Jewel of the Newspaper

What is a Feature?
Feature
• F- factual not fictitious
• E- entertaining
• A- appealing to the emotions
• T- timely or not timely
• U- unusual
• R- reader-oriented
• E- explanation; extrapolation– extending or
projecting known info
 What do
Features do?
• Profile people who make news
• Analyze what’s happening in the world, nation,
or community
• Suggest better ways to live
• Teach an audience hot to do something
• Examine trends
• Explain events that move or shape the news
• Entertain
Kinds of
Feature
•News Feature •Personal Experience
feature
•Character Sketch or Profile
•Featurettes
•Development feature
•Travel Stories
•Service feature or “how to”
•Informative Feature
How do we
write one?
Structure or Parts
Title

Lead

Body

Conclusion or Ending
Feature Devices
• Figures of Speech
• Adjectives and Adverbs
• Descriptive words and phrases
• Beautiful language and style– Word
Craft
Writing a Feature
Get the reader's attention quickly.
• Start with a well thought-out first paragraph
touching on some aspect of the person's life that
you are writing about or the event if it is not a
person.
• Good feature stories have a beginning that draws
in readers, a transition that might repeat it in the
middle and an ending that refers to the beginning.
Organize your story carefully.
• Feature stories can be told in narrative
fashion or by sliding from event to event
even though not in chronological order.
Use careful transitions to maintain the flow
of the story if you're not going to follow
chronological order.
Use short paragraphs and vary the lengths
of sentences for effect.
• Reading sentences and paragraphs that
are always the same length gets boring.
Write with strong verbs and nouns, but go easy
on adjectives.
• try to draw a picture of your subject or event through your writing.

EXAMPLE:
The man was tall.
The man's head almost brushed against the eight foot ceiling in the
room. The ship sank in 1900.
The ship sank just as the first intercontinental railroad was nearing
completion.
Don't be afraid to use offbeat quotes.
• Not profanity, but rather witty things the
person may say in response to a question
about their success, life or family.
Write tightly.
• You do not need to tell the reader
everything you know on a subject or event.
Tell only the most important things. It's
better to write shorter than longer. A good
feature can be done in 500-750 words.
Writing Time!
Write about your Favorite!
Feel free to feature anything that you think you have more knowledge on.