Investigative Report December 2014
Instructions You are going to be writing an investigative report about the death of a character you create. Much like Jon Krakauer chronicled the last years of Chris’s life, even though they had never met or spoken, you will write the story of the death of your character. Any information you, as “the journalist” has, should come from interviews with family or various people who encountered your dead character when they were living. You can be as creative as you want. Your character can be fun, or very boring. It is up to you. Eventually, it will read like a newspaper article. Today, you’re just going to brainstorm.
Starting Point Where is the body found? By who? How? – Pick an interesting and remote location. The wilderness? The Egyptian pyramids? An island? Who are they? – Male/female? – Age? – Name? – Where are they from? – What were their last written words? Much like Chris leaves a note and some inscriptions, your character has chosen to leave a message somehow. Did they write it on a scrap of paper? Carve it into a tree? What did it say?
What is required The investigative report is basically a mock news article. It needs… 1. a title 2. a byline 3. an epigraph (the last words of the dead person) 4. at least 4 paragraphs of text explaining the following: a. Where the body was found and how you (the journalist) became interested in it. b. How you found out the truth about the identity of the body. c. A minimum of two “sources” for your investigation.