Feature Writing Lecture

SLIDE 1
A Feature story is like... Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's kind of...
something and everything,"

What sets Tony Stark apart from the other Avengers is that he's essentially a self-made
superhero. He is very much a normal human being under his Iron Man suit which makes him
vulnerable to pain, death, and emotions.

In the same way, feature stories are, in its very core, a news story. It is made up of the same
elements and has the same need for factual basis as the stories we see on the front page. It is,
however, packaged in a more creative, sometimes even flashier, style of writing.

However, summing up Iron Man's awesomeness by way of his suit's superpowers and his
alter-ego would mean selling the Marvel franchise short. In the same way, defining feature
stories by the subject matter or by the facts they were based on would be very misleading for
readers and beginner writers.

This is why a feature story, can be defined as both 'something' and 'everything'.

SLIDE 2
Essentially there are two types of News:

Hard News is up to the minute, time sensitive information. It is typically more urgent than
Soft news.

Soft News or features are: less time sensitive. Do not go out to date after they are published.

- Feature writing breaks out of the hard news format

- Allows reporters to work on larger canvas's with richer resources.
*This means you can develop it over time, research the topic and tie sources together.
- Give journalists more freedom of language, and the ability to explore more issues from a
greater number of sources.

SLIDE 3
News Feature
This type of story has its basis upon timely news happening with a human-interest angle is
called a news feature Often a news happening can be made much more interesting or
newsworthy by writing it in a semi-feature sort of thing. A news feature is generally timelier
than a straight human interest or a long feature story.
Informative Feature
This type does not use many of the fiction writer’s devices, since its purpose is to inform
more than to entertain. It may be very closely related to the so called “New Journalism”.
Facts for this type are usually obtained from interviews, library research and personal
observation. To create interest feature writer, includes human-interest elements in his feature.
Its success depends upon the accuracy facts and the style and form with which it is presented.

Personality Sketches
It is very popular among the readers as everybody wants to know about other people. These
features are written about those men and women whose stories are worth telling because they
are historical characters in whom interest survives long after they are dead.

This type is not easy to write as it is an uphill task to portray a personality with artistic
preciseness. Facts about the person are obtained from his friends, teachers, relatives and
associates. While writing a personality sketch a feature writer must avoid, stereotyped pattern
that finds it way into these features very often.

Personal Experience Story

This Feature Story is in the form of an interview. It must deal with an unusual experience or a
wonderful accomplishment. The writer must be careful not to en1ogize the subject but rather
allow the facts to tell the story by themselves.

Developmental Feature
Some current or newly-launched program of the government that need to be disseminated and
that would draw public support.
Human Interest Feature Story
Human-interest sketches are written under the influence of humorous and pathetic incidents
that are reported in the daily routine. It usually develops from an ordinary incident or
situation but due to fantastic style of composition appeals to the emotions. But it must be kept
in mind that it is based upon facts of a timely nature. It’s news value is almost nil and it
would not have been published if it were not presented in an interesting and entertaining
style. Therefore it entertains more than it informs. It may be written about almost anything
i.e. person’s places, animals etc.

STRUCTURE
Lead/ hook - TEASE ME
Nut Graph - TELL ME MORE
body paragraphs - CONVINCE ME
- facts
- quotes
- anecdotes
Kicker – Help me remember
LEAD - This is the most important part of the feature article.
Grabs the audience's attention and persuades them to read on
There are many different types of leads:

(NUT GRAPH) Tic Toc Paragraph

This takes the audience back in time (or perspective), showing them the bigger issue you
intend to discuss
You need to provide the background to the story
Use time references e.g. ''It wasn't so long ago that...", "Before the age of the computer...",
"When he was a young soldier...","Before this issue became a problem", "Several years ago"
etc
Expand the body with:
• facts and statistics
• personal viewpoints
• sub-headings (optional)
• opinions from authorities and experts
In the nut graph, writers and editors:
1. Explain the lead and its connection to the rest of the story.
2. Reveal your destination, or the essential theme of the story.
3. Set up the supporting material to explain the rest of the story.
4. Explain why the story is important to convince your readers to come along for the
ride.
Kicker (a.k.a conclusion)
In the kicker you will:
• Summarise your ideas
• Link back to the headline
You could finish on a quote that emotionally encapsulates the story, a rhetorical question, or
something humorous. The kicker should be memorable!

FEATURE DOS

Purpose is Paramount
What are you trying to accomplish?
Without understand the purpose of your feature article it is unlikely you will be able to be
persuasive, considering you won't know what you are trying to persuade the reader about.

The purpose of a feature article is more than a topic that you wish to inform your reader on. It
is a concept that are trying to get your readers to invest in and consequently persuade them to
the concept you are 'selling'.

Consider the image of an article. Is the author's purpose clear?

WHO is your audience?

Are you trying to convince teenage girls to have greater self-confidence? Are you trying to
convince teenage boys that chivalry is not dead? Are you trying to convince teachers that
homework is unnecessary? Whatever your purpose, how you speak to your audience is
significant.

Telling relevant anecdotes, facts, quotes and using humor that your target audience is familiar
with will assist in getting your readers invested in the purpose of your article.

FEATURE DONTS

Transitions:
A transition is when one paragraph moves smoothly to the next one
Things good transitions do:
• repeat a word, phrase or idea that has been used in the paragraph immediately before
• use cohesive devices:
• undoubtedly, similarly, in spite of this, conversely, alternatively, consequently,
meanwhile

SHOW DON’T TELL

Show don’t tell is one of the most relevant writing techniques, it confers quality to the texts
and involves the readers, it grabs them.
What is Show don’t tell?
Show don’t tell is easy to, theoretically, understand. However, it can be complex to apply it.
But the good news is, once you understand it and use it, there’s no going back: your writing
will include it, intuitively.
The writer, Anton Chekhov, defined Show don’t tell like this:
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on the broken glass.
The difference between Show and Tell
As a writer, your goal is to provoke a reaction in your readers, take them to feel the emotions
your character is feeling.
The difference between show and tell is that show invokes on the reader a mental image of
the scene/emotion, while tell is a statement of an action/emotion.

