Journalism provides society with an important service: it tells us what we need to know to stay safe and knowledgeable about current events. Mostly, journalism focuses on new, which tends to only cover events. Yet there are lots of other aspects of society that are not grounded in a specific notable event that people want to know about. They want to know how to make the right product choices as consumers. They want to know where to go on vacation. They want to know what the latest fashion style or viral meme is. This is the realm of a news feature.
Types of features
Unlike a typical news article, features are longer, more in-depth pieces. Common types of features include:
- SERVICE FEATURES: These articles focus on providing a service for the readers, such as a way to improve their physical health, their financial standing, their emotional well-being, or their recreational enjoyment. These range from investigative pieces on cancer risks in the community to lighthearted pieces about what is important to look for when shopping for a cell phone. Service features require direct research and focus on processes, not recommendations or reviews (those have their own structure). Second person (using you to talk directly to the reader) is okay in service features.
- HOW-TO FEATURES: These are a specific type of service feature that literally instructs how a reader does something, whether it be a recipe or instructions for filling out a ballot. How-tos contain a lede, list needed materials, list steps in the process along with illustrations and suggestions, then end with a kicker. Remember, a how-to must be legal, safe, and relevant to your general audience (How to Sail You Yacht, for example, would be of little use to your audience). A writer of the how-to should also go through the process themselves to make sure all of the steps are clear and accurate.
- TRAVEL FEATURES: These focus on taking the reader to a place they've never been and exploring it. Whether it's a trip to a foreign land or a new haunted house for Halloween, travel features are meant to inspire readers to go on similar trips. These pieces can be positive or negative, as they should not be about recommending a certain place (again, that's a review) but recommending the experience of travel. Most travel features follow a first-person narrative style, taking the reader chronologically through their experience to give them a good idea of the general feel of a place, including what makes it distinct.
- TREND FEATURES: These focus on the emergence or decline of some social, economic, political, or popular movement. While it's easy to think of trends in fashion in the news, an article about the increase of female voters in the last election or an article about the decline of students opening savings accounts are also trend articles. Most trend articles originate as observations, explain in depth the rise or decline in popularity of a certain item or idea, and sometimes even explain the origin of a trend. The best way to connect trends to and audience is to put a face to the trends and discuss the trendsetters of the movement.
- EXPOSE FEATURES: Sometimes, a trend in science or government gets investigated and leads to a shocking discovery concerning the health or safety of citizens. This type of feature is called the expose and is the closest to typical news. Exposes still follow the regular feature format while covering a controversial or scandalous topic that the public is unaware of. Exposes are the riskiest type of article to publish and typically require months of fact-checking to ensure they are accurate.
- HUMOR FEATURES: These focus on entertaining the reader by mocking or satirizing other features or even reviews or opinion pieces. Humor pieces typically take a long time to write, as the humorist has to ensure that jokes aren't repetitive or offensive. A humorist should always be on the side of the audience when telling their jokes and to keep the humor as simple and universal as possible so more people can connect to it.
The Feature Diamond
So how is a typical feature structured ? Think of a feature like a diamond--it starts out very specific and then broadens to look at a topic from a larger view before in narrows back down to the individual level. Here are the different levels of the diamond:
- THE ANECDOTE: The best way to hook the reader into a story is to put a human face on it. Thus, features almost always start with an anecdote, a short story relevant to the topic about a person facing a problem. For example, in a story about homeless students, the anecdote could take the form of a student who was faced with housing displacement after a local company introduced layoffs. Sometimes the anecdote could be the author themselves who had faced an important decision or issue.
- THE NUT-GRAPH: This the the true lede of your story. The nut -graph presents the the thesis of the article, whether it is a presentation of a problem (Conglomo has been dumping toxic sludge in the river for years) or the introduction of a concept (The mousetrap challenge has become the latest viral fad). The lede must not just present this thesis but connect it to the anecdote and establish the popularity or importance of the problem (Anna is not alone: over the past four years, over 500,000 American teens have suffered from Severe Unibrow Syndrome).
- THE HIGH FIVES: The body of the feature articles, whether they take on a more formal tone or a more narrative tone, hit the same few points almost always in the same order. Journalists call them the high fives:
- CAUSE/CONTEXT: Why is this occurring or reoccurring now? Who is behind it? What are the basics of this situation a person should understand?
- HISTORY: What is the historical significance of this movement or place? What is the background of the main people involved? Where did the trend originate?
- SCOPE: How did this become widespread/popular? Who are the specific people or groups involved? Where is this movement happening? What is the true variety of things to be experienced stemming from this place or movement?
- IMPACT: How is this topic currently helping or hurting people? How do they feel about it? What is striking about the place, people, or movement?
- EDGE/FUTURE: Where is the movement leading? What will happen if this continues? Are there critics or opponents? If so, what do they have to say? For a traveler, what about to change about the place? Remember, this is not an opinion piece, so while you can talk about solutions others are proposing do not endorse or argue any of them yourself
- THE KICKER: This conclusion goes back to the original anecdote. While the anecdote presented a problem, the kicker shows that individual's solution. If presenting a travel narrative, this goes back to the author's initial perspective. If a trends article, this should go back to the original anecdote person an ask them if they feel the trend will continue.