FEATURE WRITING

By Manuel C. Zacarias
-the author is a sought-after lecturer in all Journalism categories, having trained winners in at least three regions in Luzon. He is a columnist
and photojournalist of the defunct The Philippine Tribune and feature writer of Universal Times, an international news magazine. He has
won numerous awards in writing and photography competitions, including the 1st Place finish in the 2009 Gender-Sensitive Essay Writing
Contest sponsored by the Film Development Board, and Grand Prize Awards in the 2011 Canon Travel Photo Competition organized by
Canon Philippines. He is also the resident photojournalism and feature writing trainer of the NCR and a proven winner as a teacher and
school paper adviser. He has a Malikhaing Pagsulat degree from the University of the Philippines and has some of his works published in
Ani 31 and Ani 34, the Philippine Literary Annual published by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He is also the president of the
National Capital Region Secondary School Paper Advisers Association.

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A Feature story is...
• One that deals with realistic situations
• A factual discussion of definite subjects that Appeal to moods and emotions and satisfy the hunger for information.
• Informative and factual
• Direct and objective (more objective than the essay)
• One that deals with every (any) subject under the sun (human interest articles that speak of people, places, things and
situations.)
• Should be more informative and entertaining than a news story.
• Less expressive than the editorial
• Written in greater depth than the news story.

A Feature story is NOT...

• Perishable like news stories
• Imaginative or speculative
• Subtle and suggestive
• Based on personal impressions
• Features are not meant to deliver the news firsthand. They do contain elements of news, but their main functions are:
– to humanize,
– to add color,
– to educate,
– to entertain,
– to illuminate.

They often recap major news that was reported in a previous news cycle.

Features often...
• Profile people who make the news
• Explain events that move or shape the news
• Analyze what is happening in the world, nation or community
• Teach an audience how to do something
• Suggest better ways to live
• Examine trends

Features…
• Explain what is happening
• Expand on news item, an official statement
• Explore ideas, new concepts
• Investigate issues, social problems and scandals

Characteristics
• News
– based on facts
– objective
– Reactive: an event happens and it is reported
– brief
– the structure is in the lead

• Features
– based on facts
– subjective
– Pro-active: the writer finds the stories and sets his own agenda
– generally longer than news (the writer has more material)
– must have beginning, middle and end

Focus
* News --Who -What -When -Where -Report only the facts
* Features --How -Why -Offer fresh, unusual perspectives on events -Analyze past -Glimpse into the future
Techniques
• News -- go direct to the point of the story

• Features
– have more open view
– use a variety of approaches (narrative, case studies, quotes, anecdotes, creative writing techniques)
But like news, the lead of the FEATURE must be a grabber. It needs punch to create impact and demand attention.

Writing the Feature

Ideas come from...
• Your eyes, brains and library
• Everywhere (Stop, look and listen)
• People, objects and places
• Being a child
• Press releases, news stories, other publications, reports and researches, letters, page ads, anniversaries

In case of schools...
• Faculty * Staffers *.Students *Surrounding community *DepEd ruling *Health issues
• Senate and Congress resolutions *Bills affecting education/youth *People around you

Preparation and Writing

• Ask yourself:
– What is the role of this feature?
– What sort of info should it contain?
– Who is it being written for (audience)?
– Who is the best to interview?

Types of Feature Stories

1. Personality Profiles --Written to bring an audience closer to a person in or out of the news.
--Interviews and observations, as well as creative writing, are used to paint a vivid picture of the person
2. Human interest stories-- A human interest story is written to show a subject’s oddity or its practical, emotional,
or entertainment value.
3. Trend stories
--A trend story examines people, things or organizations that are having an impact on society.
--Trend stories are popular because people are excited to read or hear about the latest fads.
4. In-depth stories
--Through extensive research and interviews, in-depth stories provide a detailed account well beyond a basic news
story or feature.
5. Travel Features--People and places are always exciting but the places recommended must be worth spending
money, time and trouble.
--Travel features demand exceptional descriptive and narrative skills.
6. Hobby Features
--Uncommon hobbies like cloud watching, bird watching, lizard eating, bees collecting etc. present exotic feature
avenues.
--A hobby feature writing interests the readers that have to say about exceptional hobbies.
EXAMPLE OF News Features (Lead and few paragraphs only)

Fabian Ver, the most feared - and ridiculed- in the warning years of the Marcos dictatorship died yesterday morning in an
undisclosed private hospital in Bangkok.
He was someone who would have willingly taken a bullet for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. So loyal was formed
Armed Forces chief of staff General Fabian Ver to Marcos, his cousin, the people referred to him as the ultimate lapdog.
During the Marcos years the running joke was that if Marcos ordered Ver to jump off a building, the general would ask:
“Which floor sir?”
Yesterday Ver died in an undisclosed private hospital in Bangkok...

