FEATURE WRITING

HARD NEWS VS. SOFT NEWS

Standard fare of most newspapers

Objective Direct Factual

Usually associated with human interest

Subjective Featurized

Hard News Soft News

HARD NEWS VS. SOFT NEWSHard News

“Hard news is interesting to human beings.”

-Frank Luther Mott

“Hard news concerns important matters.”

-Gaye Tuchman

Soft News“Soft news is interesting because it deals with the life of human beings.”

-Frank Luther Mott

“Soft news concerns interesting matters.”

-Gaye Tuchman

STORY STRUCTUREHard News

lead

Details are inChronological

Order

Soft News

Logical Order

Narrative Order

Most important

Least important

FEATURE WRITING

Think of the Feature Story as a news story written like a piece of short fiction

FEATURE WRITING

You must combine the rigors of factual reporting with the creative freedom of short-story writing

FEATURE WRITING

Readers would have to read the whole story to understand it

FEATURE WRITING Functions to:

humanize add color educate entertain illuminate

FEATURE WRITING

Written to hook the reader and draw him/her into the story

May or may not be tied to a current event

Often longer than a traditional news story

May present an opinionated view

FEATURE WRITING Functions to humanize, to add color,

to educate, to entertain, to illuminate

Written to hook the reader and draw him/her into the story

May or may not be tied to a current event

Often longer than a traditional news story

May present an opinionated view

FEATURE STORY Also called Feature Article, or simply

Feature

A piece of journalistic writing that covers a selected in-depth issue

Emphasizes on facts of human interest

Its job is to find a fresh angle

Makes the reader think and care

TYPES OF FEATURES Personality Profiles

> detailed article on well-known personality Human Interest Stories

> appeals to the emotion, arouses sympathetic interest

Trend Stories> e.g. food/restaurants, jobs, music, fashion, etc.

Analysis Stories> digs deep into the facts and details of a story

TYPES OF FEATURES Interview article Practical guidance (how-to) Seasonal or holiday feature Entertainment article Travelogue Personality sketch Interpretative feature

CHOOSING THE THEME Has the story been done before?

Is the story of interest to the reader?

Does the story have a holding power?

What makes the story worthy to be reported?

The theme answers the question, “so what?”

THE SUBSTANCE OF THE FEATURE Facts

Quotes

Description

Anecdotes

Opinions

Analysis

Pay off/conclusion

SAMPLE FEATURE TOPICS Foreign exchange students Unusual hobbies Dirtiest jobs Fashion trends Favorite movies Favorite celebrities Teacher features Tattoos Bizarre Foods

FEATURE STORY STRUCTURE Beginning = lead/lede

> start with a premise or a theme Middle = body/story development

> present information and opinions that back your point

End = conclusion> bring the reader to a close

FEATURE WRITING : THE LEAD The most important part

The first paragraph, but may include the second or even the third paragraph

Entices your readers, hooks them in

Uses drama, emotion, quotations, questions, and/or descriptions

Sets the tone

FEATURE WRITING : THE LEAD ATTENTION-GETTING DEVICES

Ask a question or questions Make an unusual statement Describe a scene Present a conversation Tell a brief story Present surprising or alarming statistic Refer to an event , either historical or current

FEATURE WRITING : THE LEAD ATTENTION-GETTING DEVICES

Show a controversy or contradiction Use a quotation, adage, or proverb State an unusual opinion Riddle Dialogue Onomatopeia

LEAD SAMPLE (PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING EXAMPLE BY ANDREA ELLIOTT OF THE NEW YORK TIMES)

The young Egyptian professional could pass for any New York bachelor.

Dressed in a crisp polo shirt and swathed in cologne, he races his Nissan Maxima through the rain-slicked streets of Manhattan, late for a date with a tall brunette. At red lights, he fusses with his hair.

What sets the bachelor apart from other young men on the make is the chaperon sitting next to him -- a tall, bearded man in a white robe and stiff embroidered hat.

