References:

Compilation of Dianne Smith, MJE, Alief

Hastings High Schooln Houston, Texas
Randy Vonderheid
http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/newsgoogle.htm
Mobile & Internet Researcher
(http://oonyeoh.squarespace.com/).
 Feature Story
• A feature story is an article
in a newspaper, a magazine, or
a news website that is not
meant to report breaking news,
but to take an in-depth look at
issues behind a news story,
often concentrating on
background events, persons or
circumstances.
Feature stories place a greater emphasis
on facts that have human interest.

Features put people in the story; they

make the reader think and care.

You can write a feature story about

anyone if you find an unusual angle that
captures the interest of your readers.
(Ding)
 NEWS STORIES FEATURE STORIES
Timely Timeless
dealing on current about current topic or not
event
inverted pyramid fluid form; employ a more
style complex narrative structure,
a definite beginning, middle,
end

factual reporting factual reporting plus

creative freedom of short
story writing, more colorful
 NEWS STORIES FEATURE STORIES
concentrate on a delve deeper into their
few important key subjects, expanding on
points the details

often preclude tend to be original and

description descriptive; original in
ideas
objective add a more human touch
to reporting
a few paragraphs whole story has to be
can be scanned read to understand it
Generally feature stories are of two types:
•News features, which are usually written
as a follow-up or as a sidebar story that is
linked to a breaking news event
•Timeless stories, which do not have to be
used immediately. The information in these
stories will be just as relevant if saved for a
future issue
A sidebar is an article that
accompanies and appears beside the
main news story. Additionally, many
features are developed around what is
called a news peg. A news peg is the
relationship of a feature to, or how a
feature is pegged on, something in the
news.
9/11
In either type of feature story, good
reporting is essential. You collect as
many details as possible. You describe
people, settings and feelings, the
elements of storytelling. When all the
details are added together, the reader
is placed in the scene you are
describing.
FINDING SUBJECTS THAT MATTER

There are no restrictions on subject

matter. You are limited only by your
imagination.
Often a feature story is a simple story
about a common person in an
uncommon circumstance. The feature’s
job is to find a fresh angle —to find the
story behind the person.
 Topics that deal with the ordinary
Foreign exchange students
Eating disorders
Part-time jobs Unusual hobbies
Teacher features Favorite movies
Favorite celebrities Top Ten Lists
Fast-food restaurants
Fashion trends
 Offbeat feature story ideas
Talk radio
Weird cravings
The truth about goat cheese
The best books not to read
Crazy answering machine messages
Ungrammatical ads, signages
Coincidences
Cell phone anecdotes
• Features are human interest
stories that speak of people,
places and situations. Celebrities,
films, travel, music, sports,
fashion, food, health, careers and
such themes are the favourite
hunting ground of Feature
writers.
• News features and Timeless
features that have intrinsic
human interest to get updated.
• News Feature
 •Mayor chooses trike
over SUV
By Dino Balabo
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

