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Feature Story Examples - Step Up Your Writing Experience

A feature story is a piece of long-form nonfiction material that delves deeply into a specific topic. News features, in-depth profiles, human interest stories, science communication, data storytelling, and other types of feature story examples.

Nov 21, 20228.9K Shares298.9K ViewsWritten By: Alastair Martin
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  1. How And When To Write A Feature Story?
  2. What Makes A Feature Story Work?
  3. Examples Of Feature Story
  4. People Also Ask
  5. Final Thoughts

A feature storyis a piece of long-form nonfiction material that delves deeply into a specific topic. News features, in-depth profiles, human interest stories, science communication, data storytelling, and other types of feature story examples.

Feature stories are a frequent sort of material for news outlets, especially those who specialize in long-form journalism. Brands are increasingly investing in generating their own high-quality feature stories.RELX, an analytics business, gave a great summary of the aim behind their Eyewitness to Atrocities app.

How And When To Write A Feature Story?

Feature Writing (How to write a Feature Article) | Marinel Española

The feature is not frequently written in the inverted pyramid manner of a news article. Hard news story leads that are based on one of the five "Ws" (who, what, when, where, why) or the H (how) are rarely suited for feature stories.

The feature lead "sets the stage" for the plot and cannot, in most cases, stand alone. A feature lead must pique the reader's curiosity. The "grabber" is what draws the reader in and keeps him or her reading.

Many of the criteria that apply to news writing also apply to feature writing: short sentences, simple words, personal words, active verbs, and so on. However, feature pieces might be more enjoyable to write since you can be more imaginative.

When attempting to achieve one of the aforementioned goals, a feature is preferable to a news piece. When learning material is difficult to swallow, a feature such as a "spoonful of sugar" might assist the medication to go down.

Remember that features are often lengthier than news pieces. Before you compose one, make sure the editor will allow you to.

What Makes A Feature Story Work?

A folded newspaper on a table
A folded newspaper on a table
  • "Easy" writing is easy to read. That implies short phrases, concise words, active verbs, personal words and transitions to keep the story going forward, interest-building gadgets, and a "kicker" that packs a punch at the end of the feature.
  • Sentences that are brief. News pieces with 15 to 20 words per sentence are easy to read for today's large audiences. Sentences longer than 30 words may be difficult to comprehend.
  • Paragraphs should be brief. Keep paragraphs brief. And change them up a bit – from one word to five ordinary phrases. Remember that a 100-word paragraph appears to be rather long in a tiny newspaper column. They are disliked by editors. Readers don't either.
  • Simple words. Short, straightforward words should be used instead of lengthier, multi-syllable terms with the same meaning. When using a technical or difficult word, explain it as clearly as possible.
  • Personal observations. Words like "you," "us," a person's name, a direct quote, and so on add human appeal to your writing. To be sure, this type of personalizing is more common in "feature" pieces than in "hard news" items. However, it is still an effective approach for retaining reader's attention.
  • Active verbs. Motion verbs keep a tale moving and capture the reader's attention more than "to be" verbs that show little action.
  • Transitions. Used to supplement, illustrate, or extend an argument. They generally start with words like "and," "furthermore," "also," "or," "nor," "furthermore," "moreover," "along with," and so on.
  • Creating interest. Personalize the individuals you're writing about and what they're doing; include quotations and human interest information.
  • "Kicker." Whereas the lead or grabber at the beginning of a feature draws the reader in, the kicker at the end of a feature should include a punch line that helps the reader remember the tale.

Examples Of Feature Story

A man holding a magazine
A man holding a magazine

NBC News

In the 1930s, the United States federal government established redlining rules that separated Black and white individuals in terms of homeownership. Despite the Supreme Court's 1948 finding that racial discrimination indeed restrictions were unconstitutional, Detroit remains one of the most segregated cities in the country.

NBC News built an immersive and interactive feature story composed of photographs and video to highlight the issue of segregation in modern Detroit to communicate this important topic.

This feature piece is intriguing to read because of the combination of facts, pictures, videos, and interviews with residents who grew up in segregated communities.

Pioneers Post

In the struggle to address climate change, the residents of Gambia, one of Africa's tiniest countries, realized that time is running out. As a result, villagers and family farmers living on the north bank of the Gambia river took matters into their own hands and devised plans to reforest an 8,000-kilometer length of the land.

This Pioneers Post feature article highlights the villagers' hardship and their mission to revitalize the ecosystem and discusses the consequences of global warming on their location through maps and pictures.

BBC News

Two children were trapped in the flames when an apartment building in La Villeneuve, France, caught fire in 2020. As the residents looked on, the situation became desperate - until a group of locals devised a solution: the youngsters would leap, and the citizens would catch them.

In their interactive feature story, The Catch, the BBC chronicled the eventsof that day as well as the tales of the hero citizens who saved the children's lives.

The feature article succeeds in immersing the reader in the events that transpired by combining graphics, pictures, and interviews with persons engaged in the life-saving rescue.

The narrative offers an unsettling picture: barely ten days after the French President asked for the deportation of certain foreign-born inhabitants, immigrants were saving children.

Sky News

Sky News commemoration of the WNBA's 25th season is the final feature piece on our list. From 'We Got Next' through 'Next Steps,' the tale features a plethora of embedded topics to keep the reader intrigued.

Sky News showcases the WNBA's history through a combination of embedded Tweets, images, and videos from individuals who have been a part of it.

And, similar to the Water Aid feature article, Sky News concludes its editorial with a call to action, inviting viewers to watch the WNBA's development on its YouTube and cable television channels.

People Also Ask

How Is A Feature Written?

The length of a feature is longer than that of a news story. There are many different kinds of features, and they are used a lot in magazines, newspapers, and on the web. A feature will often go into more depth about a topic than a news story would, or it will look at a story that is already going on from a different point of view.

How Long Is A Feature Story?

On average, they have between 300 and 500 words. Feature stories are often longer and have a unique way of being put together. There can be more than 2000 words in a feature story.

What Is The Purpose Of A Feature Story?

Features go into more depth than regular news stories and give more than just the most important information. The point of these stories is to give a full picture of a place, person, idea, or group.

Final Thoughts

Contentcreators and news organizations have improved their narrative skills and are going above and beyond to catch (and hold) the attention of their audiences. To get more ideas, read feature story examples on the sites we mentioned above.

Slapping a 3000-word article into WordPressis no longer enough to keep your reader interested (regardless of how intriguing the topic is.) With the growth of social mediasites like Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, readers increasingly demand feature stories be more engaging and catch their imagination.

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