Understanding and writing effective feature stories, especially for PR

1. Feature Story Techniques
John Couper
MCM241
Fall, 2017

2. Storytelling
 Many stories come from traditions
◼ Structure and content lead the audience
through to a meaningful conclusion
◼ Vicarious experience of life
◼ Information is often important
◼ A kind of culture creation
 Stories enter our psyches and shape how we
understand the world

3. “New Journalism”
 After the late 1960s, this writing was much
livelier, more subjective, less hard news (e.g.,
more profiles or small topics)
◼ Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion…
 Drew on anthropology reports
 Rejected dry, authoritative reporting
 Very controversial, influential and popular
◼ Considered self-indulgent and flashy
 Opened up options for many journalists
 Re-shaped relationship to readers
◼ Helped lead to current mistrust

4. A good Story Writer is
 Brave: tackles a strong topic honestly
 Observant: sees a range of info to use
 Organized: collects, keeps, retrieves info
 Expressive: uses vivid, involving words
 Modest: lets the story mostly tell itself
 Passionate: lives the story

5. Explanatory Writing
 Most features include factual news elements
◼ Main differences are length and presentation
 5 W/H examples:
◼ Who is the character
◼ What is the plot/trajectory of events
◼ When did it happen (chronology)
◼ Why is it happening (motive)
◼ Where is it happening (place)
◼ How did this come about

6. Narrative Writing
 Settle on the best “voice” for readers
◼ God, neutral observer, involved observer,
participant, etc.
 Decide on a strong shape and sequence
◼ What do you feature, how jump in time, etc.
 “Show” activities and experiences
 Use brief explanations and interpretations
 Use bridges for scene/time changes, etc.

7. Story Factors
 Good writers are good readers
◼ Read a range of writing and keep examples that could be
a model for you
 Don’t try cover an entire event
◼ break it down to a central idea, person, theme
 You rarely know which details you will need
◼ gather and organize all you can
 Details, responses, actions, nonverbals, etc.
 More intuitive than hard news
◼ Be very alert to your instincts, hunches, etc.
 Think hard, “pre-write” the story before you start

8. Troops 'roll the dice' with push into
Triangle of Death
 By Arwa Damon, CNN
◼ In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share
their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories
behind the events.
 YUSIFIYA, Iraq (CNN) -- In the distance, explosions are
heard -- it could be anything. The American soldiers don't
even look up.
 Their focus is on reading the land. To the untrained eye it
looks benign. But for them it is filled with clues and
potentially deadly traps.
 Sgt. Joshua Bartlett, 24 and on his second tour here, hacks
through weeds with his machete. A few yards away, two
other soldiers with sweat pouring down their faces dig away
dirt with their knives.
 "It's like an Easter egg hunt, only you roll the dice every
time you do it," 24-year-old Sgt. Frankie Parra says. He's
half-joking as he stands over a pile of 60 mm mortar
rounds freshly dug from underneath weeds in the fields and
farmlands just south of Baghdad.

9. A Feature Story b)
 His deployments aren't getting any easier. On his third tour
in Iraq, he's operating -- along with the men of Charlie
Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd
Brigade, 10th Mountain Division -- in an area known as the
"Triangle of Death." Four soldiers from this battalion have
been killed on this volatile patch of land, just outside
Yusifiya and 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Baghdad, in
the two weeks since Operation Commando Hunter began,
and another 20 have been wounded.
 The troops are pushing into fields and farmlands where
there had been no regular U.S. presence for the better part
of the last three years. In this same area, two American
soldiers were kidnapped in a checkpoint attack in June and
then murdered.
 The insurgency here has literally dug itself in. The soldiers
are finding a gold mine of weapons caches 3 to 6 inches
below ground. Intertwining canals lined with tall reeds offer
insurgents plenty of cover ideal for snipers and ambushes.

10. A Feature Story c)
 "It's OJT -- on the job training," says the 30-
year-old company commander, Capt. Shane Finn.
On his second tour of duty here, he peers into
the tall reeds looking for telltale signs that the
enemy may be lurking nearby.
 "I know that there is going to be something right
around that corner," he says, pointing to the
opposite side of the canal where some of the
larger caches were found in the last two weeks.
 Sure enough, carefully hidden in the weeds, the
troops first find an AK-74, slightly smaller caliber
than an AK-47, and magazines. "This looks like a
spotter's position," Finn says.