• HAGONOY, Bulacan – Unlike other politicians who move

around in gas guzzling vans and sports utility vehicles
(SUVs), the mayor of this coastal town has been using a
tricycle as his service vehicle for several months now.
Although born with the proverbial silver spoon in his
mouth, Hagonoy Mayor Angel Cruz can easily afford an
SUV as service vehicle, but he has chosen a lowly
tricycle.
Cruz is the older brother of Timmy Cruz, a
singer/actress who earned fame in the 1980s and ’90s.
The STAR first saw and photographed the mayor
riding his tricycle last Friday during President Arroyo’s
visit here when she distributed relief goods to residents
affected by typhoon “Frank,”
 After the President’s convoy of black,
full-sized vans left for Marilao town, Cruz casually walked
alone towards the Sta. Monica Bridge and rode his service
vehicle parked at the other end of the span.
It was a Honda motorcycle with attached stainless
steel Bocaue-type sidecar.
The motorcycle’s low windshield is plastered
with the logo of the municipal government of
this town, signifying that it was an “official
vehicle,” while the mayor’s political sign, a red triangular
flag with a letter “K” emblazoned on it, hangs over the side
car.
• The “official vehicle” was acquired months ago and has no
license plates yet; instead, a “for registration” sign is
clipped on the back of the motorcycle.
• Officials of the municipal government told The STAR
that Cruz chose a tricycle as his official vehicle to
move around town not only because of the narrow
roads that connect the town’s 26 barangays, but also
for practical reasons owing to the constant fuel price
increases.
• “It saves him a lot of gasoline,” said municipal
engineer Nemecio Sabino.
• Sabino said a tricycle can travel an average of 12 to
14 kilometers for every liter of gasoline, unlike SUVs
that guzzle gas every time its engine is turned on.
• “Local officials should set the example,” Sabino said,
noting that he himself had a tricycle as a service
vehicle, which he uses to go to work and bring his
children to school.
• Other residents who have seen the mayor on his new
“service vehicle” said that they have not seen a local
mayor ride a tricycle before.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Personality Features
• It’s not everybody’s cup of tea to
attain fame and fortune. Fame and
success stories, have a curiosity
value, are rare and conjure up the
imagination of the readers who
would find juicy fulfillment in them.
• It makes the reader dive into the
hidden traits of a character with the
effective newsworthiness and reality
of truth.
Profiles
A profile is a short, vivid character sketch.
Too many profiles turn into a tedious
recounting of biographical facts or are
unrelated anecdotes sandwiched between
quotations.
A good profile includes impressions,
explanations and points of view. It should
emphasize what is unique about the person.
You can use a flashback technique or
highlight the individual’s many roles.
 Rosa Rosal: A true public servant
• By Desiree Sokoken
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:37:00 07/14/2008
• (Editor’s Note: This essay qualified Ms Sokoken as regional
finalist in the high school division of the recent RM Award
Student Essay Competition. In the coming weeks, Learning
will publish the winning essays in the high school and college
levels.)
One momentous event could change a
person for a lifetime.
One night, a young girl was brought to the
hospital. She had fallen from a five-story
building and had lost a lot of blood. As she lay
in the hospital bed, seemingly lifeless, a
young hospital volunteer managed to avail of
the much-needed blood supply from the Red
Cross.
 As the red liquid was transfused into the
victim’s veins, the volunteer witnessed the vital
role of blood to life. This incident had significantly
changed not one but two lives—the victim
regained her life; the volunteer began a lifetime
mission.

Thus, in 1950, Florence Lansang Danon, then

a promising 19-year-old actress and more
popularly known as Rosa Rosal, registered herself
as an official volunteer for the Philippine National
Red Cross. She allied herself under its Blood
Program, which has since become her lifetime
passion.
 Many Filipinos must know who Rosa Rosal is.
She became famous as a multi-awarded movie
star, but she built a solid reputation as a social
worker for her selfless devotion to the Red Cross
Blood Program.

