feature writing

1. T Y P E S O F F E A T U R E S
P R O C E S S O F W R I T I N G A F E A T U R E
FEATURES

2.  Features are an important part of any media.
 A feature story is usually defined as a piece of non-
fiction writing about news.
 Features are not meant to deliver news first hand.
 Instead, they are more in-depth than traditional
news stories and go beyond a detailed description of
an event, a place or a person.
 A feature article is different from hard news in many
ways.

3.  A feature article is timeless and has a human interest
written with a deep insight of the writer.
 It is designed to entice the reader’s eyes and mind,
persuading them that the story is worth reading.
 While news story focuses on the 'what', 'where' and
'when', feature stories also focus on 'WHY' and "HOW'.
 While news story focuses on facts and figures, feature
writing focuses on observation, experience and
perceptions.
 It escapes the hard-news format allowing the creative
side of the writers to write feature articles in an inventive
and compelling way.

4. FEATURES OFTEN
 Profile the people who make news
 Explain events that move or shape the news
 Analyse what is happening in the world, nation or
community
 Teach an audience how to do something
 Suggest better ways to live
 Examine trends
 Entertain.

5. TYPES OF FEATURES
 News Feature
 Profile
 Human Interest stories
 Trend stories
 Historical Features
 Expose or Alarmer
 Travelogue

6. NEWS FEATURES
 The news feature is just what the name implies: a feature
article that focuses on a topic in the news.
 These stories focus on hard-news topics but aren't
deadline stories.
 They bring a softer writing style to hard news.
 These articles often are people stories, focusing on
individuals behind the news, and they often seek to
humanize a set of statistics.
 The news feature seeks to put a human face on statistics
to bring the story to life for readers and inform them of
potential problems with the issue.

7. PROFILE
 A personality profile is written to bring an audience closer to a
person in or out of the news.
 It is an in-detail article about an individual of social importance
such as a politician, a sports person, an actor or any celebrity.
 Profile articles provide background about the individual: education,
life experiences, and challenges faced in getting where he or she is
now, as well as basic information such as age, marital status, and
family details, including the number of siblings and children.
 A profile focuses not on the incidents that happened in an
individual's life but more on her/his reactions to it and how she/he
used it to shape her/his life.
 Interviews and observations, as well as creative writing, are used to
paint a vivid picture of the person.

8. HUMAN INTEREST STORIES
 A human interest story also talks about an individual
but, unlike a profile it does not cover the entire life of
the individual but usually an event of significance in
her/his life.
 It is written mainly to show a subject's oddity, its
practical, emotional or entertainment value.

9. TREND STORIES
 A trend story examines people, things or organizations that
have an impact on the society.
 Trend stories are popular because people are excited to read
or hear about the latest fads.
 The trend story usually appears in the lifestyle, fashion,
cooking, high-tech, or entertainment section.
 These stories explore trends such as a new look in women’s
fashion, a website or tech gadget that everyone's going nuts
over or a band attracting a cult following.
 Trend stories take the pulse of the culture at the moment,
looking at what's new, fresh, and exciting in art, fashion, film,
music, high technology, cooking, and other areas.
 Trend stories are usually light, quick, easy-to-read pieces that
capture the spirit of whatever trend is being discussed.

10. HISTORICAL FEATURES
 Features that honor historical events or
developments are quite common.
 They are also useful in juxtaposing the past and the
present, helping to root the reader in a shared
history.
 Though it deals with events or personalities of the
past, it is relevant to the present readers because the
facts that are presented are: timely, unique, throwing
a new light on an old issue and debunking a popular
belief.

11. EXPOSE OR ALARMER
 This is a feature type that exposes or points out something
wrong in the society.
 It deals with corruption, drug trafficking, armed robbery etc.
 It is always difficult to obtain information on this type of
article however; using observation, informants, tribunals or
investigation panels' records can still make successful efforts.
 When writing an alarmer, one needs to protect the identity of
the informant; that is part of the ethical obligation of the
feature writer.
 As a participant observer, inform the police ahead so that
they would be aware of your role and thus avoid possible
embarrassment and punishment.
 You also need the cooperation, consent and support of your
editor when embarking on a fact finding mission.

12. TRAVELOGUE
 This is an account of a trip to a place or places of interest.
 Travelogue usually includes brief profiles of the places
visited, blended with the experience of the writer from
the places visited.
 It gives useful information about places in order to
expand people's worldview.
 When writing a travelogue, choose a theme to guide your
writing, this is necessary to ensure that your thoughts do
not stray.
 You should also examine and explain the significance of
the place you visited to your readers.
 Inclusion of good illustrations from the place visited will
be of interest to the readers.

