celebrating the f

Fabulous Feature Writing

University of MinnesotaCoffman Memorial Union

MHSPA State Journalism ConventionOctober 9, 2012

Kathryn CampbellThe Rubicon adviser

St. Paul Academy and Summit SchoolSaint Paul, Minnesota

kcampbell@spa.edu

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Twitter hashtag#MHSPAtheF

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Features go beyond facts

On the surface, a feature story often has little to do with the news… yet, what do readers remember? The feature story.

Tom Hallman, journalist and author

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Features tell stories in

words and beyond words.

They are literaryand logistic.

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Extraordinary stories about ordinary peopleF

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10 Popular Types of Feature Stories

Personality ProfileHuman Interest StoryColor StoryBackgrounderTrend StoryReaction PieceFlashbackHow toConsumer GuidePersonal Narrative

From Tim Harrower’s Inside Reporting, 2010

Brainstorming

Think of your school community.

Who could you interview for a profile-style feature that is not commonly reported on in your school?

Are there groups you could report on using this style?

Tip: get class lists, club lists for your school and keep them in a binder in your Publications room. Mark off the names of people you report on. Goal: every student sees their name in print in the course of the year.

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The Feature journalist is a storyteller first and foremost. Feature stories embody news values and they go on to have a deeper, lasting significance.

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How?

How?

How?

How?

How?

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Colorful, vivid imagery

An Imam in AmericaAndrea Elliot

The imam begins his trek before dawn, his long robe billowing like a ghost through empty streets. In this dark, quiet hour, his thoughts sometimes drift back to the Egyptian farming village where he was born. .

The Girl in the WindowLane Gregory

“Tattered curtains, yellow with cigarette smoke, dangling from bent metal rods. Cardboard and old comforters stuffed into broken, grimy windows. Trash blanketing the stained couch, the sticky counters.

The floor, walls, even the ceiling seemed to sway beneath legions of scuttling roaches.

"It sounded like you were walking on eggshells. You couldn't take a step without crunching German cockroaches," the detective said. "They were in the lights, in the furniture. Even inside the freezer. The freezer!"”

Photo Credit: Melissa Lyttle

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ss “… now let me tell this in the first person.

For I was the least important person there... There surged around me an evil-smelling stink, men and boys reached out to touch me. They were in rags and the remnants of uniforms. Death already had marked many of them, but they were smiling with their eyes. I looked out over the mass of men to the green fields beyond, where well-fed Germans were plowing.

A German, Fritz Kertheimer, came up and said 'May I show you around the camp? I've been here ten years.'”

Edward R. Murrow on Buchenwald: (April 15, 1945)

Repetition

Syntax

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Last Chance High outlines Graduation Day from the morning to the reception following the ceremony.

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Emotion that focuses

on a person

Every door is different.

Some are ornately hand-carved hardwood; some are hollow tin. Some are protected by elaborate security systems, some by flapping screens. The doors are all that stand between a family and the message.

For Major Steve Beck it starts with a knock, or a ring of the doorbell — a simple act, really, with the power to shatter a soul. .”

What do you need to do?

Adapted from Michael Vitez - staff writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer

1. Show, don’t tell

2. Spend the time - research and interview process

3. Prepare in advance – use all the data and documents you need, but open with a small story that says it all

4. Follow your gut

5. Write soon, and tell your story to the keyboard first. Then, write, rewrite, talk it out, rewrite again.

Think beyond text. How can the story be stretched?

HeadlineCaptionPull quotes

How can you tell the story without words?

PhotoPodcastSlideshowSurvey

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Copyright ShashikumarMenon

When planning your Feature story, discuss story entry points with your editor and design team

How many ways can you engage with this Feature?

Copyright Caitlin Palmiter, Used with Permission

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Questions?

Thank You