As an ordinary high school student, I did not

know much about Rosa Rosal until I became a
PNRC volunteer myself. To be part of this non-
government organization and not know Rosal is
near to impossible. As I started work with the Red
Cross, my fascination for this Rosal woman steadily
grew. In a nutshell, I think Rosa Rosal is one smart
Filipina. Smart is an action-packed adjective that
stands for Spearheads, Mobilizes, Acts, Radiates,
Twinkles.
• Rosa Rosal spearheads. It could not be denied
that Rosal has been a constant driving force in
the Red Cross program. Proof of this claim are
her many work innovations. Following the
footsteps of other kind-hearted persons like
Swiss philanthropist Jean Henri Dunant and
American humanitarian Clara Barton, Rosal left
her own stamp in the development of the PNRC.
Among her innovations is the extension of the
Blood Program.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Culture Features
• Movie stars and pop singers are
the role models of today that
inspire the youth. Acting, mega
success stories, flops,
characters, comedy, tragedy etc.
could be raw material for Feature
writing.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Hi Tech Features
• With the demand of Technical
writing in the field of Computers, a
lot challenge awaits for the Feature
writers online as well as in the IT
magazines.
• The leap of technology has left
everyone breathless and feature
possibilities are enormous.
 Technology Intelligence:
The new competitive edge
Your industry is “hot.” Your
company is thriving in the rules of
the New Economy. You generate
profits and create value not from
the buildings or cash you hold, but
from your knowledge-based assets.
Having the right technology at
the right time is becoming an
increasingly important part of
business success.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Life Style Features
• Changing fashion trends and life-styles
makes an interesting reading. A passion
for fashion and acquaintance with fashion
moguls and a fondness for showmanship
make a good fashion Feature writer. This
is not a job of any Tom, Dick and Harry!
All leading business magazines carry life
style features which are more or less
showpieces of a changing society.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Travel Features
• The Travel themes are a class apart
for the adventure they hold in the
writing themes. The Travel features
unfold the romance, inducing the
wander lust and creating a spell on
readers making them fly on the
seventh heaven.
• 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.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Hobby Features
• People have various hobbies and a
very few exceptional genre have the
taste of interest in various hobbies.
• Stamp collecting, gardening, music,
reading, photography are the
common hobbies but some
exceptional or uncommon hobbies
like cloud watching, bird watching,
lizard eating, bees collecting etc.
present exotic feature avenues.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Concerned Features
• These have the power to expose the
burning issues like Education,
poverty, corruption, drug addiction,
women issues, hapless victims, etc.
• The concerned writing calls for a
debate to show the magnitude of the
problem through cases, anecdotes
and quotable quotes and a lot of
writing stuff challenging the
perspective.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Career Features
• These features focus on Career
guidance scaling to career peaks or
career blues.
• Stories that give insight to careers,
models, career planning, mid career
crisis lead to interesting and
informative feature writing especially
for the people who have to decide the
fate to earn their bread and butter.
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Business Features
• In a market driven world with day to
day crisis boom, Business feature
writing provides a platform to give a
glimpse of the insight of the business
world. Exploring ideas, opportunities,
market trends, dizzy world of
Business is a challenge.
• Business feature writing requires
special eye to vision the business –
the expression of the art of minting
money!
 TYPES OF FEATURE STORIES
• Event Features like Valentine Day,
Teachers’ Day, Independence day,
etc. themes.
• Feature writing on Health & medical
issues, Sun sign writers or Numerical
features like writing on the magic of
numbers – astrology and
numerology.
• Historical features can be made
interesting with the perpetual spell of
age old times with history, stories,
unique features and more.
 FEATURE OUTLINE
from Randy Vonderheid
http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/newsgoogle.htm
– Lead: Needs to grab the reader
and set the scene.
– Startling statement, descriptive,
etc. Must be SPECIFIC TO THE
PERSON, EVENT, OR SITUATION!!

– The narrative lead is one of the

most effective styles for hooking
or drawing the reader into the
story.
As you prepare for your feature story,
you will gather a large amount of
information through interviews and
background research.
Before you begin writing, you will focus
on the main idea you want to get across,
and organize your information,
eliminating that which does not go along
with your focus.
 FEATURE OUTLINE
from Randy Vonderheid
http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/newsgoogle.htm
– Body: Should utilize the quote transition
formula. Use a variety of relevant sources.
– Example: if the feature is on a specific
person, interview their family, friends, etc.
– After you have written the lead, you need a
structure in which to place the information.
A structure is an organizational pattern the
writer uses to synthesize, that is to
establish relationships between relevant
pieces of information.
 FEATURE OUTLINE
from Randy Vonderheid
http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/newsgoogle.htm

– Conclusion:
– Always completely tell the story—
have depth. Story should end with a
strong quote that draws the story to
a satisfying conclusion.
– (Students should not attempt to
write their own conclusion or draw a
conclusion. Allow a primary source
quotation to bring the feature to
closure.)
William E. Blundell who pioneered the
technique for the Wall Street Journal
(The Art and Craft of Feature Writing).
•
1. The Lead (Intro)

2. Nut Graph (Angle)

3. Main Body (Blocks)

4. Conclusion (Ending)
 William E. Blundell…
• 1. The lead (or intro) for the article is
typically three paragraphs long. It's
usually an interesting anecdote that
may not, at first glance, seem to be
related to the topic at hand.
• Its purpose is to provide an
interesting and simple-to-understand
illustration of the issue you are
writing about (the anecdote is
basically a microcosm of the bigger
story you intend to tell) and to draw
your readers to the Nut Graph. (By
the time they read the Nut Graph,
they would have understood the
lead's relevance to the story).
 The Lead
The beginning of the feature story must pull
the reader in. The first sentence must make
the reader want to read the second sentence.
The lead may or may not contain a hook, a
detail that draws in the reader’s attention.

