1. Feature Writing… The Adventure Continues
Because all business is no fun!

2. SO NOW YOU HAVE SOME STUFF TO WORK WITH...
INFORMATION FROM YOUR INTERVIEWS SHOULD INCLUDE:
DESCRIPTIONS
REPORTING (ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND INFORMATION)
OBSERVATIONS

3. SETTING AND CHARACTER:
Setting relies on the writer’s skills of observation and interviewing
Did you take note of the setting and environment?
Did you write down some descriptions?

4. SETTING AND CHARACTER:
Did the setting figure into your questions?
If you saw something that you were curious about, did you ask about it? Where did it take you? What did it give you?
Establishing the setting helps establish the MOOD of the story
It’s a challenge to write a fairy tale about prison - the setting must make the story believable - it is an integral part

5. SETTINGS AND CHARACTERS
Characters ARE the story
Describe them in every way possible

6. SETTINGS AND CHARACTERS
Use of anecdotes
Little stories within the big story
Allows the writer to show the characters in the story doing something
Add credibility, believability
Make the readers remember the story better

7. USING DIALOGUE AND ACTION
Dialogue = conversation
Builds on the importance of character and adds depth to the character
Adds a change of pace
Conveys the human and emotional side
Provides action to move the story
Conveys personality and authenticity

8. DESCRIBING THE ACTION:
Action helps convey character
What are they doing and how are they doing it?
Shows more details about the characters

9. DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE, SIMILES AND METAPHORS:
Remember the basics first
Reporting, interviewing and observation
These three skills helped you gather the details to write descriptive language

10. DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE, SIMILES AND METAPHORS:
Start with verbs
AVOID constructions of “to be”
“She hurried” vs. “She was in a hurry.”
Verbs are the FOUNDATION for descriptive language

11. DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE, SIMILES AND METAPHORS:
ADJECTIVES
They are there to enrich descriptions
USE VERBS AND ADJECTIVES TO WRITE ABOUT PEOPLE IN A WAY THAT HELPS A READER SEE THEM

12. DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE, SIMILES AND METAPHORS:
Comparison = enhanced understanding
SIMILE
Draws a comparison between two things
She was like a flower that burst into bloom under the sunlight of his smile.
Uses “as” or “like”
Remember it because comparisons can mean something is “similar” which sounds like SIMILE

13. DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE, SIMILES AND METAPHORS:
Asserts that one of the things is the other
She was a flower bursting into bloom under the sunlight of his smile
WHY USE THEM?
They help people understand relationships
Help people visualize
Draw the audience in by making the story relatable to self

14. POINTERS FOR WRITING:
If you need a breath when reading a sentence out loud, it needs to be two sentences
Don’t separate two independent clauses with a comma. Use a period or semicolon instead.
Don’t stack too many adjectives in front of a noun. It makes the sentence difficult to understand.

15. Feature Writing… The Adventure Continues
Because all business is no fun!