1. WRITING FEATURES Unit 8 8.1 Types of Features 8.2 Narratives stories 8.3 personality profiles

2. 8.1 TYPES OF FEATURES Goals: Define types of features Describe the characteristics of feature stories Key Terms: Feature story Human interest story Informational feature story

3. FEATURE STORY A feature story has all the journalistic elements of a news story but is written like a non-fiction short story. Reflection: How might feature stories vary from traditional news articles. Summary: Find a feature story and summarize it. How was it different than a news story? List at least three

4. HUMAN INTEREST STORY Human Interest Story is a catchall category for stories that are unusual., offbeat or just the result of keen observation. Reflection: Why might a human interest story be an important part of our magazine. Summary: Read a human interest story. Explain how it was appealing and appropriate for the media (paper, web, etc.)

5. INFORMATIONAL FEATURE STORY These feature stories add information. They are stories in which experts help explain the story for readers. Reflection: What types of stories might be covered n a informational feature story?  Nutrition, diet, exercise, home improvement, travel, class choices, college application process, etc. Summary: read an informational feature story. Summarize it and explain how you knew it was an informational story.

6. TREND STORY Trend stories are often the result of observation. It is a current style, what’s in vogue, particularly when it comes to popular culture. Reflection: What types of stories might you cover in a trend story in Inside 15000  Fashion, movies, literature, television shows, music, youtube videos, local hangouts. Summary: Summarize a trend story. Explain why it is a trend, and what the angle was.

7. CHARACTERISTICS OF FEATURES o Facts – factual and reported – not writer’s opinions o Relevance – May not be as timely as a news story, but will have relevance for the readers. o Structure – Feature stories have a beginning, middle and end. They have anecdotes that help bring life to the story, life quotes and dialogue. Feature stories have a central point that may not be revealed until the end. Reflection – Feature stories are an important part of the school’s magazine. Explain why we have more feature stories than we have news stories. In your opinion, should this be changed? Summary – Find a feature story to summarize. Explain why the story was a feature and how it would be changed to be written as a news story.

8. NARRATIVE STORY ~Writing a narrative is different from writing news because it uses techniques of oral story telling – it has a narrator. ~A narrative is still fact based, and accurate, precise and therefore journalistic. It requires more room for the lead and likely need more space than a news story or other feature stories. Reflection: What would be the purpose of a narrative story and why would you use this over another type of feature? Summary: Find a narrative story to read and summarize it. Explain why you think it is a narrative story versus a traditional feature or news story.

9. WRITING A NARRATIVE STORY 1. Lead- opens the story Draw the reader in with a short, catchy sentence and sets up the story. 2. Second and third paragraphs are filled with details. Details help bring the story to life. 3. Final paragraph tell the ready why the story is relevant. 4. Kicker – The end to the story. You should bring the story back around to the main point of the story. Using a quote is a great way to accomplish this. Reflection: Explain why/how writing a narrative story is different from a news story. Which element most appeals to you? Summary: Read “The Price of Freedom” by Nick Sortal 1.Copy the lead 2.Summarize the body 3.Find and copy the kicker

10. NARRATIVE STORY REVIEW 1. Writing a narrative story differs from writing a news story because a narrative….. 2. What are the three parts of a narrative story? 3. The body of the narrative is developed with….. 4. What is the kicker of the story? True or False 3. Chronology is important to the structure of a narrative story. 4. The narrative writer develops the story with details and quotes in the body of the story.