LEAD SAMPLE (EDWARD WONG OF THE NEW YORK TIMES' BEIJING BUREAU)

The first sign of trouble was powder in the baby’s urine. Then there was blood. By the time the parents took their son to the hospital, he had no urine at all.

Kidney stones were the problem, doctors told the parents. The baby died on May 1 in the hospital, just two weeks after the first symptoms appeared. His name was Yi Kaixuan. He was 6 months old.

The parents filed a lawsuit on Monday in the arid northwest province of Gansu, where the family lives, asking for compensation from Sanlu Group, the maker of the powdered baby formula that Kaixuan had been drinking. It seemed like a clear-cut liability case; since last month, Sanlu has been at the center of China’s biggest contaminated food crisis in years. But as in two other courts dealing with related lawsuits, judges have so far declined to hear the case.

TYPES OF LEADS TO AVOID Trite dictionary lead

> “According to Webster’s Dictionary …”

Dumb declarative lead> “It’s official…”

Mystery “it” lead> “It’s round, it’s red, its juicy . . .yes, it’s a tomato!

TYPES OF LEADS TO AVOID Weird linkage or atypical lead

> "What did Boris Karloff, Jane Fonda and Richard Nixon have in

common? Ring around the collar." Who cares?

> "Jenny Jones looks like a typical college student, but she's really...a world-class wrestler …supermodel…or whatever!”

TYPES OF LEADS TO AVOID The uninformative question lead

> Avoid asking questions that might provoke your readers to respond, “Who cares?”

> Turn questions into short, informativestatements instead

COMPARE (THE LEADS)Twenty-one teachers from across Northern Luzon gathered at the University of Baguio February 24-February 28 to learn techniques used to teach writing.

Teacher John dela Cruz cried as he composed a poem about his grandmother at the keyboard of a Macintosh computer in the basement of the University of Baguio Liberal Arts building recently.

FEATURE WRITING :THE BODY The “guts” of the story

Longest part . . . so you need to vary the pace and keep it fresh by using:

> quotes and anecdotes> description and details> specific examples

FEATURE WRITING :THE BODY IMPORTANT COMPONENTS INCLUDE

Background Information> brings the reader up to date

The “Thread” of the story> connects the introduction, body and

conclusion Dialogue

> gives strong mental images; keeps them attached

Voice > the signature or personal style of the writer

FEATURE WRITING : CONCLUSION While the lead draws the reader in, the

conclusion should be written to help the reader remember the story

Will wrap up the story and come back to the lead, often with a quotation or a surprising climax

Unlike hard news stories, features need endings

FEATURE WRITING : CONCLUSION THE END CAN BE

A comment

A concluding quote

A question

A summary of the article

STEPS TO DEVELOP A FEATURE STORY Prewriting

Writing

Revising

Proofreading

STEPS: PREWRITING Step 1. FINDING THE STORY

Step 2. GATHERING THE INFORMATION

Step 3. DETERMING THE TYPE OF FEATURE

Step 4. CHOOSING THE SINGLE FOCUS

STEPS: WRITING Step 5. DETERMINING THE ORGANIZATION

Step 6. DRAFTING THE LEAD

Step 7. DRAFTING THE BODY

Step 8. DRAFTING THE CONCLUSION

Step 9. PREPARING THE HEADLINE

STEPS: REVISING Step 10. CHECKING FOR GOOD WRITING TECHNIQUES

Does the article reflect careful complete research? Do I attract my reader’s attention in the opening paragraph? Does the article maintain interest throughout? Did I follow a logical organization to achieve my purpose? Have I maintained unity? Have I varied sentence structure in keeping with the tone and

purpose? Are transitions sufficient to guarantee smooth reading? Does the word choice show freshness and originality? Have I eliminated wordiness? Do I use good story-writing techniques?

STEPS: PROOFREADING Step 11. CHECKING THE DETAILS

Be sure to check your copy carefully for correctness