How to Write a Feature Article
If you are tired of dry and superficial news, why not create a feature article? Its format allows diving deep into the story, making it vivid and emotional. Find out how to give your newspaper feature story a unique writing voice and more personality.
What Is a Feature Article?
A feature article is a piece of writing that belongs to the genre of nonfiction. It is usually subjective in nature and provides the author’s perspective on the discussed issue. Feature articles often appear in newspapers, magazines, and blogs.
A magazine feature article highlights news, events, or people. It aims to present a compelling text that uncovers much more than bare facts. Feature articles build an emotional connection with the readers, evoking their engagement and sympathy.
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5 Tips for Writing a Captivating Feature Article
Feature style writing does not have strict rules. It is all about creative freedom. Language choice and organization are rather flexible. You can choose any expressive means to tell your story and lead it in any direction you want.
Naturally, you need a good feature article idea. You might want to discuss a certain event or focus on people with their problems and accomplishments. Yet, regardless of the subject, the main goal of feature writing articles is to catch the reader’s attention and get your message across. Here are the top five tips that will help you to impress the reader.
Do Your Research
Even though the feature article format is rather flexible, you still need to collect evidence. It makes the research a vital stage of the writing process. Start by gathering general information to understand the context and take a stance.
You also need to provide enough evidence for your readers. Any feature article example will be full of facts, quotes, statistics, anecdotes, and reputable opinions. Evidence helps the reader to understand the story and see cause-and-effect relations between events. Besides, it can also serve as a powerful tool to evoke emotions, which is a feature of all well written news articles.
Have a Compelling Headline
The first thing that catches the reader’s attention is the headline of your feature article. It is crucial to choose it carefully. A good headline will make the reader want to read the entire piece.
So how to write a feature story headline? Create the headline only when the feature article outline is ready. You can even leave it until you are done with the initial draft. It will help you to formulate the headline that reflects the main idea of your story. Besides, good feature stories have intriguing details or statements in their headline that spark interest immediately.
Connect the Dots
You need to make sure that each element of the story is there for a reason. The best way to accomplish it is to plan and structure information. There are several ways to do it. You can choose a chronological order or organize events according to the level of importance. Any format will work as long as evidence and your narrative are logically connected.
Good feature articles are always consistent. They have a story progression with emphasis on the most important facts. If you analyze a few sample feature articles, you will also see that professional journalists help readers to make their own connections, providing relevant evidence.
Open with Intrigue
When you write feature articles, you want to intrigue your readers and set some tension in the opening paragraph. It is your chance to draw interest and establish a connection with the readers. Here are some of the techniques that can help you:
Address the reader directly;
Ask a question;
Use an example;
Suggest a hypothesis;
Use figurative language;
Make thought-provoking statements.
An effective introduction outlines your perspective on the discussed issue and identifies the focus of a magazine feature. It will also help the readers to understand why the story is relevant and worth their time.
Make Sure It Pays Off
If you spend all this time collecting evidence and thinking about how to write a good feature story, make sure it will make the right effect. You need to have a clear purpose in mind of what you want to communicate and why this idea is important. Also, identify your target audience to prepare relevant information.
Reading news features examples, people should have a lasting impression. They expect to get their questions answered. Therefore, even if the situation you discuss continues to evolve, you need to summarize your stance and suggest a memorable conclusion.
Feature the Finest
Writing feature articles is extremely rewarding. You can give topical news a new angle or offer a behind-the-scenes look at a particular event. How to write an article about someone? Share a story about a person’s struggles and achievements to provide insights into their life journey. This is only one of multiple sample features article topics for human interest.
Feature articles show the bigger picture as they support multiple techniques and approaches. With these writing features, you do not only inform the audience, you allow them to feel and experience your story.
Read also our article about The Difference Between an Essay and a Report if you do not read it yet.