The focus of our second blog entry is the difference between the straight reportage of newspapers and the narrative construction of literary journalism.
You'll notice that, in your reading about Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Capote originally found the story of the Kansas murder as an article in the New York Times. I want you to do something similar, only, I'm not expecting you to write an entire book.
Dig through the headlines of various newspapers. They can be national, local -- even The Collegian will work for this assignment. Look for a news article that appears to have the potential for a good narrative treatment--a news report that is begging to be told as a story, with vivd characters, dialogue, action, and setting. You don't have to construct the whole story into a narrative, but build a single scene of action with the information from the article. It could be the most pivotal moment in the story, the climax, the calm just before the storm: you decide what you can recreate best and most vividly. The only rule is: all your information must be based on facts you collected from news sources and what you actually know about the place or time (common sense is very useful here, too).
For example, the date December 21, 2011, may become "an unusually warm day in State College," and "the victim, Alicia Jones" may become "Alicia, a 24 year old sophomore studying business at Penn State University" who "walked out her front door, only to be greeted by an ominous masked figure." You might have to find other articles to mine for more details about the event. The more specific details you have, the better. Put what people said into dialogue, use photographs to help you paint images -- even use the Farmer's Almanac to help you describe the weather.
Your scene should be no less than 250 words. Also, please include a link to the original newspaper article from which you developed your story. If you used more articles, feel free to include links to those as well.
Due by Thursday, January 19
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