two daughters and live in Minneapolis.
- 7 Novels: Prep (2005), The Man of My Dreams (2006), American Wife (2008) [based on Laura Bush], Sisterland (2013), Eligible (2016) [Pride and Prejudice retelling], Rodham (2020) [based on Hilary Clinton], Romantic Comedy (2023)
- Short story collection: You Think It, I'll Say It (2018)
"I don't think it's shameful to admit that some days your time can be better spent reading than writing."
- Curtis Sittenfeld
"I have declined to write fiction about Melania Trump double digits of times."
- Curtis Sittenfeld
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
Writing Romantic Comedy
-- RESEARCH -- - Oral history: Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests, edited by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.
- Memoirs by SNL cast members / writers: Colin Jost, Jay Mohr, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Tracy Morgan, Molly Shannon, and Sarah Silverman.
- Podcasts: WTF with Marc Maron; Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out; Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend; and Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade.
- Documentaries: Saturday Night, directed by James Franco; Saturday Night Live’s YouTube channel and its “Creating Saturday Night Live” videos.
- Inverviews: with two SNL staffers.
- Articles: New York Times article “Lives of the After-Party” by Paul Brownfield; the New York article “Comedy Isn’t Funny” by Chris Smith; and the New Yorker article “Leslie Jones: Always Funny, Finally Famous” by Andrew Marantz.
- SNL: Watching almost five decades of episodes of Saturday Night Live.
- Articles on other topics include: “I’m Not Ready to Perform” by Will Butler and “The Day the Live Concert Returns” by Dave Grohl, both in The Atlantic; “Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis” by Linda Villarosa in The New York Times.
-- WRITING SCHEDULE -- - From M-Dash Interview: A typical day . . .
Stats & Background
- Marketing: Literary Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, Women's Literary Fiction,
Family Life Fiction(?), Women's Domestic Life Fiction(?), Mothers & Children Fiction(?), &
Romantic Comedy (!) - Genre: Realistic Modern-Day Long-Form Archplot
- Print Pages: 320; Word count: 93,078
Reading Grade: 9th; Avg. wds/sent.: 16.60
Lexical Density: 46.57; Flesch Reading Ease: 69.04 - POV: Sally + Noah (Ch 2), Sally (all else); Person: 1st; Tense: Past
- Publish date: April 4, 2023; Paperback: March 28, 2024
- Publisher: Random House
- Audio book length: (9 hours 5 mins); Narr. Kristen Sieh
- Sales to date: ~100,000, according to Random House
- Upcoming movie by New Line Cinema and Hello Sunshine (Reese Witherspoon),
adapted by Jordan Weiss and Dan Brier.
Next Podcast, April 28 (with author Puja Guha)
Victory City - Salman Rushdie
WritersWhoRead.com/LIVE
May 5: Yellowface - R. F. Kuang (USA, 2023)
June 2: Mr. Texas - Lawrence Wright (USA, 2023)
SUMMER BREAK
September 1: Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros (USA, 2023)
October 6: Tom Lake - Ann Patchett (USA, 2023)
November 3: Holly - Stephen King (USA, 2023)
December 1: Let Us Descend - Jesmyn Ward (USA, 2023)