13. PROCESS OF WRITING A FEATURE
 Finding the Subject
 Establishing the theme
 Determining the style
 Gathering Information
 Writing the feature

14. FINDING THE SUBJECT
 The first step in feature writing is to decide on a topic
or have it decided for you.
 Choosing a topic is a creative process.
 It usually depends on the interest or the expertise of
the writer but, sometimes it may also be allotted by
the editor.

15. ESTABLISHING THE THEME
 One should establish the theme or the purpose of the
writing.
 It will provide unity and coherence to the piece.
 Several factors come into play when choosing a
theme: Has the story been done before? Is the story
of interest to the audience? Does the story have an
emotional appeal? What makes the story worthy of
being reported?

16. DETERMINING THE STYLE
 Once the topic and theme is decided, writer needs to
decide the style and nature of writing.
 One needs to decide whether it is going to be
descriptive, narrative, argumentative/ persuasive or
expository.

17. GATHERING INFORMATION
 Since feature is an in-depth article, extensive research is required.
 One can use library resources like encyclopedia, previous articles
etc.
 However persona lobservation plays an important role, a feature
writer will be able to demonstrate her/ his creative and literary
capability in describing things that s/he has witnessed.
 However, the writer must ensure emotional detachment so that
s/he would be able to write an unbiased, balanced and undistorted
story.
 Interview is another way of gathering information.
 Interview is a method of eliciting information from human
resources.
 One can have a face-to-face interview, mail interview or even
telephonic interview.

18. WRITING THE FEATURE
 Like any other writing, feature also has an
introduction, a body and a conclusion.

19. INTRODUCTION OR LEAD
 This attracts the reader into the story.
 Unlike the straight news which adopts the inverted
pyramid style and highlights on the 5W’s and H, a
feature lead only establishes the purpose of the
writing.
 On the other hand, it may serve as a bridge by giving
the background of the topic under discussion and
link it with the present situation.

20. TYPES OF LEAD
 News peg lead
 Question lead
 Quotation lead
 Anecdotal Lead
 Literary Allusion Lead
 Descriptive Lead
 Effect Lead

21. TYPES OF LEAD
 News peg lead- Used for writing fast-breaking or
running events. It reminds the readers of the recent
news events and goes on to supply the background
and analysis. It is crisp and straight-forward by
telling exactly what the topic is all about.
 Question lead- This introduction begins with a
question for the purpose of arousing the interest of
the readers.
 Anecdotal Lead- This begins with a short story.

22. TYPES OF LEAD
 Quotation lead- This begins with a direct quotation.
The quotation must be significant and gives insight
into the theme of the feature.
 Literary Allusion Lead: This involves reference to
literary work and holy books to captivate the
attention of the readers. However, it must be
ensured that such allusions are not used out of
context.
 Descriptive Lead: Gives a detailed description of the
scene or setting of the event that happened.
 Effect Lead: This is used to create effect

23. BODY
 Writing the body of a feature is not different from what is done in
any good writing.
 The ability to write a good story depends on your language ability,
skill in the use of word, creativity and other literary abilities.
 You must ensure coherence and completeness of your thoughts.
 They must be presented logically to sustain the attention of the
readers.
 You must also ensure that your language is appropriate to your
audience so that you will not excommunicate them.
 To make the writing interesting, make sure you focus on the human
interest.
 The feeling and emotion you put into the article are critical.
 Accuracy is also equally important, so make sure the story is
supported by facts and details.
 One should also keep readers' interest in mind.

24. BODY
 Use short sentences and simple words.
 Personal words like 'you', 'we' give the story a human
touch.
 Active verbs are preferred as it keeps the story moving.
 Transition words are used to ensure smooth flowing of
the story.
 Avoid jargons.
 Avoid wordiness.
 Avoid passive voice
 Avoid sexist/racist language.

25. CONCLUSION
 It is necessary that you bring your story to a good
conclusion.
 Your closing words should make an impact on your
readers and tie the various strands of your story together.
 You can do this by summarizing the main parts that you
have discussed in your feature or repeat some of the key
ideas that it contains.
 Another way is to challenge people to do certain things
or call for action on an issue.
 You can as well trigger them to think on the
consequences of an issue.