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Feature Writing is a popular form of writing in Journalism, which involves writing featured articles on trending topics, great personalities and relevant issues. This form of writing is generally longer and informative than any news story. Feature writings are used extensively in magazines, newspapers and online media. It captivates the audience’s attention by covering a story in-depth from a unique angle. Keep reading to learn more about feature writing and how to craft the best feature.
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What is Features Writing?
Feature writing is a style of journalism writing that focuses on telling a story in-depth with a different angle. Instead of just reporting what happened like a news story, a feature explores why it happened, how it affects people, and what its consequences are. Unlike strong news stories, features are often longer, more descriptive, and more personal. For example;
- A new story might report, ‘The city inaugurated a new park today.’
- A feature story would explore ‘how the new park is changing the lives of residents, the history of the project, and interviews with families enjoying the green space.’
Different Types of Feature Writing
Feature writing comes in many forms, and each type has a unique purpose, offering writers creative ways to inform, inspire, and engage readers. In this section, we have discussed the different types of feature writing:
- Colour Piece: A feature story that essentially tries to inform readers regarding a particular theme or subject.
- Fly on the Wall: A feature story that is conceived and narrated unobtrusively and mostly without the explicit permission of the subjects.
- Behind the Scenes: A feature story that shifts its focus from the principal event to the background and narrates an interesting tale.
- In Disguise: A feature story that is told while the storyteller is a part of the event.
- Interview: A feature story that develops around questions asked to a respondent, who is usually in a position of prominence.
- Profile: A feature story that is based on the exploits of a particular eminent person, with or without his/ her interview.
- How-To: A feature story that is dependent on research and helps readers in solving a problem or deciphering a scenario.
- Fact Box/ Chronology: A feature story that provides plain and simple facts mostly in chronological order.
- Backgrounder/ A History of: A feature story that provides detailed information.
- Full Texts: A feature story that is nothing but extracts from a book or transcripts of an interview.
- Testimony: A feature story that is the first-person account of an individual.
- Analysis: A feature story that scholarly analyses an event.
- Vox Pop/ Expert Roundup: A feature story that accumulates opinions from the general citizenry and thought leaders concerning a subject.
- Opinion Poll: A feature story that conducts research on opinions and presents a generalised summary of the accumulated opinions.
- Review: A feature story that reviews a work of art and presents a generalised opinion.
Structure of a Features Article
A featured article has a flexible yet organised structure, usually starting with an eye-catching headline and engaging introduction, followed by a well-developed body and ending with a strong conclusion that leaves a lasting impact on readers. The most general structure for a feature writing includes:
- Headline: Attractive, reactive and clear.
- Introduction/Lead: A strong opening that grabs attention (often anecdotal or descriptive).
- Body: Organised into sections with quotes, background analysis, and storytelling.
- Conclusion: Leaves readers with a takeaway, reflection, or closing throughout.
What is the Difference Between a News Story and a Feature Story?
A news story focuses on delivering facts quickly and objectively, whereas a feature story goes beyond the basics and adds depth, background, and human interest in the story. People are often confused between a news story and a feature. Here are some basic differences between the two:
- While a news story usually covers recent or breaking news, feature writing can be issue-specific and might not be recent.
- A news story summarises the story, whereas a feature focuses on anecdotal references.
- A feature contains many angles and sources, whereas on the contrary, a news story is generally from a single source or angle.
- If we compare the structure of the forms of writing, the news story follows an inverted pyramid structure, while feature writing has a flexible structure and can take a linear/non-linear scale.
Also Read: An In-Depth Review of EssayWriter: A Smart AI Essay
Feature Writing – the APPLAUSE Formula
The APPLAUSE formula is a helpful guide for crafting compelling feature stories, focusing on elements like accuracy, personality, pace, logic, appeal, understanding, style, and effectiveness to keep readers engaged from start to finish.
According to journalistic theories, eac letter in the APPLAUSE represents a term:
A – Appeal
P – Plain Facts
P – Personalities
L – Logic
A – Action
U – Universal
S – Significance
E – Energy
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Style and Objective of Feature Writing
As discussed, a feature story generally represents a news item through a narrative story and uses story characters. The content used in feature writing is not fictional. It heavily relies on realism, subjectivity and creativity. The purpose of Feature Writing is to attempt to connect emotionally with the readers. It serves the purpose of entertaining the readers while informing them. They are, however, less objective than straight news.
Sample
To understand Feature stories more, let us see with the sample given below:
Features Writing Topics
Feature writing can cover a wide range of subjects, from personal stories and cultural traditions to travel experiences, social issues, and lifestyle. Here are some popular of feature writing topics:
- The life of a startup founder in India.
- The cultural significance of yoga worldwide.
- How online learning is reshaping education.
- A day in the life of a hospital nurse.
- Traditional food recipes and their history.
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FAQs
A news story is shorter than a feature. Features are utilised extensively in periodicals, newspapers, and online content and come in a variety of forms. A feature may examine an ongoing story from a different perspective or delve deeper into an issue than a news item would.
A feature story can be about a group of kids banding together to gather money to aid the town following a storm. A feature item would focus on the children and their contributions, while the news might highlight the storm’s destruction.
Feature stories typically have a clear beginning, middle, and end to their narrative framework. The end offers closure or leaves readers with something to think about, the middle delves more into the subject, and the beginning presents the issue and draws the reader in.
The main goal of feature writing is to inform, engage, and emotionally connect with readers by telling a story in a detailed, creative, and human-centered way. It highlights depth, background, and personal perspectives rather than just presenting facts.
Common feature writing mistakes include using complex language, lacking a clear purpose, adding unnecessary details, weak introductions, poor transitions, and failing to engage readers emotionally. Ignoring facts, structure, or readability also reduces the overall impact of the feature.
Feature writing is a creative as well as an informative tool of writing; it’s designed to raise awareness and bring notice to relevant issues around the world. Want to pursue a career in writing and journalism? Contact our experts at Leverage Edu and get the best advice on colleges, courses and the best countries!
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