Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course
Feature Writing
Introduction to features
Telling stories is a natural form of
communication. Every day we tell stories
about ourselves and others. This is a
normal exchange of information, opinions
and ideas. In a nutshell, that’s what a
feature is – a story.
But how does a feature story differ
from a news story? There are a couple of
things that make feature stories different.
Feature stories are organized in a
different way. As you’ve already learned,
a news story is organized in an inverted
pyramid. A news story is written in a rigid,
formulaic form. The lead must be a single
sentence that includes the who, what,
when and where. The lead is followed by
a single sentence bridge. The body of the
news story is written strictly in descending
order of importance. There is no need for
a conclusion. The primary purpose of a
news story is to quickly inform readers
about a newsworthy event.
On the other hand, a feature story
is more fluid. It resembles a short story
that has a distinct beginning, middle and
end. Whereas news stories are designed
for people who scan a newspaper to get
information quickly, feature stories must
be read completely to make sense. When
it comes to editing a feature story, editors
must carefully remove sections throughout
the entire story, rather than just cut from
the bottom up.
A feature is also different because it
can be about virtually any subject in which
humans might be interested. News stories
are limited to newsworthy subjects.
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The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland
Feature stories were born from gossip
pages published in the 1820s known as
“Penny Press Papers.” As the working
and middle class grew in America, the
appetite for information grew too. The
standard daily newspapers cost about
6 cents each. Penny papers became a
cheap alternative to the dailies. Instead
of dry, political stories like those found
in the dailies, the penny papers relied on
entertainment, gossip and sensationalism.
Soon, the penny papers were outselling
the traditional dailies.
As time passed, serious journalists
eventually started to write stories in
the same fashion as their penny paper
counterparts while maintaining the high
journalism standards traditionally found
in the dailies. Today, the feature story
must be able to entertain readers while
reporting the facts accurately.
As a public affairs practitioner, it’s your
job to tell informative and entertaining
stories about your installation’s people
and mission. Writing features that capture
a reader’s attention is a challenge,
but over the next three weeks, and
throughout the feature-writing portion of
the course, you will learn to write feature
stories using description, quotations and
narration.
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 Writing Principles
Purpose of
features
Feature stories are a major part of
military publications. Most stories, even
those with news pegs, are best written
as feature stories. Features can boost
morale, set examples, explain complicated
subjects and topics, and inform readers
about topics not in the news.
Although many features are designed
to inform readers, most are written to
entertain readers through the use of
fiction-writing techniques, such as scene
setting, narration and figurative language.
Even in feature writing, especially for
newspapers, the rules of accuracy, brevity
and clarity still apply. Feature writing
adds interpretation, but writers should not
ediorialize events or subjects.
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Feature Writing
Feature-writing
assignments
Each writing assignment in this course
is in a sequence designed to introduce
you to progressively new formats or
structures.
You will start with writing a practice
feature of your own choosing, which will
prepare you to write three graded and
recorded features.
Features 1
News features are similar to straight
news stories in that they have a news peg
and include important W’s and H. News
features must have a sense of immediacy.
• They are different from straight
news because they use feature
writing styles and techniques.
• News features are especially
popular in afternoon dailies or
military weeklies to present the
facts in a more interesting format.
• News features put the reader at
the scene of a news event by
narrating the event or showing, in
words, what went on.
Features 2
Human-interest features require
primary and secondary source interviews.
They may also include the use of research
and observation as information-gathering
techniques.
• Human interest is the broadest
feature category.
 Writing Principles Feature Writing

• These features are written to Features 3

inform, educate or entertain the
reader.
• The news peg is replaced with
reader interest. This means there
is no sense of immediacy. Human-
interest features are considered
evergreen.
A personality feature focuses on an
interesting person and a single aspect of
that person’s life. It can have a sense of
immediacy or not.
• It focuses on an interesting
person and gives the writer the
opportunity to use techniques,
such as quotes, anecdotes,
description and transitions.

