Feature Writing

Objectives

You will be able to:

•Understand the difference between a feature story and headline news or a weekly column or editorial

•Brainstorm ideas that would make a readable feature story

•Be able to interview one or more people that have an interesting lifestyle or interest that is worth reporting

•Write a polished feature story

Key TermsFeature – like a short story but true and very real

Sidebar – statistics about the person or bulleted items that are called quick reads

Profile – a sidebar that focuses on the stats of the person you are featuring

Hook – A lead that hooks the reader

Focusing – Make sure you have lots of quotes and details to write your feature article

Structure – Quotes and Transitional Paragraphs + a beginning – middle - end

Tone – Is it funny – serious – sarcastic? Never make fun of someone you are writing about. It’s just the facts, details and quotes.

What is feature writing?Think of the feature story as a news story written like a piece of short fiction. You must combine interviewing and reporting with the creative freedom of short-story writing. The feature story’s form must be more fluid than that of a news story; the inverted pyramid style won’t work here because the story needs a definite beginning, middle and end. The readers won’t be able to scan a few paragraphs; they will have to read the whole story to understand it.

A feature story is a prominent news story written like a piece of short fiction. The story is usually not related to a current event, but it could be.

Feature stories place a greater emphasis on facts that have HUMAN INTEREST.

Features put people in the story; they make the reader think and care.

You can write a feature story about anyone if you find an unusual angle that captures the interest of your readers…like Phat Chick…it was an article we wrote about Summer Torres in the yearbook—and it was about her interest in VW bugs…aka Phat Chicks.

Generally feature stories are of two types:

•News features, which are usually written as a follow-up or as a sidebar story that is linked to a breaking news event

•Timeless story, which does not have to be used immediately. The information in this story will be just as relevant if saved for a future issue.

A sidebar is an article that accompanies and appears beside the main news story.

Good reporting is essential. You collect as many details as possible. You describe people, settings and feelings, the elements of storytelling. When all the details are added together, the reader is placed in the scene you are describing.

Finding Subjects that Matter

There are no restrictions on subject matter. You are limited only by your imagination. Often a feature story is a simple story about a common person in an uncommon circumstance. The feature’s job is to find a fresh angle—to find the story behind the person.

Offbeat feature story ideas

Talk radio - Lunchbox Weird cravings

The truth about goat cheese The best books not to read

Crazy answering machine messages

Beepers, cell phones Coincidences

Psychotherapy Tattoos, body piercings

Individualism

ProfilesOne of the more popular types of a feature story is the profile.

A profile is a short, vivid character sketch.

Too many profiles turn into a tedious recounting of biographical facts or are unrelated anecdotes sandwiched between quotations.

A good profile includes impressions, explanations and points of view. It should emphasize what is unique about the person. You can use a flashback technique or highlight the individual’s many roles.

The LeadThe beginning of the story must pull the reader in. The first sentence must make the reader want to read the second sentence. The lead generally contains a hook, a detail that draws in the reader’s attention.

Some good feature leads include:Narrative – Miss Muffet thought today would be a better day. Then came the nausea and pain caused from the leukemia.

Descriptive – Slowly, he walked, step by step, into the journalism room. Max the Monster, born into the family of terror on Racine Street, was seen entering room 2145 on Halloween Eve!

Striking statement – She weighed 80 pounds and still thought she was overweight.

Punch or astonisher – Drafted! Winning the game with three overtimes—the winning touchdown by Austin Beer brought him into the arena of

the UT draft.

As you prepare for your feature story, you will gather a large amount of information through interviews and background research. Before you begin writing, you will focus on the main idea you want to get across, and organize your information, eliminating that which does not go along with your focus.

Focusing is narrowing your topic—reducing a large amount of information to a usable amount.

Structure

After you have written the lead, you need a structure in which to place the information. A structure is an organizational pattern the writer uses to synthesize, that is to establish relationships between relevant pieces of information.

The structure includes:Lead

Quote (Use your most dynamic quote here)

Transition or fact

Quote

Transition

Quote

Transition

Quote

Continue alternating quotes and transitions all the way through the story.

End your story on the second best quote you have, to leave your reader with something to think about.

Finding the right voice

You have many voices. You speak to your friends differently than you do your parents or your teachers. If you have a job, you have a voice for your boss. When you write a story, you take on a persona, or character. You must choose a voice that best imparts the information in that story.

The choice you make becomes the tone, or mood of the story, and it should always match the content. For instance, you would not use humor to write about a tragic auto accident.