Extra Credit Assignment

Telling Stories

Inspiration for stories often can come directly from experiences that have a profound effect on people’s lives.

Reginald Rose, who wrote Twelve Angry Men, was deeply moved by his own experience of jury duty in a manslaughter case in New York City. At first, he had been reluctant to serve on a jury, but he wrote, “The moment I walked into the courtroom … and found myself facing a strange man whose fate was suddenly more or less in my hands, my entire attitude changed.” Rose was greatly impressed by the seriousness of the situation, the somber activity of the court and the “absolute finality” of the decision that he and his fellow jurors would have to make. He also thought that since no one other than a jury had any idea of what went on in a jury room, “a play taking place entirely within a jury room might be an exciting and possibly moving experience for an audience.”

In Cold Blood, the book written by Truman Capote, details the slaying of Herbert Clutter, a wealthy farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, his wife and two children. When

Capote learned of the quadruple murder before the killers, Richard Hitkock and

Perry Smith, were captured, he decided to travel to Kansas with friend and fellow author, Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird). Together they interviewed local residents and investigators, taking thousands of pages of notes. Truman Capote spent six years working on the book.

The film, The Runaways, is a 2010 American biography about the 1970’s all girl hard rock band of the same name. The film was written and directed by Floria Sigismondi, who based her screenplay on the book Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by the band’s original vocalist, Cherie Currie. The film depicts the formation of the band in 1975 and focuses on the relationship between Cheryl Currie and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Joan Jett until Currie’s departure from the band.

Your Task:

Everyone has a story to tell from his or her own personal experiences.

Write your own story based on an event that made a strong impression and impacted your life. For this assignment, there are no wrong ideas, only possibilities. Personal stories can be written in the first person, or they may be inspired from a personal occurrence and adapted accordingly.