Anant Sharma Help

1. What will you research to find an element of
history/reality to adapt into a fictive piece of fiction
or drama?
You are encouraged to choose an event or person
in which you are highly interested. If you aren’t
even sure where to begin, consider one of the
suggestions on the following slides.

2. Examples of nonfiction to fiction:
• Sinking of the Titanic into love story of the movie Titanic or The
Unsinkable Molly Brown (musical)
• Columbine shootings inspired Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
• Civil War events into Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Chicago Fire: Oct 8-9, 1871
• Great Fire of London: 1666
• Black Death: 1348
• Yellow Fever Outbreak in
Philadelphia: 1793
• Cholera Outbreak in US
June-December 1832
• Flu Pandemic 1918
• Chernobyl: April 25-26,
1986
• Hurricane Katrina
• Polio Outbreak in US-1950s
• Hindenburg Disaster: May
6, 1937
• Spaceship Columbia
Disaster: Feb. 16, 2003
• Challenger Explosion:
January 28, 1986
• Massacre at Tiananmen
Square: June 1989
• Olympics in Munich: 1972
• 9/11

3. Examples of nonfiction into fiction:
• Salem Witch Trials into The Crucible by Arthur Miller
• Scopes Monkey Trial/McCarthyism into Inherit the Wind by Jerome
Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee
• Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Trial
(1911): a fire started in a factory that employed many
young women. Doors were locked and there were no fire
escapes. Lives were lost and the building owners were put
on trial
• Black Sox Trial (1921): Deals with the
fixing of the 1919 World Series
• Scopes Monkey Trial (1925):
Tennessee teacher taught evolution alongside Creationism
and was put on trial
• Hauptman (Lindbergh) Trial
(1935): Charles Lindbergh’s child was kidnapped
and killed. Hauptman was accused/found guilty, but
defended his innocence.
• APD Trial (Rodney King beating)
(1992): Police in LA pulled over speeding Rodney
King, whom they had trouble subduing. Questions arose
over use of force (was it too much) and racial issues (police
were white, King was black) prompted riots over perceived
unfair treatment
• Lizzie Borden (1893): Lizzie disliked
her stepmother and subsequently resented her father
for marrying the woman. When both turned up axed to
death, Lizzie was put on trial for their gruesome
murders.
• John Hinckley, Jr. (1982): He
attempted an assassination of President Reagan. The
Catcher in the Rye was found among his things (bad
influence?) and he had been stalking actress Jodie
Foster (was he trying to impress her?).
• Timothy McVeigh (1997): He was
put on trial for the bombing of a federal building in
Oklahoma in 1995. It was the worst act of terrorism
ever committed by a US citizen.
• Brown vs. Board of Education
(1954): Case ruled against segregation in
schools.
• Rosenberg Trial (1953): Immigrants
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of passing
atomic secrets to Russia during the McCarthy Era.
They were found guilty and electrocuted.

4. Examples of nonfiction into fiction:
• Stanley Hotel inspired Stephen King’s The Shining
• Hull House inspired Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
• Banshees (local to Ireland)
• Resurrection Mary (local to Chicago)
• NJ Devil
• Chupacabra
• Marie Laveau in St. Louis Cemetery #1 in New
Orleans

5. • Eastern State Penitentiary
• Alcatraz
• Tower of London
• Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios building in
Chicago
• Jane Addams’ Hull House (Chicago)
• Lincoln Theater (local to Decatur, IL)
• Gettysburg, PA
• Waverly Hills Sanitorium, Louisville, KY
• Winchester Mystery House, California (partial
inspiration for King’s Rose Red)
• Gravity Hill, PA
• Dark Hollow Road, PA
• Fonthill Mansion, PA

6. If you would like to research a person, but are not sure who,
check out Time Magazine’s 100 Lists for suggestions of people
who have had a significant influence on art, culture, politics,
government, business, science and technology:
o The 2015 Time 100 List
o The 2016 Time 100 List
o The 2017 Time 100 List
o The 2018 Time 100 List
Here are a few people included on these most recent Time 100
lists…

7. • Donald Trump – President
• Melania Trump – First Lady
• Prince William – British Royalty
• Princess Catherine – British Royalty (Pippa
Middleton too!)
• Gabrielle Giffords – Congresswoman
• Chris Christie – Governor (Bridgegate)
• Hillary Clinton – Former Secretary of State
• Bernie Sanders - Senator

8. • Amy Poehler – Actor
• Tom Ford – Fashion and Film Director
• Justin Bieber – Musician
• Blake Lively – Actor
• Oprah Winfrey – Television Pioneer
• John Lasseter – Filmmaker
• Bruno Mars – Musician and Artist
• Sting – Musician
• Shonda Rhimes – Writer and Producer
• Jay Z – Musician

9. • Viola Davis – Actor
• Rihanna – Performer
• Kristen Wiig – Actor
• Chelsea Handler – Comedian
• Adele – Musician
• Stephen Colbert – Actor/Talk Show Host/Comedian
• Justin Timberlake – Musician
• Beyoncé – Musician
• Carrie Underwood – Musician
• Luke Bryan - Musician

10. • Jennifer Lawrence – Actor
• Christina Aguilera – Musician
• Steven Spielberg – Producer/Director/Screenwriter
• Jimmy Kimmel – Comedian/Talk Show Host
• Jimmy Fallon – Comedian/Talk Show Host
• Miley Cyrus – Musician
• Pharrell Williams – Musician/Producer
• Kerry Washington – Actor
• Key and Peele – Actors
• Matthew McConaughey – Actor
• John Green – Writer

11. • Kanye West – Musician
• Lorne Michaels – Creator of Saturday Night Live
• Emma Watson – Actor
• Reese Witherspoon – Actor
• Bradley Cooper – Actor
• Chris Pratt – Actor
• Kevin Hart – Actor and Comedian
• John Oliver – Comedian
• Taylor Swift - Musician

12. • Constance Wu – Actor
• Chance the Rapper - Musician
• Ed Sheeran – Musician
• Alicia Keys – Musician
• Donald Glover – Actor
• Ava DuVernay – Filmmaker
• Emma Stone – Actor
• John Legend - Musician

13. • Roy Halladay
• Carson Wentz
• Shalane Flanagan – First American woman to win
NYC marathon in 40 years
• Colin Kaepernick
• Venus and Serena Williams
• Lebron James
• Misty Copeland – Ballerina
• Michael Jordan
• Simon Biles - Gymnast

14. • Reed Hastings – Netflix CEO
• Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook Founder
• Sheryl Sandberg – COO of Facebook
• Jeff Bezos – Amazon Founder
• Sarah Burton – Creative Director/Alexander McQueen
• Warren Buffett – Business/Philanthropy
• Bill and Melinda Gates – Business/Philanthropy
• Elon Musk – Transportation/Space Exploration
• Pope Francis
• Thomas Edison
• Malala Yousafzai – Education/Social Justice Advocate
• Gavin Grimm – LGBTQ Rights/Social Justice Advocate