Feature Writing
Opinión Writing
Feature Writing
• A colorful story about people, events, places and
life.
• Researched and creative piece of writing with
information drawn from eye witnesses and
experts on the subject.
• Occasionally subjective, but often factual in
nature
Feature Writing
• “An in-depth and factual write up on a
topical issue which seeks to give
comprehensive information in a more
captivating and relaxed style than
straight news”.
Feature Writing
• Its subject can be anything: places, a
community, a farm, a business, education,
science, economy, religion, philosophy;
events, parades, programs, concerts;
people-well known or unknown animals
unusual or ordinary; objects of art or
product.
• Succinctly features can be anything or
everything on which one wishes to write.
Feature Writing
• A feature story must be unusual e.g. car
crash (except if it involves a prominent
• personality)
• It must have the human interest dimension
as this gives the reader or listener a sense
of personal relationship with the subject.
Characteristic of Feature
• Imperishable
• A feature article does not perish, unlike the
story which becomes stale the next day.
• The feature story is not attached to such
time-frames since it is usually carefully
selected and created at the feature writer’s
convenience.
Characteristic of Feature
• Cannot be scooped
• Someone’s particular feature article
cannot be published in its originality before
hand, by another writer.
• The choice of topics for future stories is
simply is the prerogative of the feature
writer.
Characteristic of Feature
• Can be created from mundane ideas or
issues
• The choice of topics for features includes
both the serious and trivial.
Characteristic of Feature
• Give in-depth information on topical
issues
• Writer must have investigated the topic
before presenting the different angles to
the audience.
• Relaxed atmosphere gives room for
adequate survey of facts and information
on the topic to be “featurized
Characteristic of Feature
• Fleshy and Colorful
• The feature writer adds more flesh to the
straight news to make it a feature story.
• The language of the feature is supposed
to be colorful, having been written in
figurative and in flowery constructions.
• Language is quite different from the formal
language of straight news. It is
picturesque, informal and humorous.
Characteristic of Feature
• Stylish
• To use own peculiar approach to writing
which could be in form of own wordcoinages,
romantic
expressions,
captivating images or use of language.
• Style differentiates one writer from another
and it professionally allows the writer to
shift his mode of writing.
Types of Feature Stories
• Categorization of the features into different
types.
• But overlaps cannot be ruled out in some
cases.
Types of Feature Stories
• Process “how-to-do-it” feature
• Educational because it teaches readers
how to do things.
• In a simple playful and funny manner, the
audience is informed and educated on
certain issues.
• A lot of readers want to learn certain skills.
Types of Feature Stories
• Personal Experience Stories
• A reporter on duty may suddenly find
himself in an unexpected circumstance;
e.g. beaten up by a mob.
• He may want to narrate his ordeal to the
public.
Types of Feature Stories
• Personal Experience Stories
• Some newspapers have columns called
the
“Reporters
Notebook”
where
journalists
recount
their
personal
experiences in form of features.
• Personal experience stories could also be
a form of features based on participant
observation.
Types of Feature Stories
• Personality Profiles
• Human interest feature with close look at the
personality of a prominence. It involves
achievers
• The space allotted to a person’s profile depends
on his prominence. For instance,
• an obituary profile could take the whole of a
paper’s front page, depending on the person’s
prominence.
• General profiles could be written also on
organizations and places.
Types of Feature Stories
• Commemorative Features.
• These
are
features
written
to
commemorate important events in a nation
or in the world.
• For instance, a beautiful feature can be
done on the commemoration of the 60
years of World War II.
Types of Feature Stories
• Hobbyist and Odd Occupation
• Feature stories can equally be written on:
• Hobby: A person’s unique hobby could be
quite newsworthy and so be featurised.
• Odd Occupation: Odd Occupations such
as “reverse driving” can make very
interesting feature stories.
Types of Feature Stories
• Participatory feature
• This is quite similar to experience feature.
It involves a recount of one’s experience
on an event he participated in.
Types of Feature Stories
• The Capsule feature or features
• This is a short snappy, compact feature
about people in the news. Some
magazines call it newsmakers e.g.
Newsweek. Some call it “in the news” as
in Newswatch.
• The focus is usually on celebrities and
newsworthy people making news in lighthearted manner.
Types of Feature Stories
• The Travelogue
• This is an account of a trip to a place of
interest. It informs the readers about life in
other places and draws lessons by
comparing life in those places with the
situation at home.
Types of Feature Stories
• The Exposee or Alarmer
• Type of feature that exposes or identifies
something wrong in the society.
• Examples are: Advanced Fee Fraud,
Child-Trafficking, Brain -Drain
Types of Feature Stories
• Seasonal Features
• Are those features that are tied to the
calendar.
• They deal with different seasons such as
Easter, Christmas, Ramadan, Valentine,
Children’s
day,
Worker’s
day
Independence
Types of Feature Stories
• Specialized Features
• These are features that focus on special
areas such as: Science, Farming, Leisure
Traveling, Botany etc. Example: A feature
on the use of bamboo for furniture and
crafts.