WRITING A FEATURE
STORY
Show me…don’t just tell me
(Ideas from Bobby Hawthorne)
What’s interesting?
What’s new?
What’s trendy?
What is a feature story?
A story not based on “breaking new
s.”
Interest to the reader lies in some factor other
than the news value.
A profile of the school principal.
A story about the history of the school
building is a feature.
A story about a fire in the school kitchen is
not a feature but a news story.
Characteristics of a Feature
Story
• Meant to entertain
• Is of “human interest”
• Style
• Humor
• Unique of unusual
Reveals something new about people,
things, and events. OR, it revives memory.
5 Types of Feature Stories
Experience or Adventure Stories
Personalities
Backgrounders
How to Articles
Interviews
Experience/Adventure Stories
Tells a story
First person point of view
May be a shared experience
If you attend a
conference or
science camp,
share your story.
Personalities
Character Sketch
Usually Short
Emphasis on Person
Backgrounders
Explain history or background
of…
An event
A building or place
An organization
How to articles
• “How to do”
• “What to do”
• Describe a process
• Accompany with pictures
Interview Stories
Know your subject, do research
Introduce yourself
Prepare questions before the interview
Take many notes
LET’S
REVIE
W
Question 1
A feature story must
always be timely.
True or False?
Question 1
A feature story must
always be timely.
False
Question 2
What are the five types of feature
stories?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Question 2
1. Experience or Adventure Stories
2. Personalities
3. Backgrounders
4. How to Articles
5. Interviews
Question 3
What is the purpose of the
feature story? How is the
feature story different from a
regular news story?
Question 3
It entertains!!!!
Unlike a news story, its
purpose is to serve human
interest and entertain the
reader.
How to Write
the Story
The lead
When you start your story, you
should transport your reader to
that place and time
The strength lies in the ability
to bring details in
Appeal to a sense…or two…or
more
Appeal to the Senses
Good description will appeal to
the senses and to emotions
Doing so will generate
empathy between the reader
and the subject
Sight, sound, touch, taste,
smell
Choose wisely
Description can make a point
Description can also
overwhelm, so make sure you
choose the details that are
necessary
Do not over describe.
Consider this:
The story deals with romantic obsession.
Here is the beginning:
“She thought he was going to kill
her. He had been angry before,
even punched his hand through a
window once, but he had never
threatened her, never scared her
like this.
Continued…
Now he was out of control. He
pushed her into a corner and then
shoved her back down when she tried
to escape. “All I could think was ‘I
have to get out of here.’ I just started
crying.”
That was a month ago. Today, Julie
has ended her relationship with Jim,
but he didn’t give up without a fight.
Continued
“He’d circle my house, leave me
little note, stare at me in class,”
Julie said. “He kind of lost it.”
Other high school students have
similar stories. Obsessive love is
all too real for many teenagers…
The difference
The detail carries the story
along
The single focus helps give
readers an entry point
After the specific example, the
writer is able to bring in other
people, stats, facts
How would you have started?
A definition of obsession?
Generalization: “Many
students have been…”?
Putting in too many dark
details?
Strip your stories down
Create a single theme
Write a single sentence about
your story when you start
Rebuild those subjects then
with that one sentence in mind
Find a local angle/connection
FEATURE
WRITING
SAMPLES
Feature Lead
Strategies
Functions of the Feature
Lead:
1. To attract or draw the reader into
the feature story
2. To set the tone for the feature story
so the reader may know what to
expect ahead.
Summary lead
Since its discovery in 1979,
AIDS (Acquired Immunity
Deficiency syndrome) has
become one of the fastest killers
of the 20th Century. Like ancient
leprosy, AIDS appears to be the
most dreaded ailment of our
time.
Narrative lead
I met Mother Teresa of the Missionaries of Charities
(MC) for the first time when Lola came to Manila to
give her blessings to my aunt, Evelyn Yap, who was
joining the congregation. Lola and I were introduced by
my aunt to her. Mother Teresa had that presence and
charisma which awed Lola and me. Though I had
managed to kiss her hand in respect and to mutter,
“How are you, Mother?”, I was fidgeting in my place
because of the way she looked at me. Her eyes seemed
to penetrate my whole being as if she could see my soul.
