Renee Robinson

MEd

Central High School

Little Rock, Arkansas

Objectives

The learner will be able to:

•Describe the special characteristics of a feature story.

•List ideas that could be developed into a feature story.

•Explain the importance of organization in the writing process

•Write a polished feature story for publication.

Key TermsFeature

Sidebar

News peg

Profile

Hook

Focusing

Structure

Persona

Tone

What is feature writing?

Think of the feature story as a news story written like a piece of short fiction. You must combine the rigors of factual 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.

What Is A Feature Story?

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.

Features Evoke More Emotion Than News

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

Two General Types

Human Interest•Involves persons rather than things

•Students who win an award or do something significant such as scoring 1600 on SAT or qualifying for Olympic Games

•Retiring teacher

•What it’s like to be a crossing guard

Interviews•Usually done with prominent persons

•Can be informational or personal profile feature

•Informational interviews deal with an authority whose opinions are of significant value

•Personality interviews are interesting because of the individual rather than the subject matter

Informational Features•Of historical, social, practical interest

•Basic purpose is not to entertain but to inform.

•History of the school

•How-to features such as “how to buy a good stereo” or “what to do if you’re arrested or in an auto accident”

Personality Sketches• Develops a total picture of the person

• Attempts to reveal personality through anecdotes

• Looks at mannerisms, actions, dress, experiences.

• Facts readers will want to know:

1. Name

2. Personality

3. Background

4. Physical appearance

5. Environment

6. Hobbies

7. Influence on others

8. Anecdotes, observation

•Also called mini-features

•Clever

•Attention-getting leads

•Events usually told in chronological order

•Conclusion is often a surprise

•Short—told quickly

A sidebar is an article that accompanies and appears beside the main news story. Additionally, many features are developed around what is called a news peg. A news peg is the relationship of a feature to, or how a feature is pegged on, something in the news.

In either type of feature 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.

Foreign exchange students Eating disorders

Part-time jobs Unusual hobbies

Teacher features Favorite movies

Favorite celebrities Fast-food restaurants

Fashion trends Top Ten Lists

Topics that deal with the ordinary

Off-beat feature story ideas

Talk radio 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 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.

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.

Preparing to WritePreparing to Write

The Feature Lead

The beginning of the story must pull the reader in. The first sentence must make the reader want to read the second sentence. The lead may or may not contain a hook, a detail that draws in the reader’s attention.

Some good feature leads include:

Narrative

Descriptive

Striking statement

Punch or astonisher

Types of Feature LeadsTypes of Feature Leads

Writing Feature Leads

The structure that the Tiger uses is this:Lead

Quote (Use your most dynamic quote here)

Transition or fact

Quote

Transition

Quote

Transition

Quote

Concluding the Story

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.

More Information On Feature Leads

The best rule in feature writing is to observe no rules, aside those of basic journalistic style and structure.

The best lead for a feature story is a natural extension of the story—nothing forced or contrived without consideration to the tone or subject of a story.

The best lead is the lead that’s relevant, grabs the reader’s attention and fits the mood of the story.

Following are feature leads, also called novelty leads. They should be used with caution, should never be forced or sound artificial. They should sound natural and fit the mood of the story.

When a novelty lead serves the purpose of grabbing the reader’s attention and holding it so that he/she wants to read the rest of the story, it should be used without reservation.

Novelty Leads

Literary allusion: Relates a person or event to some character or event in literature.

To have been ordered into battle to attack a group of windmills with horse and lance would have seemed to Joe Robinson no more strange an assignment than the one given to him Thursday by his journalism teacher, Renee Robinson.

(The literary allusion is to Don Quixote.

Historical Allusion: Relates a person or event to some character or event in history.

Napoleon had his Waterloo. George Custer had his Little Big Horn. Fortunately Custer and Napoleon faced defeat only once. For Bjorn Borg, the finals of the U.S. Tennis Open have become a stumbling block of titanic proportions.

Contrast Lead: Compares extremes, the big with the little, the comedy with the tragedy, age with youth, rich with poor—if such comparison is applicable to the news event.

His wealth is estimated at $60 million. He controls a handful of corporations, operating in more than 20 nations. Yet he carries his lunch to work in a brown paper bag and wears the latest from Sears and Roebuck’s bargain basement.

Miscellaneous Freak Leads: These employ ingenious novelty to attract the reader’s eye. This list can be extended indefinitely, to the extent of the reporter’s writing ability and imagination (tempered only by accuracy and relevance.)

For sale: one elephant.

The City Park Commission is thinking about inserting that ad in the newspaper. A curtailed budget makes it impossible to care for “BoBo”, a half-grown elephant lodged in special quarters at the Little Rock Zoo.

Pun: A novelty lead that uses a pun to quirk the reader’s attention.

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.

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.