FEATURE WRITING (Caven Masuku, Gweru, Zimbabwe)

Introduction

A good feature writer is neither wordy nor flowery. He is precise and straight to the point and
is guided by the ABC of Journalism that is Accuracy, Balance and Clarity. Before one starts
crafting a feature article, he must master the nutty gritty of writing so that even the ordinary
man in the street and intellectuals can easily understand. Remember that writing is an art that
need to be blended with knowledge and wisdom.

What is a Feature?

Ask a journalist what a feature is and he or she is likely to respond: Anything isn
Quote Lead: Writing as an art, the writer can start by a quotation. For instance:
Review- is it worth it?

Personal column- I really think you should know this

Profile- did (s)he really say that

Entertainment: A good read such as in a:

News story-oh my goodness!

Match report-Sounds like it was a great game

There are six basic feature endings namely;

Lead Replay: This goes back to the beginning of the feature article. The Lead of a feature
story can be used to sum up the article .Writing as an art at times need a creative writer who
can be manipulative, cunning and at the same time embellish his or her words using rhetoric,
connotative and emphatic words which can cause the reader to smile, wryly, shade tears,
click the tongue and perhaps drove into a felicity mood.

Proximity Ending: Proximity simple means nearer or adjacent and here the writer uses
information from the paragraph right before the concluding paragraph of the feature article.

Restatement: This is another interesting feature article ending that reminds the reader of the
story
A feature article just like a novel should follow the three tiers that is the introduction, body
and conclusion. The article can start using any of the leads discussed above and be concluded
using any of the endings mentioned in this book.

As part of journalism and effective writing, feature article should name all the people
involved fully begging with their first name, middle and last names if possible. Places and
events relevant to the article as propare nouns need to be mentioned.

Again a feature article must flow in a logical transition just like water along the river. Facts
should be placed one after the other in sequence to better the gist of the article.

It is important always for the writer to use simple and clear language when writing. The
writer needs to use strong action verbs that will give a vivid picture in the minds of the
readers. Tactile, aural, visionary and so forth must be felt in the article without missing a
point.

The writer also needs to vary the sentence structure. Simple, compounding and sometime
complex sentences have to be inter-twine in a feature article. Just as a human being will dress
to suit the occasion and impress the on-lookers the feature article writer has to do the same
with the article. The fact that most of the world
Avoid using words or phrases with dual meaning. Diction is important and the journalist must
be simple in their writing and straight forward to avoid confusion to the reader.

Journalist as professional writers must not use fake names or unfamiliar acronyms that are
beyond reach to the readers. There is need to clarify issues especially if dealing with
unfamiliar abbreviations and terms. Take your time to simplify the matter.

Journalists must not use certain terms that can kill the gist of an article like