Monday, Feb. 15, 2010

Welcome back everyone. When we were last in class we discussed the Inverted Pyramid style of news writing. Basically, the most important information in the story goes first, followed by the next important information. The least important information goes last.

Today we went over everyone’s Romeo and Juliet news stories. Some of the things we discussed in addition to the inverted pyramid were:
Blind leads/ Delayed identification: This is when you do not use names in the lead. You would not use this in local stories or with stories about important people. With the example of Romeo and Juliet, you would NOT use this kind of lead.
Attribution: It is important to tell the readers where the information is from. This often verifies the story. Friar Lawrence was one of the characters commonly attributed in the Romeo and Juliet stories.
Name and Age: People ages 16 and older are referred to by their surname. People 15 and younger are referred to by their first name. Exceptions would be if they are involved in serious crimes or are athletes or entertainers. So you could have used “Juliet” instead of “Capulet.”

We also discussed how to structure a Narrative Chronological Story. This type of news story format is used for writing about accidents, disasters, police beats, weather, and sports stories.
First: Answer the question "what happened?" in a clearly written lead. Start with the most recent event.
Second: The next step tells the reader that you will organize the story chronologically. You can give a good quote and then go to the turn of the story or "this is how it happened"
Third: Write the events in chronological order.

HOMEWORK:
Write a narrative chronological story (2 on the handout given today in class).
Due Thursday, Feb. 18