story ideas memo

The description below- and the excerpt from the syllabus– addresses the main narrative you do this term.  Start to think of a good story that you would like to tell.

  Think about what makes a good story, and what you– as a student with perhaps limited transportation and constraints on time from other classes and work– can do this term.  You should be looking for stories where there is some problem or conflict that will carry a reader along through the story.  You should be looking for a possible story where you could observe or– if necessary– recreate scenes, dialogue, a narrative arc and some form of resolution, even if the resolution is not completely satisfying.  

   Please pitch to me three story ideas, ranked in the order you prefer.  The pitches should be short, but should “sell” me on the story, and should briefly explain how you will do the reporting for this story, and finally, what multimedia would you apply to this story and how would you do that.   From Syllabus:

   This type of journalism requires extensive reporting.  You cannot skip this part and succeed in your writing.

    After the reporting comes writing: students should expect to write something every week for this class.  The chief narrative outcomes will be one or two structured short pieces, and a long magazine-length article of 2,000 to 4,000 words, or a multimedia narrative piece of equal ambition.  This last assignment will require extensive work and undergo rewriting during the term. It will not be something dashed together in the last week of the term. 

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