How to Write a Yearbook Feature

There is no substitute for good writing. It flows. It glows. It lives.

-Susan Duncan

   REMEMBER most yearbook copy should be

features, not news.

Make your features interesting. If you’re bored

reading it, others will be also.

Find a central idea or angle for your story. How can I present this topic in

a new way?

Capture true feeling and human interest in your

story.

Use a clustering technique or brainstorming to get a list of ideas

to possibly include in your feature.

Compose good questions to use in your interview. Avoid yes/no

questions. Ask plenty of HOW and WHY questions. Use

DESCRIBE questions. You are asking questions to get specifics

for your copy.

INTERVIEW the subject. Do not let the words

“Give me a quote” ever come out of your mouth.

Sit down and talk to the subject with your question sheet in hand, but don’t be limited by your pre-interview questions. Ask follow-

up questions. Write down everything the person says or use

a recorder. This is the most important part of the process.

If a person you are interviewing says “just make something up,”

tell them you are taking journalism, not creative writing.

Give them more time or ask more questions to spur them into

saying something actually worth putting down on paper.

Avoid “I enjoyed”, “I was excited”, “It was interesting”,

“hard work and determination”, or any other cliché quotes.

Write the feature using interviews from three or more

sources. Write while the interviews are fresh.

Write your lead, using a narrative, a shocking statement, an incredible quote, an anecdote, or specific information about the

subject.

Use at least three good quotes per copy block tied together with transition or fact paragraphs.

Don’t be stodgy or too formal. You are a student, not Confucius.

Avoid Webster too. He’s also dead.

End the feature with a good quote, a scene, an anecdote, or a

startling statement.

Make your feature complete a circle from the lead to the

conclusion. The reader should sigh in admiration that the path you began in the lead has been

brought full circle in the conclusion.