Life Among the Poorest of the Poor
by Gilbert Y. Tan
MOD Magazine
November 24, 1978 issue
Descriptive lead
You can describe a lady Dolefilite in many ways. She
can be the lady in casual t-shirt and slacks, white cap
and rubber shoes, neatly tucked hair and a pineapply-
sweet smile. She can be the suntanned lady in
ridiculously-funny goggles, wearing three sets of
blouses and pants and in her hand, a sun-ripened
pineapple fruit. She can be one whose face is slightly
brushed with rouge, wearing RTW coordinates, and a
master of the keyboard. Yes, she can be any lady
employed here in Dolefil.
Woman Power in Dolefil
by Gilbert Y. Tan
Dolefil Tambuli
3rd Quarter 1978 issue
Epigram lead
Oh, Lord, help me this day to keep my big mouth shut.
Inday Badiday (a.k.a. Ate Luds) doesn’t remember now
who gave her the tableau containing that little prayer
(“Ewan ko kung kaaway o kaibigan ko’) but that’s beside the
point. The tableau stands on her headboard and it’s the
first thing Inday sees when she wakes up every morning. Sa
totoo lang, Inday has been trying, during the past many
years, to observe that prayer – to no avail.
The Intriguing World of Inday Badiday
by Ricky Lo
Star Studded
Question lead
Saan ka ba takot? Takot ka ba sa dilim? Sa
masisikip na lugar? Sa daga? Sa Ipis? Saan ka ba
takot?
Do you spend a good deal of time fretting about your
looks, wishing you could swap faces with some very
handsome person you admire? If you do, stop pitying
yourself – and start pitying the handsome people you
envy. They are the ones who are apt to to be hurt in
life by their looks. Be Glad You’re not Beautiful
by James F. Bender
Reader’s Digest Bedside Reader
Direct Address lead
Sa buhay mo, marami ka ng
naranasan. Mga karanasan na
ginusto mo o hindi ginusto. Sa mga
karanasang ito, natanong mo ang
iyong sarili kung ang Panginoon ba
ay natutulog o hindi.
Staccato/Suspense lead
Pedaling home. Angry. Feelings hurt. A car
coming next to him, moving slowly, keeping pace
with him. A woman in the front passenger seat
rolling down her window, asking for directions.
Telling her. The woman not seeming to listen. The
car stopping. Braking his bike. The woman
jumping out of the car, grabbing him. The man
unlocking the trunk, throwing him in. The trunk
lid banging shut. Darkness. Screaming. Pounding.
Not enough air. Passing out.
Long Lost (Novel)
David Morrell
Combination Leads
October 23, 1993. Early dawn. New Diamond Lodge,
Davao City.
Thirty two students lay asleep. Tired from a six-day
field trip to key cities in Northern Mindanao. Perhaps
dreaming of going home for a week’s vacation before a
new semester begins. Then suddenly . . .
FLAMES! Spreading across the newly-painted ceiling
and walls. The sleepers felt the heat, some started to
choke. Others awoke to open the hot locks on the doors
and found the hallway clouded by heavy smoke.
Creeping on the waxed wooden floor that started to
sizzle, they groped their way to a locked main gate.
MOTIFS
Once upon a time there was a little girl who seemed to have
been born under a very unlucky star. She was born small and
weak, a sickly baby. Again and again she would shake with
convulsions and fix her eyes in a dying stare. One night, soon
after she was born, she fell so ill, burning with fevers and shaky
with chills, that her mother rushed her to church and had her
baptized in a hurry, late in the night.
“My baby won’t live,” cried the poor mother.
The baby was christened Nora.
Golden Guy
by Quijano de Manila (Nick Joaquin)
Nora Aunor and Other Profiles
Endings
Then somebody tapped my shoulder. It was the mother
the child. She was so thankful and grateful to me. She
said I was a great help to her. What she never knew was
that it was she, her baby, them the poor – who had given
me help. They brought light to my eyes which were
partially blinded by the vanities of life. They had
deflated the balloon that carried me high up where only
illusions existed, thus brought me back to reality. I
whispered a prayer of gratitude to God for giving me
such a wonderful experience.
Life Among the Poorest of the Poor
by Gilbert Y. Tan
MOD Magazine
November 24, 1978 issue
Let’s try it out
Find an angle for the following subjects:
Student Council has had a busy year
She was a popular and excellent teacher
Computers made a big difference in school this
year
Students are obsessed with social media
Spelling problems caused by social media
Now let’s talk writing
Write the way you think
Go to the Thesaurus when you get stuck
and know there is a better word out there
Write to communicate
Tell a story
Don’t leave out necessary elements