Some good feature leads include:

Narrative
Descriptive
Striking statement
Punch or astonisher
 The introduction or lead

• An anecdote, or an interesting
observation, or even a clever play on
words will often make a good
introduction. Sometimes a direct
quote or question will do the trick.
Try to avoid the plodding "once upon
a time" style.
• One of the other classic pitfalls is to
make a sweeping generalization that
does not, in fact, stand up to scrutiny.
The last thing you want is for your
reader to start taking issue with you
in your first paragraph.
 Ukay-ukay in the City
Pinoys love a bargain. Well, who
doesn’t anyway?
For folks who have not visited the
Philippines for the last couple of
years, ukay-ukay is a bargain
shopping concept which is alive and
kicking. The term comes from the
word hukay-hukay, referring to the
act of digging through the piles of
bargain clothing, whether they are
second hand or surplus stock sold at
throw-away prices.
• It is worth spending time on your
introductory paragraph. Play
around with ideas and images
until you hit on one that works.
• But do not wait for the perfect
intro before you start writing.
Sometimes you just need to get
it down on paper, then hone the
introduction later.
 William E. Blundell…
• 2. The Nut Graph is a paragraph that
explains your entire article in a nutshell.
Many writers find the Nut Graph to be the
hardest aspect of feature writing. Once
they’ve figured out their Nut Graph,
everything else falls into place easily.
• Ken Wells, a writer and editor at the WSJ,
describes the Nut Graph as “a paragraph
that says what this whole story is about
and why you should read it. It's a flag to
the reader, high up in the story: You can
decide to proceed or not, but if you read
no farther, you know what that story's
about.”
• Remember, in the Blundell Technique, up to three
paragraphs can be used for the intro (but never
more than three).
• Blundell calls it “the main theme statement, the
single most important bit of writing I do on any
story.”
• (Three para intro)
Physicists are just like the rest of us in at least
one respect. When they go online to search for
information, they expect the earth.
• Bebo White, who runs the website for the
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a high-
energy physics laboratory in California, knows
this all too well. "They get very frustrated if we
don't return good results, and quickly,” says Mr
White.
• And what do the expert visitors to the centre's
website look for most often? That day's cafeteria
menu, says Ruth McDunn, another technician on
the site.
• (Nut Graph)
Call it the Google Effect. Expectations of search
engines have skyrocketed. Whether it involves
complex specialist knowledge or the completely
trivial, there is a general belief that everything
should be available instantly, at the click of a
mouse.
 Which is the nut graph? What title can
you give the feature?
For many, notebook computers
are a luxury.
Portrayed in the business
community as a neat gadget to increase
productivity, they are a status symbol
denoting a well-connected go-getter, a
person with no time to waste.
But for some disabled students in
Madison's schools, these tiny
technological marvels are anything but
an extravagance -- unless getting an
education is considered a luxury.
Mai Neng Chang is one such
student.
Disabled students ride
new wave of technology
For many, notebook computers
are a luxury.
Portrayed in the business
community as a neat gadget to increase
productivity, they are a status symbol
denoting a well-connected go-getter, a
person with no time to waste.
But for some disabled students in
Madison's schools, these tiny
technological marvels are anything but
an extravagance -- unless getting an
education is considered a luxury.
Mai Neng Chang is one such
student.
• What is the feature about? What is a
good title for it?
• When kindergarten teacher Betty
Tolbert needed some stickers, books and
colored paper as this school year
approached, she didn't go to the
principal or School Board for the money.
• She dipped into her own bank account.
• By the time the school year is over,
Tolbert said she expects to spend about
$3,000 of her $56,000 salary on her
room and pupils at Glen Park Elementary
School in New Berlin.
• "Someone gave to me when I was
young, and I believe if you take from the
world, you have to give back. I can't
shortchange the children."
• She isn't alone.
• Teachers use own cash
to buy supplies for classrooms
• When kindergarten teacher Betty
Tolbert needed some stickers, books and
colored paper as this school year
approached, she didn't go to the principal or
School Board for the money.
• She dipped into her own bank account.
• By the time the school year is over,
Tolbert said she expects to spend about
$3,000 of her $56,000 salary on her room
and pupils at Glen Park Elementary School
in New Berlin.
• "Someone gave to me when I was
young, and I believe if you take from the
world, you have to give back. I can't
shortchange the children."
• She isn't alone.
 William E. Blundell…

• 3. The main body of the article

consists of several blocks, each
representing a different aspect of
the main story.
• It's always a good idea to pepper
your blocks with quotes and
examples to make it more
interesting and credible.