Show
Show is a tool used to pull the reader to a scene. By using it, you’re creating a connection
between the reader and your scene/character. This happens because you’re making the reader
interpret what’s happening, instead of telling him what he should understand or feel.
Showing concrete and vivid details will make the reader create his own conclusions — that
will be the same as yours, only he’s going to interpret them by himself.
Show keeps the readers actively involved in the story. Tell will keep them passive on the plot.

Tell
When you tell, you’re stealing to the readers the opportunity of discovering, by themselves,
the world you created, to add something personal to the scene — for them to get involved.
You won’t allow readers to use their imagination, their experiences and, even personality —
they can’t make conclusions on their own, you’re imposing yours.
You’ve kept your readers outside the story when what you want is the opposite.
Readers don’t want to be told the character is angry, sad, or happy. They want to feel it!
When the writer shows the story from the character’s perspective, hardly the readers will
drop the book — they’re living with the character, the events are them as well. The readers
see, listen, think and feel what the character lives. They have to interpret the meaning that
you, the writer, print it.
The readers become part of the story: why would they abandon it?

Applying Show don’t tell in your writing will take effort. You must uncover each emotion.
But think about it: as a reader, do you prefer to feel a chill in your spine reading an erotic
scene, or to read that same scene told as if a documentary, naming every feeling?
Do you rather be a reader-spectator (excluded from the scene), or a reader-character (part of
the plot)?

6 tips to implement Show don’t tell in your writing

1. Use the character’s five senses
Take the reader to the scene through the character’s senses.
Make a list of what the character sees, listen, feels, touch or taste. Then rewrite the scene
using strong verbs (more about this in the next tip).
2. Use strong verbs
Strong verbs are the irregular ones, those that “form the past tense out of their own resources,
without calling to their assistance any ending” (source: Garner’s Modern American Usage,
Bryan Garner, 2016).
They are dynamic and, often, have a connotation of movement, they create a vivid image in
the reader’s mind.
For instance, verbs love, hate, believe, belong, live, are static verbs. Unlike the strong verbs
walk, say, sell or think, that implicate an action from the subject.
But this is not a rule to be always used. Weak verbs are part of the writing, and they have
value. However, when writing crucial scenes, if you want to create tension or to highlight a
scene, use strong verbs.
3. Avoid adverbs
An adverb is a word that changes the meaning of the verb, adjective or another adverb. Using
the previous tip, your verb will annul the need for an adverb.
Adverbs distract the reader of the story, they put you, the writer, on the scene. It’s you who’s
giving meaning to an action. Moreover, in the story, there’s only place for the characters and
the reader (you don’t belong there).
About the adverbs, Stephen King, in his book On Writing, a memoir of the craft, states:
With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn´t expressing
himself/herself clearly.
Take this as an example: “Richard walked, slowly, through the avenue.”
Including the adverb, I’ve interfered with your reading. Instead, I could have shown, like this:
“Richard walked on the avenue, he stopped to smell the flowers, he admired the blue sky,
smiled at the squirrels, running up the trees.”
If Richard were in a hurry, he wouldn’t stop to smell the flowers or look at the sky. Being
descriptive, I’ve shown how Richard was calm and walking slowly.
Besides, I’ve also shown that Richard is a person sensitive to nature. If I wanted to let you
know that he was angry, I would show him nagging about the children’s noise.
Showing a scene, we are also allowing the reader to build a profile of the character. By
himself, without our interference.
When using adverbs (which is not wrong, they must be used spaced and only if they give real
meaning to the sentence), access its combinations with the verbs.
4. Be specific
The more specific you are in the descriptions, the easier show will be.
Being specific, you’ll fill the blank spaces left by your tell, and you’ll create a dynamic
scene.
Don’t spare in the wording; instead, use descriptions to show.
Avoid generic terms: use concrete nouns, that will give the reader an image. If you want to
say the character has a dog, show its happiness when his owner gets home.
You don't have to apply this rule in every paragraph. Besides creating an exhaustive
description, the specificity will increase the wording. Find a balance.
5. Use dialogue
Dialogue is the easiest way of showing. It’s action in real-time; life occurring in that exact
moment. A dialogue is always show.
6. Focus on actions and reactions
Don’t tell the traits of the personality of your characters: show them through their actions.
Allow the reader to see how the character acts and reacts to the events in the plot. That will
reveal his personality.
Instead of saying, “she’s a bad woman” describe her kicking a straight dog. You will,
immediately, convince the reader she’s not a good person.
Besides, focus on body language and facial expressions: they are part of how we
communicate. When we talk we react, physically. So, the characters should also have that.
In each emotion, we react differently. For instance: I can swallow dry when I’m nervous, but
if I’m worried, I frown. Be aware of that and describe the character’s emotions through their
body language.
Conclusion
With practice, show don’t tell will become easier, to a point, whereas it’ll be spontaneous in
your writing.

AUTHENTICITY IS THE KEY

Authentic with your feelings, intentions, purpose as a writer

To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.
It occurred to me that I had become infatuated with getting my work recognised. Even
posting the odd photo on Instagram had become a lengthy process of editing, colour
correction and resizing. It had taken the enjoyment out of actually creating and expressing
myself. In turn, my work had suffered. I was in such a rush to post online that I had neglected
the quality. It was a realisation moment.