HOW TO WRITE A FEATURE

Workshop "English For Future"

Saturday, 17 May 2014 at FIB UB

pembicara: Zulham Mubarak (mantan jurnalis Jawa Pos)

Feature defined as an original ideas of a human-interest article that focus on particular people, place, and events.

For a newspaper, feature is about 500-2500 words, for magazine 500-5000 words, and for web 250-2500 words.

• Type of features:

1. Human interest

2. How-to

3. Historical features

4. Seasonal theme

5. Behind the scene

In a straight news or hardnews, we found a model mapping about how to make a news, how the structure and the position of those important parts. Meanwhile, for features, actually there is no standard mapping, but this kind of model, like what you see in the picture, is the ideal structure to make a feature.

Feature neither talk about a common issue, nor a fiction. But feature has a novellic or fictional way of writing. Even journalists need to conduct a research before making a feature. Note this: feature should leave an impression!

• How to make a feature:

1. Read feature article2. Find your story, find the detail3. Conduct a research4. Decide the type of your feature story5. Gather the data and interview6. Focus on details7. Leave an impression

• How to be a good writer:

1. Maintain a good-healthy communication with others2. Read a lot3. Write down every information that we got4. Be creative