Read “Capturing the Reader” and “Game of Her Life” (if you
have not read it by now). You should be able to tell me something about the
personality profile you are writing. Please describe who this person is, why
they are newsworthy, and the angle you are taking on this story? How will you
hook the reader? Share a passage of your article that you have written and discuss what you were trying to convey and why you like it. What makes it good prose? I want you guys to read each
other’s blogs and be prepared to share your feelings and offer help to your
classmates in class.
Due: Jan. 27 at 5 p.m.
My profile subject, Melissa Leilani Larson, is an experience playwright and budding screenwriter. She's from Hawaii but graduated from BYU and the University of Iowa. I think she's newsworthy because it's not too often that you get to the heart of why a screenwriter or playwright does what they do. They're really behind-the-scenes sort of people, but they're also a major part of the heart of the production. That Larson is an LDS BYU grad makes it relevant to BYU and Provo audiences. I also think the fact that she's young, and a woman, makes her newsworthy.
ReplyDeleteThe angle I'll take on the story will relate to all of this--a sort of background on who she is and how she relates to her audiences, who are often women. I'll hook the reader by giving the scope of her work but also giving the heart of who she is as a relatable individual with goals and mindsets different but similar to our own.
A possible passage from my story:
Running, calling, directing, laughing, listening. The various emotions of a soon-to-be-premiered play manifest themselves in every one of the cast and crew's movements.
Melissa Leilani Larson is in the middle of it all, leading and instructing with the passion she had as a child, enraptured with stories and romanced by words.
Larson is a busy BYU graduate, professional playwright, emerging screenwriter and occasional adjunct professor at BYU and UVU. She's also a woman in a field dominated by men, dedicated to giving voice to all of her characters and letting them be who she, majestically but freely, discovers they are.
I don't necessarily know that this is great prose, but it's what I could come up with, with the information and knowledge I have of her and her passion for her work. I really just hope that my prose, whatever it ends up being, is true to her and shows her in her true light. I think that, combined with gripping diction and syntax, is what great prose is.