Hi all,
For those of you who weren’t there (and for those of you who were), here are the points I covered in Tuesday’s chat:
Assignment
Don’t think of it as a ‘story’ — you are merely describing the scene. One rule: You can’t write in the first person (no ‘I’ of ‘me’).
This is an exercise to work different writing muscles and observation. Describe what you see, notice, hear, in three paragraphs that are nicely (and tightly) written and grammatically fine, and you’ll have no problems. You are welcome to describe the entire scene, or just one thing you notice. You just can’t use yourself as a point of reference… (i.e. …three feet away from me, a man…)
Not: I smell roses in the air.
But: Roses fragrant the air.
Rules of good grammar and succinct writing still apply. You will receive an in-class grade for this assignment, but I only will be grading on grammar and clarity/brevity of writing (not using 10 words when only three words will do)
Feature story
You can’t be in the story, nor an immediate family member (father, mother, sibling)
No first person writing
Remember, you must have quotes from at least three different people (which is to say YOU MUST INTERVIEW at least three people – maybe more)
You must provide the names, phone number and e-mails of your sources
Deadline to review drafts – Friday April 20
IMPORTANT – tell your sources you will likely be back in touch with them the week of April 22nd
Quotes taken from other publications do not count. (If you do quote from other publications, please remember to attribute – otherwise its plagiarism).
You do not require headlines or photos for the story (unless they help you with the reporting – but rather you spend the time writing, editing stories)
Labs
The labs for the next two weeks (April 17 and April 19; April 24 and April 26) are not mandatory. I will be there to answer any questions you have on your features in progress.
MONDAY CLASSES WILL STILL MEET (and are more important than ever, so be there!)