Show them the forest; introduce them

to a tree. - Blundell
The structure for a quote story:
Lead
Quote (Use your most dynamic quote here)
Transition or fact
Quote
Transition
Quote
Transition
Quote
• Transitions should be one or two
sentences long and lead the reader to
the information regarding the quote.
Transitions should not tell or recap
what the direct or indirect quote tells.
Transitions may be written from
reporting facts or summary of
information gained from quotes and
the interview.
• Quotes may be up to two sentences
long and be written as direct quotes,
indirect quotes or as a paraphrase of
what the source said.
Continue alternating quotes and
transitions all the way through the
story.
End your story on the second best
quote you have, to leave your reader
with something to think about.
 If you ever question his teaching
avocation, Gene Olson will fix you
with a steely gaze, address you in a
low but firm voice, and tell you this:
"Latin is not dead."
Not if you learn it from the 74-
year-old McFarland High School
teacher. Olson believes that teaching
the obscure, unspoken language
amounts to nothing less than saving
the traditions of Western civilization
as we know it.
• Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 01:27
by Oon Yeoh | Post a Comment
• Appreciating imperfection
Do you notice how people cause
themselves endless suffering by clinging on
to the notion of perfection?
(question lead)
For example, they want their car to be in
pristine condition. Not a single dent, not a
single scratch, nothing that would indicate
it's less than perfect. And when the dent or
scratch happens, they literally can't sleep at
night until they fix it. (illustration)
When someone buys a new laptop they
don't want a single scratch on the shiny
surface and when that scratch appears, they
are very sad. And when they discover some
flaws in the person they are with, they
suddenly don't like that person very much
anymore. (analogy)
 What most people don't realize is
that to be human is to be imperfect.
Life itself is imperfect. Imperfection is
what makes us human. It's what
gives us character. It's what makes
life so different and exciting. If life
was perfect, imagine how boring it
would be.
I once visited Shanghai on a
working trip and I found the new
Shanghai to be perfectly designed,
clean and orderly. And it was boring
as hell. The old Shanghai, across the
river was where the good food was. It
had character. It was more real. A
little chaos is a good thing.
William E. Blundell who pioneered the
technique for the Wall Street Journal
(The Art and Craft of Feature Writing).

• 4. The conclusion is something that

ends your story with a punch. There
several types of conclusions. The best
kind usually contains a passage that
either sums up and/or reinforces the
central message of the story.

• See previous slide

 Happy endings
• A good ending is almost as difficult as
a good beginning. Unlike news stories,
where the ending is cut if space is
short, a good feature should end on a
positive, or uplifting, note.
• It may reiterate a theme in the
introduction, or return to an analogy
which runs throughout the feature.
But it should not--unlike for an essay--
be a summary of your piece.
• It should, rather like taking an
exciting trip abroad, leave the reader
with a sense of having travelled
successfully from A to B, of having
been returned home safely, but better
informed as a result--all without ever
having moved from their chair.
 Disabled students ride
new wave of technology
• Without all of the technology,
they wouldn't be at the same
level as their peers,'' she said.
"Kids would be in a resource
setting, all clumped together.
Now they can be in their
neighborhood schools.''
a. positive, or uplifting, note.
b. reiterating a theme
c. Returning to an analogy
 Ukay-ukay in the City
The joy of ukay-ukay is in
finding a really great piece of
purchase amidst what might seem
as dusty-kitschy-old surplus
stock.

