The Pub Hub

I. Introducing Features
1. Considered soft news
2. Exposes: what films are based
3. Investigative reporting: myth but still fun
4. People earn their way to these
5. Local papers discard these

II. Feature Rules
1. Limit use of adjectives; opinion in disguise: “The rambunctious crowd” vs. “Airborne debris fell on the heads of several LAPD officers as the Prop 8 protesters moved in on the Mormon Church.”
2. Use lively verbs and nouns—they makes the writing more of a challenge to construct: “We write that thousands of bullet holes were in the hotel, instead of noting that the holes pocked the hotel. We report that a jumper died Monday his parachute failed, instead of turning to action verbs such as plummeted or plunged or streamed.”
3. Be wary of physical descriptions—they say more about the author than the subject; Physical descriptions unintentionally define normality
4. Show people in action—narrative wraps people in: “The future leaders of America sit silently, some of them slumped forward, staring into space through half-closed eyes…": describe what the police are physically doing
5. Set the scene: the real one, not the cliché: Not, “It was 2 a.m. and the wind was blowing” or “It was a dark and stormy night,” but, “Shivering in the mud under a 2-foot high chaparral, Jose carefully lifts his head into the cold night mist to monitor the movements of the U.S. Border Patrol." The nut graph can wait until after the fifth paragraph
6. Create tone: don’t describe the mood of something but create images for the reader:

“You will read this story.

You will hang on its every world, and you will not get sleepy.

As you proceed, you will learn about hypnosis and a Clive hypnotherapist whose work has led her to the International Hypnosis Hall of Fame.

You are ready to begin. Shari Patton is sitting on the couch in her home telling you the she fist went for hypnosis “like a doubting Thomas.” She was a student at the University of Minnesota when a friend was going to be hypnotized and wanted Patton to come along. Listen, now, to what she has to say:

“My friend had said, ‘Go with me.’ And I had said I no, and after several requests begging me, I said ‘All right. I’ll go.’ And I went to stop smoking, not believing that it would work, but very much wanting to stop smoking, and I was so amazed and delighted that it worked for me that I went back and started using hypnosis for weight control and lost 90 pounds.”

That’s how she started.”

Storytelling Checklist
1. Tease
2. What’s the story about
3. Evidence
4. Make the information clear and memorable
Carole Rich’s reminders
1. Use concrete details rather vague adjectives
2. Use dialogue when possible and appropriate
3. Set a scene
4. Use action verbs
5. Observe or ask questions involving all your senses
6. Use show-in-action descriptions
7. Tell a story
8. “Don’t say the old lady screamed—bring her on and let her scream,” –Mark Twain
Carole Rich’s Structure
1. Focus
2. Lead and nut graphs
3. History
4. Scope
5. Reasons
6. Impacts
7. Moves and countermoves
8. Future

III. The Feature Story
Structure of a Feature Story (Pamphlet by Bobby Hawthorne)
Lead
1. It should create an image, send a verbal message and capture the reader's imagination.
2. The tone should fit the mood of the story and supply the theme or angle.
3. It should lead the reader into the story.
What makes a good lead:
1. An anecdote that represents the universal truth.
2. The description of a scene that helps to establish a tone or mood.
3. A description of a subject: face, demeanor, posture.
4. A powerful quote.
5. A startling statement.
6. The strength of any sentence is judged by its degree of improbability. "Fall is here and that means the start of football season" tells the reader nothing.
The following lead is much better: "Fall is here, a fact that head coach Bill Smith may view with some trepidation. Not only does he have to replace 14 seniors from a 2-8 season, he must deal with the recent season-ending injury to returning quarterback Dave Jones."
Body
1. It should be unified with all material relating to the theme. All unnecessary data should be omitted. Care should be taken to make certain that each sentence and paragraph adds to the impact of the narrative.
2. The story is organized in a logical order. This does not necessarily mean chronological order. However, the reader should be able to follow the narrative of the story as action jumps back and forth from the past, the present and even the future.
Conclusion
1. The ending should give a sense of finality and resolution to the reader. It wraps up all loose ends and leaves the reader with a single, significant thought. It stands alone as the reader's final impression.

IV. Final Feature Checklists
Structure
Can the audience track what you’re doing?
Few one-sentence paragraphs; you can do more than three, but no more than six
This is not a traditional essay
Are you attributing appropriately?
No citing other reporters quotes; do your own field research
No parenthetical citations
No assumptions; the audience knows nothing of your subject
Gender inclusive language
No “I” references, “you” may be appropriate, but if you use you more than four times in a paragraph than you’re probably using it too much and you are just using lazy writing rather than what you should be doing.