EXAMPLE OF Travel Features (Lead and few paragraphs only)

English:

Puerto Princesa was known as one of the major food producers of the country particularly the seafood. It was estimated
that 60% of Metro Manila’s fish consumption comes from Puerto Princesa and other Palawan’s fishing areas.
To be honest, although we usually eat at Bulakenas Carinderia near Mendoza Park, the food around Puerto is fresh,
plentiful, and relatively cheap.
A visit to the public, market will get you surprise because in Puerto Princesa you still get the fish that are now so rare and
hence expensive in our city markets. Sea specials like fresh lobster, lapu-lapu, blue marlin, tuna, banak, and crabs are easily
sold there in very affordable prices. It’s really your good chance to get the good stuff and fly it home in Styrofoam boxes…
 Filipino:

Kung sinasabing ang pluma ay higit na makapangyarihan kaysa anumang sandata, sa pluma man ay may higit pang
makapangyarihan. Ito ay ang ganda ng isang kalikasan.
Kahanga-hanga, makapitlag-puso, makalangit, kapita-pitagan at walang pinag-iwan sa isang tunay na paraiso. Ito ang
Lawa ng Bulusan, lawa para sa sinumang nilalang na ibig mapag-isa upang lasapin ang biyaya ng tunay na katahimikan sa
buhay o dili naman kaya’y upang lunasan ang hapdi ng puso sa pamamagitan ng walang sawang pagmasid sa mapang-aliw at
masaganang kagandahan ng buong pusong inihain ng kalikasan.
Sa aking nasaksihan sa una kong pagdalaw sa lawang ito na matatagpuan sa dakong timog silangan ng lalawigang
Sorsogon na may apatnapu’t limang kilometro mula sa punong bayan ay ang mga sumusunod:
Isang likas na daan o pilapil na maaaring mapagdaanan na tuloy-tuloy sa buong paligid. Sa pampang naman ito ay
nakapalibot ang malilim na punong kahoy na pawang nangayuko at animo’y nahihiyang nagbubulungan.

Steps in Writing and Organizing Feature Stories

Choose the theme.
• The theme provides unity and coherence to the piece. The theme answers the question, "So what?"
• Factors to consider when choosing a theme:
– Has the story been done before?
– Is the story of interest to the audience?
– Does the story have holding power (emotional appeal)?
– What makes the story worthy of being reported?
Write a lead that invites an audience into the story
• Use the first two or three paragraphs to set a mood, to arouse readers, to invite them inside.
• Do not make readers wait until the 10th or 11th paragraph before telling them what the story is about.
• The news peg or the significance of the story is provided in the third or fourth paragraph, the nut graph. Because
it explains the reason the story is being written, the nut graph--also called the "so what" graph--is a vital paragraph in
every feature.
• The Lead: Compels reader to begin reading; Should be honest; Should set the tone and build the story; Avoid cliches
or stale expressions, unless it has a fresh twist

Kind of lead
• Summary statement
– Example:
The Department of Education, Culture and Sports provides a classic case of corruption in the Philippines. Nearly all forms
of corruption described in academic texts can be found in the department…(PCIJ)
• Narrative: chronological story-telling; has beginning and end
Example:
Anastacia is back in Manila.
It was the one thing in her life she dreaded, but as the months dragged on, it became clear that it was the only choice left.
For toward her last days in Hong Kong, no employers would have her. Nobody wanted to hire the Filipina domestic who had
dragged her Chinese master to court on five charges of indecent assault.
Anastacia’s troubles began in 1988 on the 19th of October, the Double Ten, a day the Chinese call lucky… (Joann
Maglipon).
• Descriptive: puts readers in scene; describes location; gives clue to character of subject; uses rich words; has
movement; must be short.
Example:
Sol Jose is a wisp of a girl who lives in a hole in the wall, literally, a cubicle that measures 1.5 meters wide, 6 feet tall
and 8 feet long in a low-ceilinged boutique called Sulaiman on A. Mabini. But the size of the woman (some inches below five
feet, 85 pounds) and that of the hole she lives and works in are deceiving. (Lorna Tirol).

. Question: usually set off in a paragraph by itself.

