FEATURE
WRITING
•Feature is an essay based on facts
•It’s main purpose is to entertain and must be
interesting
•It takes many forms and covers many subjects
•It may also instruct, advise, inform and
entertain at the same time
•Written to hook the reader and draw them
into the story
•May be of any length ranging, can be the long
ones like those that can be seen in magazines
or short ones like those that are in campus
publication
•May or may not be timely
•It may be written in any form and style
•It uses specific nouns, adjectives and verbs to
create vivid images, sound and feeling for the
readers.
•Also a news feature is different
from a feature article.
•News feature aims to inform but
with more explanation,
backgrounds and impression. But
a feature aims to entertain
•A feature article is a soft news
story that can be delivered in a
number of ways. It can come in
the form of:
•A personality profile.
•A human-interest story.
• An in-depth look at an issue.
•A feature article is more free flowing and
less restrictive than a straight news article.
•Feature articles are not meant to deliver
the news, but they contain elements of
news. Their main purpose is to add the
human element to the news, to add color
and feeling. They often recap major news
that already has been re-ported.
PERSONALITY PROFILE
• A feature article can be a personality profile of a
young student participating in the elections in a
particular place for the first time.
• The soft news is the profile of the student, which
brings readers more information about youths
who participate in the elections.
• The breaking news would be the day of the
election itself.
A HUMAN-INTEREST STORY
•Human-interest stories are similar to
personal profiles, however they usually
do not have a strong news objective or
value. They are reported because they
are touching, unusual or have emotional
or entertainment value.
A HUMAN-INTEREST STORY
•A human-interest story can be about a
group of guys in their 60s practicing
sport every Sunday in a public park.
Interviews with these people can be
very interesting since we don’t know
their story and what they might say.
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT AN ISSUE
•When writing a feature article that is
an in depth look at an issue you can
take little extra time to do research on
the topic you want to write about and
conduct interviews to go beyond the
basic news story.
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT AN ISSUE
•For example, you can spend some
time with street children interviewing
them and discussing their living
conditions to see how they live and
how they cope with their difficulties
every day.
OTHER FORMS
EXPERIENCES AND ADVENTURES
•Interesting stories about
different experiences such as
workshop seminar, the field
trips, the socials and such.
WHAT-TO DO AND HOW-TO DO
ARTICLES
•They are articles that gives
instruction that you must follow
on some circumstance. Some are
giving tips and some are just for
entertainment.
DEVELOPMENTAL FEATURE
ARTICLE
•Articles the deal with the
development happening in the
community. Things such as projects
that will help for certain
developments might catch the
interest of some readers.
There are also feature articles
about current trends. There are
also book, movie and play
reviews.
START WRITING A
FEATURE
ARTICLES
• Feature articles are usually not written in the
traditional inverted pyramid form with a hard news
lead.
• A news writer often finds himself in a dilemma:
"How should I start my feature article?" sure, he
has a clear idea of what he wants to write about.
The lead is an important part to consider. Aside
from a catchy title, the lead will either hook the
readers to continue reading the article or turn the
page to another piece.
WRITING THE
LEAD
A good intro usually creates a mood for the
reader to continue reading a feature article and
therefore you should choose an appropriate
intro to start your feature article with.
•Contrast Lead – opening with opposites
or differences
“Mayweather is unbeaten, still many
consider Pacquiao to be better than him
despite Manny’s imperfect record.”
Figurative Lead – an opening
figure of speech
“Manny Pacquiao is the
Pambansang Kamao…”
Allusion Lead – an opening
reference to literature
“Like a diamond in the rough,
Manny Pacquiao was plucked
from the slums.”
Suspense Lead – an open ended
beginning
“The only thing Manny lacks to
be considered as the best boxer
ever is…”
Factual Lead – Uses statistics and hard facts
at the outset to gain immediate interest.
Anecdotal Lead – Shares one’s or somebody
else’s story or just a part of the experience.
A contrast lead makes comparisons
such as old and new, or modern
and classic. These types of intros
are great for historical-type
stories.
A QUOTE INTRO
• A good quote can be used as an intro to a feature
story, but it must be a powerful quote to be
effective and set the tone for what is to follow in
the story.
• A quote must always be written between quotation
marks “…” and you must always state the name of
the person to which you attribute the quote.
THE QUESTION LEAD
• A question lead is when you ask a question at the
beginning of the story in the first paragraph and the
answer is found in the second or later paragraph.
• Readers usually don’t like such intro because they
are expecting answers not questions and thus, when
you start a story with a question it must be an
interesting and provocative question to grab the
attention of the reader.
STEPS IN FEATURE
WRITING
BODY OF THE FEATURE
• Provides vital information while it educates,
entertains, and emotionally ties an audience to
the subject.
• Important components include:
• Background information
• The “thread” of the story
• Dialogue
• Voice
ORGANIZING FEATURE STORIES
• Feature writers seldom use the inverted
pyramid form.
• The Commonly used styles are:
• chronology that builds to a climax at the end,
• a narrative, or
• a first-person article about one of their
• own experiences or a combination of these.
• Write in ACTIVE VOICE & if possible, present
tense.
• ACCURACY IS IMPORTANT. You can interpret and
embroider but do not fudge.
• Keep your AUDIENCE clearly in mind.
• Avoid CLICHES…
• AVOID LENGTHY and COMPLICATED paragraphs.
•Using figures of speech is an effective
tool in enhancing your feature writing.
Make use of them frequently.
•The tone of your piece is vital.
Sprinkling some rhymes will make the
feature more readable.
• Sprinkle direct quotations, observations and
additional background throughout the story.
Paragraphs can be written chronologically or in
order of importance. Be creative, watch, & listen
• Read & Research
• Keep up to date, take notes and play with words!
How to end the article with an impact:
•Remind the reader of the article's main
point or focus.
•Suggest an appropriate course of action.
•Encourage a change of attitude or
opinion.
•Pose a challenge to the reader.
Write the title
What makes an effective headline:
• Something that sticks and persuades the reader
to peruse the article.
• Something that encapsulates into very few
words the main idea of the
• article. Something that includes key words that
revolve on the focus of the article.
Qualities of a well-written feature story
•Well-researched •Emotional
•Catchy •Engaging
•Descriptive •Neutral
•Exciting •Thorough
•Reflective
DO NOT FORGET!!!
• After the intro, in the third or the fourth paragraph in the
feature story, you should include information as to why you are
writing the story.
• Include the news in your feature article which would most likely
be information from a previously written hard news story.
• Provide plenty of background information in the feature article
because you are expanding on a news angle.
• Sprinkle your story with quotes, especially early in the article,
to establish a good reader/source relationship.
Write a feature article about
•The struggle of students to
focus on their studies
despite so many
distractions.