by Antonella Andrada Illustrado

a. positive, or uplifting, note.
b. reiterating a theme
c. Returning to an analogy
 Appreciating imperfection
• So, whenever, I spot a dent in
my car or some small
imperfection in some new gadget
I buy, I tell myself - hey, that's
life, which is imperfect. And I can
accept it. In fact, I appreciate it
because it reminds me that I'm
human and flawed in my own
ways. But that's okay
• Teacher makes Latin
come to life in his class
• Wisconsin State Journal
December 25, 1998
Reprinted with permission
• Phil McDade
Wisconsin State Journal
• If you ever question his teaching avocation, Gene
Olson will fix you with a steely gaze, address you
in a low but firm voice, and tell you this:
• "Latin is not dead."
• Not if you learn it from the 74-year-old McFarland
High School teacher. Olson believes that teaching
the obscure, unspoken language amounts to
nothing less than saving the traditions of Western
civilization as we know it.
Focusing is narrowing your topic—
reducing a large amount of information
to a usable amount.
A 700 to 800 word limit will make an ideal
newspaper feature whereas magazine
features can be more elaborated and
descriptive in nature with more than 15000
words! It is only required to be seen that
the Beginning, middle and end part holds
good in any literary exercise especially by
adopting the four basic skills: a flair for
good writing, an eye for the market, a talent
for sound organization and writing skills.
• DON’Ts
• Never:
• Tell the reader what to do, e.g., “So
the next time you’re walking down
Main Street, stop in at Bagel
Junction.” Nobody likes to be ordered
around.
• Use ellipses (…) in spoken quotes to
indicate omitted words. They are
necessary when omitting anything
from written material, however.
• Start a sentence with the word
“Well,....” Leave that to Ronald
Reagan.
• Use single quotation marks (‘like
DON’Ts
• Never:
• Use single quotation marks
(‘like this’), unless you are indicating
a quote within a quote.
• Indulge in comma splices, e.g., “He is
graduating in May, he doesn’t have a
job yet.” One particular kind of
comma splice happens when you
incorrectly use “however” as a
conjunction meaning the same thing
as “but,” e.g., “He is graduating in
May, however, he doesn’t have a job
yet.” The correct way to do it would
be, “He is graduating in May. However,
he doesn’t have a job yet.” Or: “He is
graduating in May. He does not,
however, have a job yet.”
DON’Ts
• Never:
• Knowingly use a cliché.
• Useth “amongst” or “whilst.”
• Use the first-person singular (“I,”
“me”) or plural (“we,” “us” “our”),
unless it’s a first-person story. E.g., if
you’re doing a profile of Harris Ross,
don’t write, “He knows more about
movies than anyone I’ve ever met,”
even if it’s true.
• Use quotation marks to indicate a
“funny” word or expression (as
opposed to a quotation—something
someone said).
DON’Ts
• Never:
•Commit dangling modifiers, e.g,
“Being a journalism professor, McKay
Jenkins’s life has had its share of
surprises.” McKay Jenkins’s life is not a
journalism professor.
•Invoke stereotypes about people of any
age group, gender, race, religion,
nationality, occupation, ethnic group, or
hair color—even if you’re only bringing up
the stereotype to prove it wrong. Your goal
is to write about people as individuals, not
as types.
 Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5 Tips
for Writing Well
• by Brian Clark
• Who better?
• Many business people faced with the task of writing
for marketing purposes are quick to say:
• Hey, I’m no Hemingway!
• But really, who better than Hemingway to emulate?
Rather than embracing the flowery prose of the
literati, he chose to eschew obfuscation at every turn
and write simply and clearly.
• So let’s see what Ernest can teach us about effective
writing.
• 1. Use short sentences.
• Hemingway was famous for a terse minimalist style
of writing that dispensed with flowery adjectives and
got straight to the point. In short, Hemingway wrote
with simple genius.
• Perhaps his finest demonstration of short sentence
prowess was when he was challenged to tell an
entire story in only 6 words:
• For sale: baby shoes, never used.
 Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5
Tips for Writing Well
• by Brian Clark

• 2. Use short first paragraphs.

• See opening.
• Actually, Hemingway did only have 4 rules
for writing, and they were those he was
given as a cub reporter at the Kansas City
Star in 1917. But, as any blogger or
copywriter knows, having only 4 rules will
never do.
• So, in order to have 5, I had to dig a little
deeper to get the most important of
Hemingway’s writing tips of all:
• “I write one page of masterpiece to ninety
one pages of shit,” Hemingway confided to
F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. “I try to put the
shit in the wastebasket.”
 Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5
Tips for Writing Well
• 3. Use vigorous English.
• Here’s David Garfinkel’s take on this one:
• It’s muscular, forceful. Vigorous English comes from
passion, focus and intention. It’s the difference
between putting in a good effort and TRYING to
move a boulder… and actually sweating, grunting,
straining your muscles to the point of exhaustion…
and MOVING the freaking thing!
• 4. Be positive, not negative.
• Since Hemingway was not necessarily the cheeriest
guy in the world, what does he mean by be positive?
Basically, you should say what something is rather
than what it isn’t.
• This is what Michel Fortin calls using up words:
• By stating what something isn’t can be
counterproductive since it is still directing the mind,
albeit in the opposite way. If I told you that dental
work is painless for example, you’ll still focus on the
word “pain” in “painless.”
 Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5
Tips for Writing Well
• • Instead of saying “inexpensive,” say “economical,”
• Instead of saying “this procedure is painless,” say
“there’s little discomfort” or “it’s relatively
comfortable,”
• And instead of saying “this software is error-free”
or “foolproof,” say “this software is consistent” or
“stable.”
• 5. Never have only 4 rules.
• Actually, Hemingway did only have 4 rules for
writing, and they were those he was given as a cub
reporter at the Kansas City Star in 1917. But, as any
blogger or copywriter knows, having only 4 rules will
never do.
• So, in order to have 5, I had to dig a little deeper to
get the most important of Hemingway’s writing tips
of all:
• “I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages
of shit,” Hemingway confided to F. Scott Fitzgerald in
1934. “I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”
10 Steps to Becoming a
Better Writer
• by Brian Clark

