The document outlines the characteristics and elements of news features, including their timely and straightforward nature, emotional depth, and narrative structure. It differentiates between news and features, emphasizing human interest and the importance of characters in storytelling. Various narrative techniques are suggested to enhance the reader's emotional engagement and understanding of the events described.

1. FEATURES:
STORIES PEOPLE
WANT TO READ

2. NEWS, FEATURES,
NEWS-FEATURES
News
• Timely
• Straightforward
• Short
• Tells
Features
• Timeless
• Details
• Shows
News feature
• News story told in feature style

3. NEWS, FEATURES,
NEWS-FEATURES
News
• City passes a new budget
• Car accident kills woman
Feature
• Describes afternoon at city park
• Describes new safety features in cars
News-feature
• Describes plans for updating park passed in budget
• Budget = news peg
• Uses accident to tell of hazardous intersection
• What’s the news peg?

4. SO WHAT’S A FEATURE?
• Depth
• Scope
• Structure
• Emotion
• Human Interest
• Personal Style

5. DEPTH – THE WHY ELEMENT
• More factual history
• More context
• More logical history

6. SCOPE – SAY MORE ABOUT LESS
•Scene-setting
•Showing, not telling
•Flashlight vs. spotlight

7. BORROWED STRUCTURES
•Narrative from fiction
•Chronological from radio-tv
•Logical circle from public speaking, essays
•Demonstrative from advertising, marketing

8. FEATURES HIGHLIGHT EMOTION
• Sources become characters. The writer
shows how the character feels via what
they say and do.
• Writers evoke an emotional response
in the reader through vivid details.

9. HUMAN INTEREST
• For stories about humans, the effects of
what happens on the people are usually
central.
• Again, think characters, not sources.