Chapter 3 Writing the Feature, Speech, Sports and Accident Stories

CHAPTER 3 WRITING THE FEATURE, SPEECH, AND ACCIDENT STORIES In Chapter 2, the fundamental aspects of newswriting were covered. Once you master the basics of newswriting, then, and only then, are you ready to wrestle with the more complex news stories. This chapter will help you develop the skills and learn the knowledge necessary to write effective feature, speech, sports and accident stories. THE FEATURE STORY LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the characteristics and structure of a feature story and the techniques used in producing a personality feature. Writing straight news strengthens the writer’s powers of observation and builds his skill in using the English language. It impresses on the writer the necessity for ruthless editing until the story is specific, clear and vital. Conversely, feature writing is not an exact science. Much depends on the skill, imagination and creativeness of the writer. What is a feature story? It has been called the story that “has to be told.” It has also been called simply “human interest.” Interest in human beings, and in events because they concern people in situations that might confront anyone else, is called human interest. When a shipboard explosion takes the lives of several crew members and prompts the gallant efforts of other crew members to prevent the loss of the entire crew, the human interest, or appeal, may be of a sympathetic nature. A man with a broken nose might also evoke a sympathetic response. However, if the injury occurred when he walked into a telephone pole while scrutinizing an attractive 1957 Chevrolet on the other side of the street, the appeal might be of a humorous nature. Certain topics have human interest built in. And, although they may not possess any of the other elements of news value (timeliness, proximity, prominence or consequence), they still have personal appeal. Human interest may fall into many categories, including those in the following list: SPORTS Current topics The unusual and the extraordinary Mysteries and catastrophes Romance and sex Adventure and exploits Competitive contests Child, teen-age and adult life Animal life Recreations and hobbies Business, professional and home activities Social welfare Success and happiness In any case, a good human interest story is built around the premise that the reader can easily identify with the subject or event. It involves a fellow human being and a situation that could happen to, or involve, the reader. Human interest stories not only entertain, but are often informative in that they contain all the elements of a news story. However, the human interest aspect of the story outweighs its value as a straight news story. Major news events seem to tell themselves. The straight newswriter can set down all the facts, arrange them together with appropriate words and have an adequate news story. The feature, however, must be brought to public attention by the creative writer. As a Navy JO, your job is to recognize the human interest possibilities of stories and turn a drab yarn into a bright one without exaggeration or distortion CONTENT is that it emphasizes something new, odd or unusual. The feature story is similar to basic newswriting in that it has a news peg. What sets it far apart, however, Both of these attributes are covered in the following text. 3-1