Example:
Is it another American Invasion?
Prospects for more US investments in the Philippines are now better with the introduction of the basic structural reforms
and the government’s efforts to stabilize the peace and order condition, an American businessman said yesterday.
. Parody: consists most frequently of a parody of a well-known song, poem, quotation, book or movie title
EXAMPLE:
Leron, leron sinta, nanalo muli si Gloria. . .
Ito ang mamumutawi sa mga nagrarally na makaGMA matapos ibaba ang hatol na guilty kay dating Pangulong Joseph
Ejercito Estrada. . . .

• Anecdotal: a little story to illustrate a crux of some problems or reveal the character of someone’s personality.
Example
His ears gave Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino her first hint that her future husband’s earthly life would be brief.
Benigno Aquino, Jr. had small ears, a sure sign, according to Filipino folk superstitions, of a short life.
But the Western-educated young lady did not believe in superstitions, as she told her sister when the latter called
attention to her boyfriend’s ear. Yet, although she did not believe it, Cory says now, “it was always on my mind.”
• Quotation: should be well-said; must be relevant to the story; Consists of a speaker’s direct words.
Example
“I’m baaack!!!” former first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos memorably said when she stepped into Malacañang last
May as a personal guest of loyal friend President Joseph Estrada and an Ulirang Ina Awardee. Thirteen years after her husband
was ousted by People Power revolution, she and her family could once more walk in the corridors of the palace they had so
hastily left.
The Body
• Provide vital background information.
– If appropriate, a paragraph or two of background should be placed high in the story to bring the audience up
to date.
• Write clear, concise sentences.
– Sprinkle direct quotations, observations and additional background throughout the story.
– Paragraphs can be written chronologically or in order of importance.
• Establish a voice.
– The voice, or the "signature" or personal style of each writer holds a feature together.
– The blatant intrusion of a distinctive voice into news writing has been called gonzo journalism--an
irresponsible, if entertaining, trend in contemporary writing according to traditionalists.

Model News Feature

DRUGS NOT OUR KIND OF HEAVEN

Drugs may promise a fleeting glimpse of heaven but that’s definitely NOT MaScians’ kind of heaven.
Achievements—getting high grades, winning contests, reaching goals ---music, friends, girls, work well done. These
are some of the things that give them a high, a Nucleus survey showed.
The survey also showed that the 310 respondents will not let themselves be hooked on drugs. Fourteen of these
respondents, however confessed to having tried drugs.
Knowledge of drugs’ damaging effects has kept students away from them, the survey revealed.
“Why try it when I won’t benefit from it” and “it’s not worth trying” were the predominant reasons cited.
“Twenty respondents said taking drugs is not the way to handle problems. A freshman respondent said he is very much
concerned about his future and he won’t let drugs destroy it.
Respondents also attributed their refusal to try drugs to strong family foundation and that MaScians image they have to
live up to.
On the other hand, the 14 respondents who have tried drugs gave curiosity as their primary reason for doing so. Ten
explicitly said they discontinued taking drugs after the experience for fear of getting addicted. “It’s a risky way of satisfying
my curiosity.”
“I wanted to experience what my friends feel when they are high,” a fourth year respondent said, but added
that he had a bad trip, and this stopped him from going further.
Valium 5 and 10 and marijuana are the common drugs taken by MaScian triers.
Aside from curiosity, these respondent said that “drugs must not be abused. Those who take drugs must use them with
caution for drugs will wreck the user’s life.”
A fourth year respondent said he takes jets to be relaxed but that he knows his limitation and that he sees to it he does
not go beyond that limit.
Nobody, however, admitted to being an addict.

--Melfred Hernandez and Ma. Cecilia Vira

Nucleus

Tips for Writing Personality Profiles

• focus on a person (a story that captures a human being on paper)
• not a cradle-to-grave account
• zero in on subject in relation to a particular activity
• select and highlight what will interest the audience
• make a person real, not a flat stereotype
• involve longer and more interviews
• someone newsworthy: celebrity; someone in power; someone who has an impact on people; someone involved in a
controversy; a trailblazer
• secondary worthiness: connected to a news event
• eccentrics: intriguing people
Pointers
• Choose words carefully.
• Reconsider lead after you’ve written the story.
• Lead and ending are important: both must have an impact.
• Lead: does it arouse interest?
• Ending: does it have an impact?
• Memorable parting idea?

Note: Copyrights 2011. The lecture is part of the author’s book to be released this year. For more
details pls. Contact the author at 0929-2637159 zacariasmanny@yahoo.com