Feature Writing

Narrative Writing

● Dramatic account of fiction or non-fiction story

● Requires thorough reporting, descriptive detail,

dialogue that enhances storytelling

● Still need the basic elements of a news story

5Ws, H & SW

● Who - character

● What - plot

● When - chronology

● Where - place

● Why - motive

● Still need how and so what

So what?

Reporting a Feature

● Get MANY more details

than you think you’ll need.

● Envision a ladder with

rungs, going from general to

specific (p. 182)

● Keep adding details and

climbing that ladder

Etc.

Tan and white

Beagle named

Joe

Tan and white

Beagle

Tan and white

dog

Dog

Tools of Storytelling

● Theme - concept that gives

story meaning (p.183)

● Descriptive writing - balance

between too much and too

little. Vivid verbs and nouns,

rather than adjectives - Show,

don’t tell.

● Narrative writing - in action

description, dialog, plot,

ATTRIBUTION

Tools of Storytelling

● Reconstruct a scene by asking

your source the following: o What were you thinking?

o What were you doing?

o What was your reaction?

o What did you say?

● Create a tone - sadness,

happiness, mystery (p.189)

● Seek unusual stories

Storytelling Structure

● Arrange by topic,

chronologically or

beginning > middle >

climax

● Build story around

complication and

resolution

Types of Features

● Human interest - people doing interesting

or unusual things

● Narrative - Recreate the event through

interviews, documents and extensive info

● Serials Narratives o Character with problem

o Development of situation

o Resolution

The Shapes of Stories

“The fundamental idea is that stories

have shapes which can be drawn on

graph paper, and that the shape of a

given society’s stories is at least as

interesting as the shape of its pots or

spearheads.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

View the infographic The Shapes of

Stories. These example story shapes

can help you recognize feature and

profile stories that lend themselves to

one of these patterns.

Storytelling on the Web

● Short segments

● Nonlinear

● Interactive

● Multimedia format

with photos, video

and audio