. . . but they need the same amount of reporting as news.
William Blundell, author of "The Art and Craft of Feature Writing," offers these suggestions
Knowledge-based reporting
Stage 1 Tease me, you devil. Intrigue the reader. Get the reader to invest a little time in reading the lead.
Blundell organizes stories around a main theme statement that may or may not later turn out to be the lead or the nut graph.
He says he is exasperated with writers who say they can't get anything done until they have the lead.
"They have the least organized stories."
Blundell organizes stories around a main theme statement that may or may not later turn out to be the lead or the nut graph.
He says he is exasperated with writers who say they can't get anything done until they have the lead.
"They have the least organized stories."
THE LEAD
Stage 2 Tell me what you're up to. OK, enough teasing. I'm here, now what is the story really about?
This should be a simple statement to let the reader know what the story is about.
THE NUT GRAPH
Stage 3 Oh yeah?
Prove that what you've just said is true. Show me. this is about 80 percent of most stories.
This is a collection of summary-quote bits and pieces plus transition to tie them all together.
Prove that what you've just said is true. Show me. this is about 80 percent of most stories.
This is a collection of summary-quote bits and pieces plus transition to tie them all together.
THE BODY
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.
Often, the ending ties back to the beginning, but it can be an impressive quote.
Help me remember it. Make it forceful. Put an ending on it that will nail it into my memory.
Often, the ending ties back to the beginning, but it can be an impressive quote.
THE ENDING
Anecdotal leads
Newspapers use way too many anecdotal leads, Blundell says. "We are seduced by the lead," he says.
"We have an idea that this will turn a frog of a story into a prince."
Three tests for a good anecdotal lead: Is it simple? Does it have relevance to the story? Does it have intrinsic interest? It must be good by itself.
Newspapers use way too many anecdotal leads, Blundell says. "We are seduced by the lead," he says.
"We have an idea that this will turn a frog of a story into a prince."
Three tests for a good anecdotal lead: Is it simple? Does it have relevance to the story? Does it have intrinsic interest? It must be good by itself.
What to use instead?
Setting the stage
Organize all details from your notes. Examine each and review which will best convey what you want to stress in the story. Once you've set the scene, think of your descriptive eye as a camera that can zoom in for a tight focus, then pan back for a sweeping view of the stage.
Organize all details from your notes. Examine each and review which will best convey what you want to stress in the story. Once you've set the scene, think of your descriptive eye as a camera that can zoom in for a tight focus, then pan back for a sweeping view of the stage.
The descriptive process
Avoid judgments. Instead of saying your subject is happy, sad, angry or stunned, try drafting a sentence that begins, "He was so angry that ..." Then, after consulting your notes and memory, complete the sentence. Nix the lead-in phrase, and you wind up with something like this... "he hurled a chair across the room and slammed his fist against the wall." That SHOWS anger. Avoid describing the physical characteristics of your setting or subject with vague modifiers. Such words as tall or short, fat or thin, for instance, will be interpreted differently by people. Strive to describe in absolute terms. This can be done in hard terms (6-feet-4, 200 pounds) or a soft approach (his head brushed the door frame as he bounced into the room).
Avoid judgments. Instead of saying your subject is happy, sad, angry or stunned, try drafting a sentence that begins, "He was so angry that ..." Then, after consulting your notes and memory, complete the sentence. Nix the lead-in phrase, and you wind up with something like this... "he hurled a chair across the room and slammed his fist against the wall." That SHOWS anger. Avoid describing the physical characteristics of your setting or subject with vague modifiers. Such words as tall or short, fat or thin, for instance, will be interpreted differently by people. Strive to describe in absolute terms. This can be done in hard terms (6-feet-4, 200 pounds) or a soft approach (his head brushed the door frame as he bounced into the room).
Developing a writing style
Choose verbs carefully: Instead of "read carefully" try "scrutinize." Instead of "drank quickly" try "gulped." Instead of "walk decisively" try "stride."
Choose verbs carefully: Instead of "read carefully" try "scrutinize." Instead of "drank quickly" try "gulped." Instead of "walk decisively" try "stride."
Work for sounds
Instead of "complain" try "grumble, growl, squawk." Instead of talk incessantly try "jabber, yak, yammer." Use modifiers sparingly. The words "very, really, so, truly, completely and positively" often add nothing but clutter. Instead of modifying a weak word, search for a strong, precise word. Instead of "very funny" try "hilarious." Instead of "really eager" try "avid."
Use active voice — Active voice is a voice that indicates a subject has the semantic function of actor. Semantic role is the actual role a participant plays in some real or imagined situation.The following sentence construction is in active voice. The subject Jones has the semantic function of actor. Jones built the house.
Instead of "complain" try "grumble, growl, squawk." Instead of talk incessantly try "jabber, yak, yammer." Use modifiers sparingly. The words "very, really, so, truly, completely and positively" often add nothing but clutter. Instead of modifying a weak word, search for a strong, precise word. Instead of "very funny" try "hilarious." Instead of "really eager" try "avid."
Use active voice — Active voice is a voice that indicates a subject has the semantic function of actor. Semantic role is the actual role a participant plays in some real or imagined situation.The following sentence construction is in active voice. The subject Jones has the semantic function of actor. Jones built the house.
The above active construction contrasts with the following construction in passive voice, where Jones has the semantic function of actor but house is the subject: The house was built by Jones.
Avoid clichés — A cliché is language that has lost its freshness and registers with a listener or reader as overused and boring. Although the term cliché is often is used to refer to language that has been overused over a long period of time, it is not necessarily true of older expressions and, by definition, may be true of new language that has been repeated too often.
Play with words
Play with words
Take a cliché and rework it to cause the reader to do a double take. Instead of "fame and fortune," you may use "fame and misfortune."
Play with figures of speech
Use similes (verbal comparisons that use like or as), metaphors (verbal comparison, but the relationship is implied rather than stated) or personification (when you attribute human characteristics, feelings or behavior to nonhuman or inanimate objects.)
Create power with parallelism ‹ Christine flicked her long dark hair away from her face, swallowed, twitched her lips only slightly and reached with her left hand to turn the next page of her script.
Vary sentence length. Consider sentence fragments or a single word for emphasis A shorter word containing the same information as a longer word or a phrase is almost always more powerful.
Gather more than you will need in the reporting stage; writing will be easier.
Play with figures of speech
Use similes (verbal comparisons that use like or as), metaphors (verbal comparison, but the relationship is implied rather than stated) or personification (when you attribute human characteristics, feelings or behavior to nonhuman or inanimate objects.)
Create power with parallelism ‹ Christine flicked her long dark hair away from her face, swallowed, twitched her lips only slightly and reached with her left hand to turn the next page of her script.
Vary sentence length. Consider sentence fragments or a single word for emphasis A shorter word containing the same information as a longer word or a phrase is almost always more powerful.
Gather more than you will need in the reporting stage; writing will be easier.
Here is a marvelous feature about cats by a former San Antonio College student, Vincent T. Davis. He writes for the San Antonio Express-News. with photos by award-winning photojournalist Lisa Krantz: Missions have faith in their cats