6: Feature Writing
- Last updated
- Feb 20, 2021
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- 6.1: The Purpose of Feature Writing
- One useful writing material is a feature article. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts. The purpose of these stories is to provide a detailed description of a place, person, idea, or organization.
- 6.2: Feature writing versus traditional news writing
- There are several important differences between feature articles and traditional news stories. Features typically are longer. Also, while traditional stories use a summary lead, feature stories use delayed leads or begin with an anecdote. The writing style is different. Traditional news articles tend to paraphrase information rather than state it verbatim, while feature articles use many quotes and emotional cues, focusing more on showing the reader what’s going on instead of telling.
- 6.3: Feature Leads
- Unlike the traditional summary lead, feature leads can be several sentences long, and the writer may not immediately reveal the story’s main idea. The most common types used in feature articles are anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. An anecdotal lead unfolds slowly. It lures the reader in with a descriptive narrative that focuses on a specific minor aspect of the story that leads to the overall topic.
- 6.4: Feature Article Organization
- The content in a feature article isn’t necessarily presented as an inverted pyramid; instead, the organization may depend on the writer’s style and the story angle. Nevertheless, all of the information in a feature article should be presented in a logical and coherent fashion that allows the reader to easily follow the narrative.
