Journalism TodayChapter 11: Writing Feature StoriesOverviewFeature stories play a particularly important role in the scholastic press. Most school papers come out maybe weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly; therefore, a features approach is often used to spruce up hard, but old, news. Features also allow school papers a way to get a unique angle on a story that the local papers might not have. Feature stories are generally lighter in tone than regular news stories and tend to have a timeless quality—features are sometimes referred to as "evergreen." Features permit creativity in story ideas. The features writer may also exercise more creativity in language than a writer of straight news. In fact, many routine stories have been elevated to page-one status through feature treatment. However, the same ethical standards that apply to the news story apply to the feature story: opinion and speculation are not allowed. When writing a feature: show, don't tell; personalize and localize; draw information from a variety of sources; get to the people and events of the story quickly; include only one anecdote, example, or quote to get across a single idea; add a sidebar to incorporate interesting items that don't quite fit in the main story; and reemphasize your angle in your conclusion. Many features deal with individuals. All people are possible subjects for a personality profile, a feature story that answers the question “who is this person?”. Personality profiles are thorough, in-depth stories about one person that generally focus on experiences, hobbies or interests, or qualities that make a person unique. |  |
