6.5: Feature Stories

The main focus in this textbook is on news writing, but a brief discussion of feature writing is appropriate so that you know the difference. Feature stories and news stories differ in the way they are written. The most obvious difference is that feature articles are longer than news stories. Also, while traditional news stories use a summary introduction, where you state the most important information immediately, feature stories use delayed leads. They usually begin with anecdotes. The writing style is different. Traditional news articles tend to paraphrase information rather than state it verbatim, while feature articles include many quotes and use more emotional language, focussing much more on showing the reader what is going on. In feature stories, readers should almost be able to feel the story; they can picture what is happening because feature stories use much more descriptive language.

Feature leads (or intros) can be much longer than news intros. Most features use anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. An anecdotal lead unfolds slowly. It lures the reader in with a descriptive story that focusses on a specific minor aspect of the story that leads the reader to the overall topic. This is an example of an anecdotal lead:

CapeNature ranger Hilton Bocks bends down to point out a tiny succulent, one of many spread over the stony plains of the Knersvlakte Nature Reserve on the West Coast. The pebbles crunch under our shoes as we walk around. “This one is endemic,” says Bocks. “It’s young. I’m guessing five to six years. They take very long to grow in this area.” (Source: GroundUp)

Descriptive leads begin the article by describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They focus on setting the scene for the piece and use language that taps into the five senses to paint a picture for the reader. This type of lead can be used for both traditional news and feature stories. This is an example of a descriptive lead:

Chikwawa, Malawi – A few metres away from the joyful shouts of children playing soccer and the low whispers of women hunched together discussing the weather in small groups, Bernard Samson and other men are digging a pit latrine.

Standing at only 1.65m (5ft 4”), Samson, the 44-year-old father of six and district head of the Chikwawa community in southern Malawi, is a man used to leading a tall order. (Source: Al Jazeera)

The content in a feature article is not presented in the same way as in a news story (based on the structures discussed in the previous section). While the pyramid, T-structure and hourglass formats are particularly useful in news writing, the diamond format (see the broadcast stories section below for an example of the diamond format) can be particularly useful in feature writing.

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. This can be done by starting with an anecdotal or descriptive lead and then continuing in a logical way to present all the background information and quotes. The feature story can then end in a way that lingers with the reader, for example, with an emotional quote, a statement that makes the reader think, or what is called a “circle ending”, a return to the anecdote at the beginning of the story. This could be an update on what has happened. For example, the story about succulent smuggling ends like this:

The resident GroundUp spoke to in Springbok suggested that instead of poaching, the community could start cultivating the plants and sell them legally to make an income. ‘If we can cultivate them, then we can protect them too. Then they don’t have to go extinct.’ (Source: GroundUp)

This is a forward-looking ending – an ending that suggests a solution to the problem.

As you can see, feature stories work well for telling long, softer stories and are written in a different way than news stories.