The Scoop

The title of my novel The Scoop, pretty much tells all.  I got my inspiration from two local TV reporters.  One I had seen from the time she started with the station to becoming an anchorwoman today.  She worked hard to move up the ranks and is a good reporter.  The other was a young man who came to our local market and I just enjoyed watching him.  He had a sense of humor and it reflected in his reporting so it gave him a distinction of being a professional and yet he could make a story interesting if not amusing.

The story kind of evolved as I took those two people and tried to give them a new life in my story.  I have to admit that even I was surprised at the ending.  I wrote the story and it paralleled a lot of what is going on in the world today, only I might have emphasized it a little more to make it more interesting.  But then I got to the point that I did not know what was going to happen.

I sat there looking at the screen, after re-reading what I had previously written and then I decided to just start typing and see where the muse would take me.  I often do this and sometimes it works and other times I erase the whole thing and start all over.  But this time, my characters actually took over and finished the story for me.  I let the muse guide them and later when it was finished, I marvelled at what the imagination can do when put to the test.

I consider The Scoop to be one of my best novels and another favorite like The Lewis House Saga.  It gave me an opportunity to put into words a story with substance that grabs the reader and makes them want to keep reading until the end.

I was fortunate that I had some knowledge of the newspaper field as well as the television field as I have a dear friend who is a publisher of a small town newspaper and I became friends with his editor when I first started publishing my books.  And my oldest daughter worked in the television field for a number of years, behind the camera in the control room or even running a camers if needed.  She had some producer experience as well.
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The Scoop

     Maggie Madill was given a raw deal by the newspaper she worked for as a stranger, Jeffery Coleman, comes to town and charms his way into her position.  But his charm doesn't work on Maggie and it is the beginning of a cat and mouse game as Maggie makes up her mind that she will show Jeffery that she can hold her own.
     As a scandal hits Brownsville, the two reporters vie for the information to beat out the other for the headlines.  It is during the trial, that they both hear something in the testimony that puts them on the trail to get more information.  When the prosecutors neglect to follow up, Maggie strikes out on her own as does Jeffery.
     But as Maggie digs and gets closer to the truth, the threats on her life and that of her daughter become serious.  She gets the chance to work for the local television station where she meets David McCoy.  A relationship soon develops until she discovers that David is under cover for the FBI and feels he is restricting her investigation.
     Even when the new prosecutor is shot at, Maggie suspects there was more to it.  She is shocked to find out that he is also an undercover agent.  But when she along with her camera crew are returning from another trial and are run off the road.  Maggie is scared, but more so, because she now knows who is behind it all.
    The race is on to uncover the unknown leader behind all the corruption and when Maggie has her proof, she goes on the air with the breaking news, beating out Jeffery for the Scoop.

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In this day and age with television ready at a minute's notice to bring us breaking news, the newspaper is behind the times.  In this story, it shows how when it is important, the television is our first source of news, while we have to wait until the next day to read the headlines in the newspaper. 

We have relied on our newspapers for years to bring us the headlines of breaking news or what is happening in our communities but with progress, it is now becoming a dinosaur and soon will be a thing of the past.  Not only television, but the internet as well can provide us with information of what is happening around the world or in our own locale.  We are informed of community events and celebrations much faster than waiting for the newspaper to be delivered to our door.

It is a shame to see the demise of an important part of our lives, as it also takes away something else.  The reporters who find the words to write their stories, to give us a vivid picture in words only, will also be a part of history.  It is the last vestige of our communications via the written word and one day it will be gone forever.

For more information about The Scoop, visit my website at www.writer43.webs.com