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THE NOVEL

Module II: Rivers and Tributaries

Newspaper or Novel

Joyce Carol Oates describes the process of writing a novel as "tributaries making their way into a river." It is the author's challenge to use his or her creativity to order those tributaries, to weave them in and out of the current, and to make them all part of the river.

This creative process is very different from factual journalistic writing. Newspaper reporting is bound by "the five Ws" and getting the facts down in the right order.

In a small group, select an event that has happened at school, in your community, or nationally. Discuss the event so that you agree on the basic information about it. Use the diagram below to develop the story first as a newspaper story and then creatively as a fictional account based on the event. At what point would each story begin? From whose point of view would the story be told? In what order would the events be presented? What dramatic elements could be added? What theme could be developed?

The Event

Newspaper Account	Fictional Account