Hard News Practice Writing: Inverted Pyramid Structure

Hard News practice writing 

For Assignment 8, you’ll craft a hard news story using an inverted pyramid structure.

The story will be based on only the below facts. (To be clear, this is just an exercise. None of this happened.) Each sentence should be attributed to New York State Police, unless it is attributed to another source.

Your job is to figure out what are the most relevant details, and how to organize them. You should not use every fact, as some are irrelevant or extraneous. But you should include as much of the who, what, where, when, why, and how as possible, within the limited space you have.

Your story should be five paragraphs. Each paragraph should be no more than two sentences each.

All the below facts should be properly attributed:

--It was a dark, stormy night.

--There were many people crowding around the townhouse.

--Three people were found dead after midnight inside the townhouse.

--Police officers swarmed around the area.

--The three dead included a woman, a man, and a 1-month-old boy.

--A dog milled around the property, barking fiercely at passersby.

--The victims died of gunshot wounds.

--The three dead included New York Senator Eric Schiff; his wife, Tara; and their son, Ryan.

--Police arrested Max Royce, 26, of Chappaqua, N.Y.

--Schiff is a Democrat

--Royce was homeless.

--“This was a horrible act of violence, but we don’t believe the suspect was politically motivated,” State Police Sergeant Lisa Rogers said at a news conference early Saturday in front of Schiff’s townhouse. “It appears the suspect was looking for money.”

--The incident occurred on Friday the 13th.

--Schiff was the 16th member of Congress to be killed while in office, and the first in three decades, according to the US Senate Historical Office.

--Police arrested Royce holding a weapon inside the Schiffs’ townhouse in Brooklyn.

--The weapon was a handgun.

--Royce was arraigned Sunday morning in Brooklyn Superior Court.

--He was charged with three counts of homicide.

--Royce pleaded not guilty.