• Write.
• Write more.
• Write even more.
• Write even more than that.
• Write when you don’t want to.
• Write when you do.
• Write when you have something to
say.
• Write when you don’t.
• Write every day.
• Keep writing.
 PLEASE DON’T READ
The blunders of Blundell
• ORGANIZATION

• WILLIAM BLUNDELL precludes good writers

from outlining where the story will go. He prefers
to do the reporting and then begin writing -- the
lead need not be there yet -- and to ask the
creation, "Story, tell me where you want to go."
This is the art, he says, and a question that our
minds answer subconsciously as we sift and
organize the raw material of the story.
• In truth, the story's organization should have
been taking shape as the idea was refined, the
reporting conducted and the conclusions analyzed
• Good writing always starts with good stuff.
• Editors need to realize they are pretty much out
of the loop. Reporters are in the loop.
• We're always making the crazy assumption that
readers are reading everything we write.
• There is a tendency ... to slather everything with
adjectives and adverbs, when what you really
want to do is strip it.
• The quality of our work is more defined by what
we leave out than by what we put in.
• Show them the forest; introduce them to a tree.
• Write to one person -- and not your mother. Your
mother will never tell you to change a word.
• One of our major failings is our failure to
appreciate the effect of descriptive writing. We do
it too often, and in the wrong places.
• In a general way, he organizes stories along the
lines of what he calls progressive reader
involvement:

• Stage 1: Tease me, you devil. Intrigue the

reader. Get them to invest a little time in reading
the lead.
• Stage 2: Tell me what you're up to. OK, enough
teasing. I'm here. Now, what is this story really
all about?
• Stage 3: Oh yeah? Prove that what you've just
said is true. Show me. This is about 80 percent of
most stories.
• Stage 4: I'll buy it. Help me remember it. Make it
forceful. Put an ending on it that will nail it into
my memory.
• ANECDOTAL LEADS
• Newspapers use way too many anecdotal leads,
Blundell says. "We are seduced by the lead," he says.
"We have the idea that this will turn a frog of a story
into a prince."
• It won't, of course.
• Blundell has three tests to see whether an anecdotal
lead is right for a story. If it flunks any of the three,
it's wrong.
• The first is simplicity. If the anecdote requires
explanation, it is too dense or complicated for a lead.
Save it for later.
• Next is theme relevance. The lead anecdote must
illustrate the central point of the story. "But it's the
best thing I've got," wails the writer within. Don't use
it. It sends story and reader off in the wrong
direction, and will make the reader feel misled.
• Finally, to lead the story, the anecdote must have
intrinsic interest. It must be good all by itself. "If you
put the lead on an index card and took it out to
Woodward Avenue and asked people to read it by
itself, would their eyebrows go up? Even by a
millimeter?'' If not, Blundell says, don't lead with it.
• If we'll be using a lot fewer anecdotal leads, what should
we write instead?
• PEOPLE and QUOTES
• Writers know that full reporting means going to more than
one source. The problem, Blundell says, is that we want to
show all this hard work to the reader, and we include
everybody. "In the end, only blood relatives of sources will
read the story, and some of them will only say they have,"
Blundell says.
• He compares stories crowded with superficial sources to a
stage jammed with actors who speak just one line each.
• In his book, Blundell writes, "A good writer is merciless in
deciding who gets into his piece. Each person must have a
story purpose or be excluded; scores of sources may have
been interviewed, but that's the worst reason for putting
them into the story. ... As the number of characters
diminishes, those remaining loom larger in the reader's
mind. They become more than talking heads and begin to
take on identities of their own. The storyteller wants this to
happen and works to advance the process.''
• Quotes, too, are better pruned and pared: "favor the short
and sharp over the long and dull, and trim the statement
down to its nubbin of meaning.''