Writing Workshop - 6/13 - Journalism Classroom - Tuesday Morning

[mycanonhatesme]

Chloe was on her laptop again when everyone came in, but she wasn't doing anything other than staring at the screen as though she wanted to type something, but couldn't remember what.


When everyone had come in, she snapped out of her little reverie. "Hey guys, and ladies. Okay, so for the past few weeks, we've been talking about different types of non-fictional writing, and I figured we'd segue into fiction with a little something that mixes them both." She motions to the piles of The National Enquirer and Star whose websites are down, woe! that are sitting on the table. "Gossip is one of the worst ways an editor can make their newspaper or magazine copies sell, in that it's a sad, pathetic last resort. Unfortunately, it's also one of the best ways to make copies sell, because it usually works."

"What I want you to do today is either take the news story you wrote last week, or a different event, if you'd like, and sensationalize it. Write something that'll make people want to grab the story and read it right where they're standing. You can exaggerate and lie about the details - that's the whole point of gossip - it just has to be based on something that might possibly be verifiably true."

Comments

Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[mycanonhatesme]

You didn't come here to work, did you?

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

Janet's listlessly scribbling notes as she tries to remember what was going on yesterday. Everything's oddly fuzzy, and it worries her.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

Marie's faintly nervous about this one as she's never been much of a gossip.

"Hey, we missed you on Sunday," she said to Janet.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

Janet grinned. "That's when I do my stint as clinic aide. It was unusually busy, too, so I couldn't skip out early."

Maybe she talked about this yesterday? In the gym? But she's not sure, and there's really no harm in talking about it again.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

"Oh, how's Buffy? Alec told me she was in the clinic." Marie asked. "And I think our next practice is tomorrow, so hopefully you can make it then. If you want to practice with me sometime, I'd be glad to help."

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

"She's got a pretty severe head wound," said Janet, handwavily explaining the details of Buffy's injury. "Tomorrow? I should be able to be there, and--yeah. Thanks. Extra practice would be good. I'm out of shape, and I don't want to look like an idiot."

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

"I hope she's okay," Marie said with a frown.

"But, yeah, any time you want to practice is good with me," she added with a grin. "My schedule is pretty free aside from this workshop, astronomy tomorrow night and Dadaism on Friday mornings.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

"She will be eventually," said Janet confidently. "Head wounds take some time to recover from, and you want to treat them with a lot of care in case there's some damange to cerebral tissue."

"How about Friday afternoon?" suggested Janet. "Today is full; I have to run to archery after Chloe lets us go here. But on Friday, all I have is the beach workshop in the morning, so I can meet you at the gym after it's over."

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

"Friday afternoon sounds great," Marie nodded provided my net connection at work is back up & running after my move. "And then we'll make sure you're in tip top shape for the game on Saturday!"

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

"Good. I, ah, don't need to wear the uniform if it's just you and I practicing, do I?" asked Janet. If not, we'll handwave it. "I can't believe the game is so soon. I don't think I've got any of the cheers memorized."

Which she was actually going to have to do, damn it. Maybe she'd get lucky and the school would be attacked that weekend and she'd get out of it?

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

"Nope, wear something comfortable and loose so you can move easily," Marie advised. "And I can write down the cheers for you, if you want."

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron stared at the paper in front of him and tried to come up with something sensational and gossipy.

Stickbugs rule the Earth
Meerkats gnome lovers?
Seahorses, a cabin of debauchery
Boykissy kills brains

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna doodled on a scrap of paper.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth was definitely uncomfortable with the idea of gossip, and her pen was mostly hovering over her paper.

She was also thinking back to the radio, and glanced across at Janet a couple of times.

She didn't really remember talking about sex yesterday...

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

Janet's paper was very fascinating. Full of doodles, not text, but fascinating. She could see Liz out of the corner of her eye, and she was fairly certain they'd had some kind of conversation yesterday, but she wasn't sure what.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth looked down to see that she'd managed to write two words.

Lab coat.

Eyes wide, she quickly scribbled across it and turned to another page in her notebook.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

Janet's innate sense of nosiness curiosity had her peering over at Liz's paper, and her eyes widened minutely. She scrawled out a note and passed it over to Liz.

What was that?

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Nothing! Elizabeth scrawled frantically in return.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

With that expression, it had to have been something!

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Nothing that is suitable for discussion in the middle of class!!

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

Oh. Oh. Okay, then. Later? What are you writing your assignment on?

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely later. And I have no clue! I don't do gossip! How about yours?

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[janet_fraiser]

Marie and I figured our stories out earlier. I'm writing about how large numbers of people really did go to the library to research brownie recipes. Because that's ever going to happen.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory chewed on her pen and wondered how she could make her story slightly more gossippy while keeping her integrity.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves (6/13)

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Kawalsky may have rolled his eyes a little at some of the conspiring chatter in the room.

He stared at the paper. He could gossip. Gossip was easy. You just made stuff up. His pen hovered over the paper and at the end of the class, he had nothing that was suitable for public consumption.