Contemporary Connections – The Feature Story
What are Feature Stories?
Features stories are yet another example of nonfiction content that is popular in contemporary media. They share many characteristics with the other forms of nonfiction that you have studied thus far, but they have a specific purpose. View this presentation to explore feature stories and examine how they differ from more straightforward news stories.
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News Stories/Hard-News Versus Feature Stories/Soft-News
Hard news stories report events that have just occurred. Feature stories, on the other hand, are soft news because they are not as swiftly reported. Feature writers have extra time to complete background research, conduct interviews, and make observations for their stories. Observe the hard-news characteristics of news stories versus the soft-news characteristics of feature stories in the chart below:
| News Stories | Feature Stories |
| In hard news stories, the reporter makes the point, sets the tone, and frames the issue in the first paragraph or two. | In feature stories, the whole story does not have to be encapsulated in an inverted pyramid lead. The writer can develop the storyline in a variety of ways and choose to postpone the main point until later in the copy or even the end. |
| News stories give readers the basic facts in an objective, unbiased point of view, reporting the most important details first. | Feature stories give readers information in a pleasing, entertaining format that highlights an issue by describing the people, places, events, and ideas that shape it. |
| News stories provide just the facts: who, what, when, where, why, and how. | Feature stories are really more like nonfiction short stories than hard news stories. |
| The power of a news story lies in its timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of the facts reported. | The power of a feature story lies in its ability to amplify the focus on an issue through first-rate story telling, irony, humor, human appeal, atmosphere, and colorful details. |
Writing a Feature Story
The information in a feature story is organized differently from a news story. A news story uses an inverted pyramid where the most newsworthy information is presented in the first two paragraphs, followed by other important details, and ending with background information. In a feature story, however, the writer may spend the introductory paragraphs engaging the reader's interest. The structure of a feature story resembles that of a short story rather than an inverted pyramid.
The inverted pyramid news story structure (left) and the feature story structure (right).
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After the title and opening paragraph grab a reader, narrative hooks are used to persuade the reader to continue reading. These hooks are attractive story elements such as action, mystery, drama, or appealing characters intended to pull the reader forward through the story. They are complex narratives that come to life through colorful description, meaningful anecdotes, and significant quotations.
Browse the Internet or print magazines for feature stories about athletes, scientists, inventors, politicians, or other famous people, or watch a major sporting event or awards show on television or the Internet where feature stories are included. What type of feature stories are presented? Are the stories told in a narrative format? What is the purpose of the feature?
Feature Story Review
Now that you have explored the characteristics of feature stories as well as how they differ from news stories, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Drag the descriptions of story characteristics on the right and drop them next to the type of story on the left. Click on the player button to get started.