LIVE! #60
5 May 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: Rebecca F. Kuang
- Born in Guangzhou, China, in May, 1996, Kuang emigrated to Dallas at age 4 and grew up in Texas, attending private elementary and high schools.
- She holds a degree in history from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and two masters degrees in Chinese studies from Magdalene College, Cambridge, and University College, Oxford.
- Kuang has also worked as a debate coach in China and in Colorado.
- She currently lives in Boston and is working towards her PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.
- Kuang graduated from the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 2016 and attended the CSSF Novel Writing Workshop in 2017.
- She is the author of 5 published novels:
- - The Poppy War trilogy (2018, 2019, 2020)
- - Babel (2021)
- - Yellowface (2023)
- Kuang is working on novel #6: Katabasis, and two additional books to be published by HarperCollins.
- She is a #1 New York Times bestselling and Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author.
"If I'm not writing then I don't feel right;
I feel extremely unsatisfied."
- Rebecca F. Kuang
"I get bored really easily. I’m never going to write a
project in the same genre twice, because there are just too many forms of storytelling that I want
to experiment with, and not enough years in my life."
- Rebecca F. Kuang
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 Yellowface
- Kuang wrote Yellowface in early- mid-2021, when she and her fiancé lived in Florida, under COVID lockdown, away from family and friends, "caged" only with access to social media.
- The idea "sprung from her brain like Athena from the forehead of Zeus", while thinking about diversity and representation within the publishing industry.
- She wrote the first draft over the course of a few months, taking inspiration from her own experiences as an Asian American author, such as being told her appeal is largely or entirely due to her being a "token" author.
- She usually refuses to show early drafts to anyone.
- Upon reading parts of her story, Kuang's literary agent attempted to dissuade Kuang from pursuing it further, concerned it could be seen as an attack on the publishing industry.
- Kuang completed the manuscript and it was ultimately published by HarperCollins.
- Barnes & Noble special edition includes an essay by Kuang titled “Asian American Literary Identity and Representation: A Personal Tour of the Field”.
- From Strombo's Lit podcast:
"It's an Internet book from the era where all we had was Internet" - R F Kuang
Stats & Background
- Marketing: Asian American Literature & Fiction, Cultural Heritage Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction, Satirical Literature & Fiction
- Genre: Realistic Modern-Day Long-Form Archplot
- Print Pages: 336; Word count: 91,790
Reading Grade: 8th; Avg. wds/sent.: 12.78
Lexical Density: 48.67; Flesch Reading Ease: 71.84 - POV: June Hayward; Person: 1st; Tense: Present
- Publish date: May 16, 2023
- Publisher: William Morrow - HarperCollins
- Audio book length: (8 hours 39 mins); Narr. Helen Laser
- 2023 Awards: Foyles Books of the Year for Fiction, Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction, Libby Book Award for Best Book Club Pick, New England Book Award for Fiction,
- Recognition: Reese's Book Club Pick, New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2023, Amazon Best Book of 2023, Libro.fm top 10 audiobooks, Time 100 Must-Read Books of 2023
Next Podcast, May 26
Birnam Wood - Eleanor Catton
WritersWhoRead.com/LIVE
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)