Writers Who Read: The Passenger - Cormac McCarthy

September's meeting--IN PERSON at the Boulder Library Main Branch 2nd floor Flatirons Meeting Room & ONLINE (see link when you register)--is The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (USA, 2022) on Sunday starting at 2:30 pm (for 2 hours). Facilities information here.

If Joyce and Faulkner had come back from the dead to collaborate on a Swedish-style detective story set in New Orleans in the 1980s, it wouldn't be as good as this. In The Passenger, his first novel in 16 years, McCarthy paints with sepia and ochre and coalblack a timeless tale with indelible characters that rival those from ancient Greek epics.

We are Writers Who Read. We use Literary Forensics to dissect a recent novel (published within the past 18 months) with the goal of uncovering how the author has utilized their skills for effect. Storytelling is an art, but it's not a mystery. Every writer must address the following:

• Structure, Timeline, Pacing, Suspense, Omission
• Point of View, including Voice, Character, Place
• Language, Tense, Imagery, Metaphor, Symbols
• Motivation: Making a story pop - generating a thrill
• Why this story? And why now? Industry considerations

We ask that all attendees read the entire book in advance of the meeting, and come bearing their discoveries of how the author has addressed each of the five points above.

What is Literary Forensics? Find out here: https://www.garyalanmcbride.com/literary-forensics/