11. A Feature Story d)
 Within minutes and a few yards away, the troops uncover
mortars. Across the road, they find wiring, an array of
crude triggers and, nearby, a "poor man's EFP [explosively
formed projectile]." Basically a tube with plastic explosives,
the directional charge is lethal.
 "It looks like we interrupted someone planning on laying
more IEDs [improvised explosive devices]," Finn says.
 What they find on this day pales compared to what's been
uncovered during the last two weeks. The troops are
working on clearing an area no larger than 4 square miles
(6 kilometers) and already they have found more than 100
weapons caches with enough material to make at least
1,000 roadside bombs.
 The soldiers also discovered anti-aircraft machine guns (the
101st Brigade that previously operated here had at least
two helicopters shot down); half a dozen sniper rifles, some
with night vision capabilities; crude rocket-propelled
grenade launchers and mortar launching tubes; and 55-
gallon drums filled with liquid explosives.

12. A Feature Story e)
 All these men -- from the seasoned veterans to the fresh-
faced privates -- display an upbeat attitude. One would
never think they were operating under circumstances in
which a wrong step, an unlucky jab with a knife into the
ground or an insurgent attack could cost them a limb or
their lives.
 In these fields, the troops say they are able to see the
difference they are making -- each weapon found is a step
in the right direction, each returning family and reopening
shop offers hope.
 As night falls and the relentless mosquitoes come out, the
soldiers head back to their patrol base, a dismal two-story
building they now call home.
 They dine on MREs (meals ready to eat), read magazines
by flashlight and sleep any place they can find a cozy spot
on the ground. Sorry, no shower.
 They joke, give each other a hard time, and don't complain.
In the morning, they will head back out again. END

13. Aspects of Feature Reports
 Theme
 Narrative Techniques
 Descriptive Techniques

14. Theme
 A topic with enough
◼ Breadth (side aspects)
◼ Depth (range of meanings) interest for
readers)
◼ Relevance (significance
 Makes the reader see and care
◼ Why readers want to read a story
◼ A universal concern (loneliness, triumph, etc.)
◼ Explains the world
◼ Allows readers to experience something in
comfort

15. Narrative Techniques
 Before starting a narrative, do careful research.
◼ Focus on facts, even for a poetic story
◼ Foreshadowing: Give clues about what will happen
◼ Create Tone:
 Don’t tell… show!
▪ Short, choppy sentences suggest fear, excitement, anxiety
▪ Long sentences suggest thoughtfulness, somberness,
quietness
◼ Use an appropriate words
 E.g., don’t bring technical jargon into human-interest
 Think it through cinematically, then write down
what you “saw”
 Use words that suggest other senses
(synaesthesia)

16. Descriptive Techniques a)
 Too much description clutters a story, but too
little leave unanswered questions
 Avoid adjectives
◼ Write specific detail with vivid nouns and verbs.
◼ Use analogies, metaphors: Compare a vague concept
to something familiar to your readers.
◼ Use brief, expressive, crisp physical descriptions
 work best with stories about crime, courts, and
disasters.
 work worst with impersonal quotes
 Build in a need (a question) and a logic (a
cause/effect, chronology, etc.)

17. Descriptive Techniques b)
 Avoid sexist/racist descriptions
◼ Use similar descriptions for both genders
◼ Don’t depend on stereotypes/categories
 Show action
◼ Use Lively Verbs: “News is action”
◼ Set the Scene:
 Establish where or when as well as how
 Include the human element
◼ But don’t try to speak for sources

18. Story Structure
 Get to the focus early
◼ but maybe start with a brief teaser that introduces
topic in a fine-grained or mysterious way
 Get the reader involved.
◼ Make me care…
◼ What is the story really about?
◼ Oh yeah? Prove it!
◼ Make me remember it.
 Switch levels
◼ Abstractions, categories, details

19. Storytelling Elements
 Focus: find the central theme
 Lead and Nut Graph: What is the point?
 History: how did it develop?
 Scope: How widespread is it?
 Reasons: Why is this happening now and as it is?
 Impacts: Who is affected, and how?
 Moves and Countermoves: Who promotes or
opposes this, and how?
 Future: What could be the consequence(s)?

20. Other Storytelling Techniques
 Use concrete details, not vague adjectives
 Use dialogue when possible and appropriate
 Set the scene “tellingly”
 Show action
 Involve all your senses
◼ Sharp observation is the key to success
 Use show-in-action descriptions
 Tell a story (Beginning, middle, end)
 Mark Twain: “Don’t say the old lady screamed –
bring her on and let her scream.”

21. Self-Questions
 What is the core issue or interest?
◼ What is the best pivot/lead/close
 How do I want the reader to relate
to/respond to this story (writing style)
 How do I want myself to fit into the story
(perspective, vocabulary, etc.)?
 What sources are involved?
◼ Make full list then get all you can
 What balance of information and
expression would work best?

22. Kinds of Narratives
 A Character (identification)
 A Problem (conflict)
 Portray the Situation (plot, explanation)
 Resolution (or lack of…)
 Past to Present: why now?
 Past: develop the situation (plot)
 Present: return to the here and now
 Future – what lies ahead?