• Research and observation can play

a key role in information gathering.

News feature Human interest feature Personality feature

Improve your travel photos

by following these simple
tips. Human interest features Baseball is my passion.
A base parade is an event have no sense of immediacy. This is a story just about me.
with news value. A news A personality feature is about
feature must have a sense of one person and one aspect of
immediacy. that person’s life.

I’m a good
secondary
source
because I
play baseball
with him.
I am an I am an expert.
expert. I teach I take pictures
I am an expert. I am an expert.
photography. when I travel.
I attended the I coordinated
parade. the parade.

For each of your stories you must interview at least two sources, or subject-matter experts.

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 Writing Principles
Plagiarism
and cheating
policies
DINFOS enforces a zero-tolerance
policy for plagiarism, copyright
infringement, fabrication and cheating per
the school’s policy and procedure manual.
Additionally, students must complete all
assignments and exercises as original
work. Students may use appropriate facts,
ideas or news events, quotes, copyrighted
or credited material as long as appropriate
attribution is provided.
Plagiarism means passing off
someone else’s writings or creative
effort as one’s own. It is the wrongful
act of copying and assuming authorship
of phrases, sentences, forms, plots or
arrangements that someone else has
originated. This includes work of other
students, printed works and works
posted on the Internet. Plagiarism may
be avoided by crediting the author or
creative source in writing. Restating
or repeating facts, news, historical, or
scientific data is not plagiarism; taking
an author’s account, treatment or version
and using it word for word without
attribution is plagiarism. A copyright is not
a precondition to determining plagiarism.
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Feature Writing
Copyright is the exclusive right of
possession given an individual by law
to protect literary, musical or artistic
work. Copyright violation may be
avoided by obtaining permission from
the author to use his material. The
courts have recognized certain limited
uses of copyright material as “fair use.”
This means that in some circumstances,
copyrighted materials may be used
without obtaining permission. The
incidents and facts embodied in news
items cannot be subject to copyright
protection. However, the literary aspects,
form, style and language, of a news story
are entitled to protection.
Fabrication means to make up in
order to deceive. Representing falsehoods
as facts, establishing quotes or making
attributions to nonexistent sources, and
creating the illusion of a factual basis for a
claim are not allowed.
Cheating includes, but is not limited
to, copying another student’s answers on
examinations and quizzes; using another
student’s negatives, photographs, tapes or
film as one’s own; or the giving of any of
the above to someone else to use.
 Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course
Feature Writing

Conclusion

A large part of your duty as a public

affairs practitioner is spreading the word
about your people and mission. One of
the best ways to meet this goal is to write
feature stories. This lecture is just the first
peek into the feature-writing training you
will receive over the next several weeks.
It will be your responsibility to put that
training to use in the feature stories you
will write here and the countless features
you will write throughout your career.

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 Writing Principles Feature Writing

References

Hay, V. (1990). The essential feature. Columbia University Press

Williamson, D. (1975). Feature writing for newspapers. Hastings House Publishers, New York

Ruehlmann, W. (1978). Stalking the feature story. Writers Digest Books

Itule, B., & Anderson, D. (2002). News writing and reporting for today’s media (6th ed.). The
McGraw-Hill Companies

Alexander, L. (1975). Beyond the facts: A guide to the art of feature writing. Gulf Publishing
Company, Houston, TX

Patterson, B. (1986). Write to be read: A practical guide to feature writing. Iowa State Press

Harrower, T. (2005). The newspaper designer’s handbook. The McGraw-Hill Companies. *I

could locate only 1997 and 2001 editions

Rich, C. (1999). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Wadsworth Publishing,
Florence, KY.

Harrigan, J. & Dunlap, K. (2003). The editorial eye. Bedford/St. Martins, New York, New York
10010

DINFOS Policies and Procedures Manual (2008)

Feature writing handbook (2008)

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