FEATURE

WRITING
Feature Story

– tells the reader

a story.
– allows the reader to see the
story through detailed
description and vivid
writing.
 Let's start at
the beginning
with …
LEADS
Leads
The opening sentence must grab
and hold the reader's attention by
using specific, interest-arousing
words.
The lead must create the proper
tone: serious, sarcastic, ironic,
flippant, melancholy.
Leads
Can be and often are longer than one
sentence
 Your chance to grab the reader’s
attention
 Should be specific to your story
 Should be in third person
 Must fit the mood or tone of the
story
Structure of a Feature Story:
The introduction/lead is the most important
part - entice your reader, hook them in.
Use emotion, quotations, questions,
descriptions.
The body of the article needs to keep any
promises or answer any questions raised in
the introduction
While the introduction draws the reader in, the
conclusion should be written to help the
reader remember the story - use a strong
punch line.
Types of Leads
Narrative lead - tells a story

I met Mother Teresa of the Missionaries of Charities (MC)

for the first time when Lola came to Manila to give her
blessings to my aunt, Evelyn Yap, who was joining the
congregation. Lola and I were introduced by my aunt to her.
Mother Teresa had that presence and charisma which awed
Lola and me. Though I had managed to kiss her hand in
respect and to mutter, “How are you, Mother?”, I was
fidgeting in my place because of the way she looked at me.
Her eyes seemed to penetrate my whole being as if she could
see my soul.
Life Among the Poorest of the Poor
by Gilbert Y. Tan
MOD Magazine
Descriptive lead -describes a scene,
person or subject
You can describe a lady Dolefilite in many ways. She can be
the lady in casual t-shirt and slacks, white cap and rubber
shoes, neatly tucked hair and a pineapply-sweet smile. She
can be the suntanned lady in ridiculously-funny goggles,
wearing three sets of blouses and pants and in her hand, a
sun-ripened pineapple fruit. She can be one whose face is
slightly brushed with rouge, wearing RTW coordinates,
and a master of the keyboard. Yes, she can be any lady
employed here in Dolefil.
Woman Power in Dolefil
by Gilbert Y. Tan
Dolefil Tambuli
Lemlunay. It means paradise, promised land. The golden age of
the past, the golden age of the future. Camelot. Here, on one
special day – before sunrise, so it is believed – the ancient hero
Tudbolul appears to the T’boli people. And so the lunay sebung,
the torch-bearing T’bolis, must journey from their mountain
homes before the crack of dawn for their rendezvous with the
ancient hero. From afar, the procession is an awesome sight.
Thousands of torches merge into threads of light flowing down
the mountains. As the people approach the valley where the
gathering is to take place, the air vibrates with a medley of gongs
and strings and chants. The women descend to the tinkling of a
million hawkbells quivering on their bodies. The valley slowly
swells with life and light. After a while the tree of life is set afire.

The T’boli in search of Lemlunay

by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
Journalist in Her Country
Quotation lead

Idioms are a colorful and delightful part of the English

language. Anglo-American author Logan Smith described
idioms in a delectable manner: “Idioms are like little
sparks of life and energy in our speech, they are like those
substances called vitamins which make our food
nourishing and wholesome; diction deprived of idioms
soon becomes tasteless, dull, and insipid.”

Please Pass the Idioms …

by Gilbert Y. Tan
MOD Magazine
Quotation lead

“Reporters, I am scared of them. They expect me to know who they

are, and to greet them. If I don’t, they start hitting me. They make
it a guessing game; you have to correctly guess they are reporters.
But me, those I know, I greet; those I don’t know, I don’t greet.”
As simple as that.
Fernando Poe Jr. or Ronnie Poe or, better still, FPJ as he’s more
widely and fondly known, said that in 1968 in an interview with
Nick Joaquin (a.k.a. Quijano de Manila) after FPJ won his very
first FAMAS Best Actor award for his role as a priest who tamed
the slums in Mga Alabok sa Lupa.

A Close Encounter with FPJ

by Ricky Lo
Star Studded
Question lead
Saan ka ba takot? Takot ka ba sa dilim? Sa masisikip
na lugar? Sa daga? Sa Ipis? Saan ka ba takot?

Do you spend a good deal of time fretting about your

looks, wishing you could swap faces with some very
handsome person you admire? If you do, stop pitying
yourself – and start pitying the handsome people you
envy. They are the ones who are apt to to be hurt in life
by their looks.

Be Glad You’re not Beautiful

by James F. Bender
Reader’s Digest Bedside Reader
Direct Address lead- must be used
with narrative

Sa buhay mo, marami ka ng

naranasan. Mga karanasan na
ginusto mo o hindi ginusto. Sa mga
karanasang ito, natanong mo ang
iyong sarili kung ang Panginoon ba
ay natutulog o hindi.
Sequence lead
Amalia Fuentes was on the 15th floor shooting a movie…
when an earthquake struck and the building began
swaying. As everybody stood stiff, Amalia darted for
shelter under a table and, just as quickly, moved out of it
and ran towards the elevator and stood beside it. Later
on, somebody asked her why she did that. “It would be
very unglamorous to die under the table,” she answered.

Amalia Fuentes, A Woman for All Seasons

by Ricky Lo
Star Studded
 After a strong
lead… You need a
strong nut
graph.
What is a nut graph?
Basically, it is a summary of what
the story is going to be about. It’s the
5 Ws and H that you didn’t answer in
the lead.
It’s the thesis sentence of your
story.
Varsity football Coach Seamus Shift loves to
joke with his players, so earlier this month
when he told the varsity football team a woman
would be replacing him as head coach, the
players laughed.

“But when he didn’t laugh, we knew it was true,”

varsity quarterback junior Emmanuel Dyson
said.

And it is true.
 Former women’s professional football
player and current varsity football coach at
St. Mary’s Preparatory Academy in Florida,
The Nut Graph
Nina Colt will replace Shift as varsity
football coach for the 2011-2012 school
year. She will shadow Shift next week to
meet the players and assistant coaches.

“I want my players to be more than jocks,”

she said. “I want them to be outstanding
young men in society. Of course, I want to
win games, but winning will never come
before individual success in the classroom
and in the community.”
So how do you
end a feature
story?
 …

- A powerful quote
- Tie the ending back to
the lead
For example: (Lead)
“Don‘t be mad. I took some pills,” Karen Keaton
cried as she stooped over the toilet.
A few hours later, the 14-year-old freshman
died after a series of coronary arrests.

(Ending) Since the death of her oldest

daughter, the Keatons have found themselves
becoming more protective. “I find myself
watching for things,” Mrs. Keaton said. “I’m not
sure for what. I’m just watching.”
(Lead)
A group of candystripers stand around
the nursery, holding incubator babies.
It’s “loving time.” Another young girls
steps in with her mother and picks up a
baby, too. She is not in a uniform, but a
in a hospital gown, for the baby she
holds is her own — and it’s her “loving
time.”
(Ending) This was evident as she
stated the one word that described
the whole ordeal:
“Pain,” she said, tears streaming
down her cheeks and falling onto
her sweater.
“True pain.”
Pitfalls to avoid in feature writing …

 Using a news lead

 Writing in the passive voice
 Using too many adverbs and
adjectives instead of specific nouns
and powerful verbs
 Messy handwriting
 Lack of strong quotes
On contest day …
 Read the entire prompt
 Take a moment. Remember what
stands out to you. Try to use that for
your lead.
 Reread the prompt and highlight or
underline powerful quotes.
 Cross out any unnecessary quotes or
people.
 Write