3.1: Feature Writing

The inverted pyramid works well for hard news reporting – the type of story where you can say “yesterday” or “this morning” or “breaking news.”  Police reporting, obituaries, sports reporting, legislative actions, court reporting, all are well served by the inverted pyramid.

But there’s a whole category of stories that aren’t well served by the inverted pyramid – those about people, about how or why something happened, or how to do something. And yet, in 1941, journalistic convention dictated that every story would include a time element – “today” or “yesterday” – and basically follow the inverted pyramid.

But Barney Kilgore was sick of today. He was tired of yesterday. And finally, in 1941, he could do something about it. The newly named managing editor of The Wall Street Journal decreed that “It doesn’t have to have happened today to be news.  If a date is essential, use the exact date.”  But from now on, “today” and “yesterday” would no longer appear in the leads of WSJ stories.

In so doing, the Journal transformed feature writing. Now, magazines and newspapers around the world publish stories that emphasize explanation over information and understanding over knowledge.  Online news sites also rely on this form.

The format is fairly simple:  Open with a descriptive paragraph or two or three. Then a “nut graf” that contains the essential theme of the story.  It tells the reader what the writer is up to. It has several purposes:

• It justifies the story by telling readers why they should care.
• 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.
• It often includes supporting material that helps readers see why the story is important.

In some respects, it’s similar to the lead in an inverted pyramid story.  If the reader reads no further, at least he knows what the story’s about.  The nut graf should be no lower than the fifth paragraph in the story.

Take a look at this WSJ story dealing with an attempt to unionize an Amazon warehouse.  Note how it begins with a short vignette. Can you identify the nut graf? Do you see how this story can be important both to workers seeking to unionize and to employers seeking to avoid unionization?

Not all features are serious, of course. Take a look at this one about take-out orders vanishing. Notice the same approach:  a short vignette at the start, a nut graf (can you find it?) followed by more details to round out the story.

How do you identify topics for features? Features can be a profile or personality story that gives insight into a person’s role, experience or background.  Or they can seek to humanize a set of statistics. 

Take a look at this Washington Post story about fentanyl.  Do you think a traditional inverted pyramid story would have been as effective?  Can you find the nut graf?

How do you decide what can be a good feature story? The short answer is, almost anything can be a feature. But stories focused on people, as versus events, are particularly good candidates. For example, the 95-year-old who is receiving her fourth Associate’s degree from Prince George’s Community College, or “a day in the life of ….,” or a high school athlete who was recruited for a top college athletics team.  Investigative stories, such as the Washington Post story about fentanyl, are almost always best treated as features.  So can sports. Check out this story about the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.   And this profile of Jeshaun Jones.

For people planning to go into a public relations career, perhaps after a few years in the news media, being able to identify feature opportunities and to write good feature stories will go far toward building success because a “feature” story approach will enable you to produce an “evergreen” story promoting your organization’s services or products.