WRITING FEATURES:

On Verbs And Faking A Good Meal

REGIONAL TRAINING OF TRAINORS

REGION 2
TUGUEGARAO CITY | MELVIN C GASCON
WHAT MAKES GOOD WRITING?
 • What’s my idea?
• Being
CURIOUS is
HOWto key to finding
BEGIN? story ideas
“ A specific angle or approach to a
subject. Ideas for features tend to deal
with a specific problem, tension, drama,
struggle, conflict, question, doubt or
anxiety. - Brendan Hennessy ”
WHAT IS A
FEATURE?
 • Newspapers now give more space

WHY to features

• TV Public Affairs programs have a

DOA
FEATURE
lot of airtime to fill and are always
on the look out for good visual
stories/features

• Feature stories allow you to

expound on a topic or issue

STORY? • Feature stories are more interesting

because they involve people
 NEWS FEATURES
The feature writer tells
The news you what it was like to
writer tells you have been there: “When
Joe Smith began to
the bridge fell vs. walk across the bridge,
it began to tremble and
and how many he grabbed the
cars fell off. railing”—that sort of
detail.
 NEWS FEATURES
Stories create
Reports convey
experience
information
The school board will
meet Tuesday to discuss vs. Jenny Cruz shook her fist
at the school board
chairman, tears
road safety in schools.
streaming down her face.
WHAT’S MY THEME?
STORY MAPPING
• What’s your story idea?

• What’s your nut graf (hypothesis)?

• What’s your evidence (people,

paper, online trails)?
HOWto
BEGIN?
• The lead
• Hard news story (lead)
• Soft news story (nut graf)
THE LEAD
Key point: Draw your readers in

• Focus on subject of the story

• Anecdote or descriptive lead

THE LEAD
Anecdotal lead: Often the best lead

“The victim wasn’t rich. She wasn’t

the daughter of anyone powerful.
Her name was Karen Arnulfo. That
night she died, Karen became part
of a numbing statistic.”
THE LEAD
Situation lead: Presents a
problem and raises conflict or
suspense
THENUT
GRAF
So, what?
What is this all about?
“Too often in features, the writer does
not tell his reader soon enough what he
is writing about.”
-Frank Barrows, The Charlotte Observer
THE NUT • It justifies the story by telling readers
why they should care, why the story is
important.

GRAF • It provides a transition from the lead

and explains the lead and its
connection to the rest of the story.

• It often tells readers why the story is timely.

“WILL I KEEP READING THIS?”
THE NUT
GRAF Maharlika Highway
“Driven by the motivation of gaining higher profit, unscrupulous
private contractors of DPWH road projects in Cagayan Valley try to
save on project costs by installing inappropriate early-warning
signs, or neglecting to do so altogether, greatly contributing to
road accidents that lead to injuries and deaths of innocent
citizens.”
 NUT
THE

GRAF
“After a lead that shows,
the nut graf tells.”
• Let’s look at your FIRST DRAFT!

• Rewrite your lead and nut graf

• Submit your revision

• Choose which story to present

THE NARRATIVE
• Substantiate the nut graf
• Let the story unfold – details!
• Present the arguments and
counter arguments
• Use quotes, statistics
REMEMBERTHE
5Ws&1H?
• Who becomes Character
• What becomes Action (what happened)
• Where becomes Setting
• When becomes Chronology
• Why becomes Cause or Motive
• How becomes Process (how it happened)
REMEMBERTHE
5Ws&1H?
“Don’t say the old lady screamed—
bring her on and let her scream.”
 A SIMPLE STORY ARC
CLIMACTIC
MOMENT

BUILD-UP OF CONSEQUENCES
TENSION

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
WRITING IN STAGES
(WILLIAM BLUNDELL)
• Stage one: Tease me, you devil 

(Give the reader a reason to continue reading)
• Stage two: Tell me what you’re up to. 

(What’s the story really about?)
• Stage three: Oh yeah? Prove what you said. 

(Present evidence)
• Stage four: Help me remember. 

(Make it clear and forceful, give it a memorable ending)
WALL STREET JOURNAL
FORMULA
Anecdote/Soft lead: Focus on the person
Backup quote
Nut graph: The lead. It should be no lower than the sixth
paragraph.
Details: Proof, supporting information
More details: Why is this happening? What is being done
about it?
More details: End with the person’s story or summarize
 Summary: Tie them all
together

• End as you started: quote

• Resolution
THE

ENDING
Golden Rule:
Start strong,
finish strong
WHAT’S ON MY LIST
1. Get the name of the dog
“A mother wept in front of a Baptist
Church. In her hand she held a shoe,
the shoe of her dead child.”
WHAT’S ON MY LIST
1. Get the name of the dog
“Arlene Santocristo, a 43-year old
mother, wept in front of a Baptist
Church. In her hand she held a shoe, the
shoe of her dead 2-year old daughter.”
WHAT’S ON MY LIST
2. Use the “stitching” technique
• Find a key word in the last sentence of a
paragraph and use that as transition to the next
paragraph versus use of conjunctive adverbs:
furthermore, hence, however, meanwhile,
moreover, therefore, notably, additionally
WHAT’S ON MY LIST
3. Pace it well
• Vary the length of sentences: long, then short
ones
Try thiS:
This sentence has five words. Here are five
more words. Five-word sentences are fine.
But several together become monotonous.
The sound of it drones. Look at what is
happening. It’s like a stuck record. The
ear demands some variety.
…or, this:
Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The
writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short
sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes
when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a
sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy
and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums,
the crash of the cymbals--sounds that say, “listen to this, it is
important.”
WHAT’S ON MY LIST
4. Kiss off
• 

If you have three or more sources,
do not weave back and forth with their quotes
• Exception is if it’s a well-known source
• Also used for putting similar ideas together
• Visualize it: organize them in blocks
5. Avoid ‘LOADED’ adjectives
• Instead, write with 

vivid nouns and verbs
The adjective is an author’s opinion
5. Avoid ‘LOADED’ adjectives
A strong man came into the room.

A man entered. He was holding a

walking stick, and for some reason, he
now broke it in two like a twig.
END
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE WORKSHOP

• Decide which of the pair assumes the

role of an interviewee, while the other
acts as the interviewer.
• Interviewer will ask his/her partner in the
next 5 minutes.
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE WORKSHOP

• Interviewer will try to get as many details

as possible in order to form a profile
feature.
• When the first member’s turn is over,
swap roles so that the other member
takes his turn to ask questions.
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE WORKSHOP

• Stop the interview when the buzzer is

sounded.
• From the details you obtained from the
interview, write a profile feature story.

please do your best.