FEATURE WRITING

A Feature story differs from a news story in one respects-its intent. A news
story provides information about an event, idea, or situation. A feature story
does a bit more- it also interprets news, add depth and color to a story. It
also instructs or entertains. A news story tells about important events. A
feature story tells about interesting matters.

Feature Story relates to man’s inner feelings.

Divisions of Feature Articles:

1. Journalistic. It is fact-based. The story is real and the events narrated

in the story were experienced by the one telling the story.
2.Literary. It is fictitious. It is a product of the narrator’s whims or
imaginations.
Characteristics OF Feature Articles

1. Variety of Subject Matter

2. Variety of tones
3. Variety of form and style
4. Well-organized
5. Strikes keynotes in a first sentence
6. May or may not be timely
Feature thrives in:

1. Color
2. Fancy
3. Wit , humor
4. Anecdotes
5. Quotations
Some Types of Feature Articles
1. News Feature (Journalistic)
2. Informative Feature
3. “How-to” – Feature Article
4. Personality Sketches
5. Personal Experiences
6. Human Interest Stories
7. Humorous Feature
8. Travelogue
9. Review Feature
Structures of a Feature Story

1.Introduction or Lead. This is the most important part of the feature

story since it hooks or entices the readers. It attracts or draws the readers to
the story. The introduction or lead may use quotations, questions,
descriptions, and any other styles in capturing the emotions of the readers.
2. The Body. The body of the feature story answers all the questions the
readers may have in the introduction. It explains the introduction or lead.
The body also sustains the interest of the readers.
3. The Conclusion. The conclusion is so written as for the readers to
remember the story. Like the lead, the conclusion should use striking and
emotive words.
Types of Feature Story
Summary Lead
Since its discovery in 1979, AIDS (Acquired Immunity Deficiency
syndrome) has become one of the fastest killers of the 20th Century. Like
ancient leprosy, AIDS appears to be the most dreaded ailment of our time.
On the night of August 14, 1981, a Friday at about 9 o’clock , Oscar
Boyonas, a long-time employee of Senators and Mrs. Doy Laurel, heard a
crashing sound. He run out to investigate and found out that the freshly-
cemented fence around the Laurel residence on Shaw Boulevard,
Mandaluyong, had crumbled. Oscar saw a man, bathed in blood, beneath
the rubble. He wiped the blood from the man’s face and he was shocked to
discover that it was Kristipi, youngest son of Laurels. When Oscar lifted
Kristipi’s body, Kristipi’s shoe fell and in it was his severed foot.
 
Will Kristipi Ever Smile Again?
By : Ricky Lo
Star Studded
Narrative Lead
I met Mother Teresa of the Missionaries of Charities (MC)
for the first time when Lola come 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, November 24, 1978 issue
Descriptive Lead

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 pineapple-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, 3rd Quarter 1978 issue
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
March 6, 1982 issue
Question Lead
Saan ka ba natatakot? 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 be hurt in life by their looks.
Be Glad You’re not Beautiful
By James F. Bender
Reader’s Digest Bedside Reader
Janus –faced or Contrast Lead
1980 was the Year of the Monkey according to Chinese astrology. It ushered in the decade of the 80s. In
retrospect, it was a year of reckoning with the times that the mischievous monkey had wrought with its
bagful of tricks. It was a year punctuated by the severity of the terrorist movement worldwide, the continuing
energy crisis, and the resulting discoveries of other energy source, the Iran-Iraq war and Reagan’s triumph
over Carter. 1981 is the Year of Rooster or Cock (people though prefer the use the former for obvious
reasons). If we are to believe the predictions for the Year of the Rooster, we are to face a hard year . 1981
happens to be one of those less promising years. We will have to work hard and sweat profusely to eke out a
living. The risk of unemployment is like Damocles’ sword above our heads. This will be a year of various
sidelines or moonlighting for most of us. The year also indicates harsher treatment for lawbreakers and other
offenders.

1981: The Year of the Crowing Rooster

By Gilbert Y. Tan
MOD Magazine
January 2, 1981 issue
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
Suspense Lead

This man has killed literally thousand. He’s about 5’2” tall, bemoustached, and has a stocky
built. He’s reportedly seen in the premises of the Paint Shop with hands bloodstained by the
wounds sustained by his latest victim. He answers to the name Cipriano “Cipring” Ruta.
But don’t panic and let your hairs stand on their ends if you meet him in person especially if he
is brandishing a knife with a very sharp blade. He may look gentle and amiable but mind you,
he’s dead serious about using that knife to stab…You? No, of course not! Who do you think he
is? Jack the Ripper?
A mad killer? Again, Of course not!
he’s simply called Cipring and He works with the Non-Pine Operations. And he wants to show
you his dexterity in slaughtering the pigs, cows, and fowls and cutting them up later.

Cipring, the Gentle Killer

By Gilbert Y. Tan
Dolefil Tambuli
3rd Quarter 1978 issue
Types of Feature Endings

1. Summary Endings. It gives the readers the gist or substance

of the story through brief and concise statements.
Example:

With tears rolling down his face, my father smiled as Buddha

had accepted his deal. In that brief moment, he taught me what it
really meant to be a son.

My Father’s Smile
By Dan Chen
Climax Ending. It is the part of the story where all emotions, conflicts,
and tensions of the characters and other elements in the story set by the
introduction and sustained by the body are built up and are released.
Example:
Hafid cried uncontrollably upon seeing what Paul brought to be
Christ’s robe. It was his master’s robe. Now he knows why he become the
greatest salesman in the world-because he sold his first merchandise to he
greatest person who has ever lived on the face of Earth.

Excerpts from the Greatest Salesman in the World

Og Mandino
Stinger. This type of ending jolts the readers. This is used by

authors and writers to suggest that a story is far being finished or

ended or that a sequel of the story is in the making.
Example:
The entire world was fooled. The president of the most powerful
nation on Earth was fooled . No one knows that the first lady was
abducted. No one knows the treachery of the Russians. No one
knows about their plans. Only one knows. She knows.

Excerpts from the Second Lady

Irving Wallace
Narrative Ending. It provides the readers a fading effects as the story ends up through a
narrator’s expressions of his points of view and his perception of life.

Example:
Then somebody tapped my shoulder. It was the mother the child. She was so thankful and
grateful to me. She said I was a great help to her. What she never knew was she, her baby, them
the poor- who had given me help. They brought light to my eyes which were partially blinded
by the vanities of life. They had deflated the balloon that carried me high up where only
illusions existed, thus brought me back to reality. I whispered a prayer of gratitude to God for
giving me such a wonderful experience.
Life Among the Poorest of the Poor

By Gilbert Y. Tan
MOD Magazine, November 24, 1978 issue
Question Ending. It provides thought-provoking question to the readers.
Example.
Now that Lenny Small is dead. Nobody now would dream about tending the
rabbits. There would be no one now who would dream of cheese fresh from a
cow’s milk.
There would be nobody who would ask: “What is it again George?” Why is it
that we transfer from one place to other looking for odd jobs George? Will I
tend the rabbits George?
There would be no one to…
Now that Lenny Small is dead, would George be ever happy again?

Excerpts from of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck
Improve Your Style
1. Narrative Voice: Hit the high notes
“It isn’t what she said, it’s the way she said it”. You’re developing it between
the narrator and the reader whether you want the reader to like, dislike, admire or
loathe the narrator, it is most important for the reader to be compelled by him.
This is achieved by creating a very specific narrative voice through the tone .
Her son was studying Catherine as she stood at their kitchen window. She
felt him. He’d been doing more and more often, idly and with no special intensity,
she thought, but with a kind of dreamy stare. She knew that sort of study, when
you sit with your chin on your palms, your elbows on the kitchen table, looking at
something, at the thing itself, for certain , and also looking through it. She tipped
the roasting chicken and looked down, considering her son behind her, the way he
must have been looking at and into and past his mother. He’s looking at the rest
of his life, she thought. I’m a ghost at the center of the prospect.
2.Descriptive Texture: The Emperor’s new clothes

The craggy, mist-shrouded mountains erupted out of the fetid jungle like the
jagged tail of a slumbering dragon guarding the tropical paradise as if it
were Eden Itself.
Big Mountains were on the other side of the jungle.
He was tall, tall even sitting down. His long legs comfortable in expensive
wool, the trouser of a boy who had been on ships, jets; who owned a horse,
perhaps; who knew Latin- what didn’t he know?- somebody made-up like a
kid in a play with a beautiful mother and a handsome father, who took his
breakfast from sideboard, and picked, even at fourteen and fifteen and
sixteen, his mail from silver plate. He would have hobbies-stamps, stars,
things lovely dead. He wore a sport coat, brown as wood, thick as heavy
bark. The buttons were leather buds. His shoes seemed carved form horses’
saddles, gunstocks. His clothes has grown once in a nature. His eyes had
skies in them. His yellow hair swirl on his head like a crayoned sun.
BUILDING BETTER SENTENCES

1. Listen to the music

2. Sense of Character

3. Spice up your sentences

4. Can you up the ante?