Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course
Feature Writing
Planning
As communicators, your task is to
present information to the public in an
organized manner. As you witnessed, it
is much easier to do this if you start with
a plan. This is true for speeches you may
be asked to give, and this is true for news
releases and feature stories you will write.
Planning is one of the first steps in the
writing process. You’ve read about how to
develop a focus for a feature story, and
now you will now learn a few suggested
planning steps to help you write a feature
story.
Researching | Brainstorming | Outlining
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Writing Principles
Research
After determining the subject of your
story and focus, the first step in planning
is to conduct background research.
You want to arm yourself with enough
information to write an interesting story.
This information comes in many forms.
Let’s look at a few:
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Printed articles -- One of the first
forms of research material is printed
articles on the subject you are writing
about. These articles will give you
information already written about
the subject and help you better
understand it. You may discover areas
not yet explored. Printed articles often
inspire questions you may have and
want to ask your sources about. Be
careful not to plagiarize material you
find in these articles.
The Internet -- The Internet is a
great source of information to help
you understand the subject of your
story. Generally you will not use this
information directly in your story.
It is always best to get information
directly from your source. Information
you find on the Internet will help you
shape your story and help you develop
questions for your subject-matter
experts, or sources.
Brochures and handouts -- Often
when you decide to write a story, such
as a story about an upcoming event,
the event’s coordinators may have a
brochure or handout that highlights
some of the main points of the event.
These always provide a great starting
point for your research.
Feature Writing
yy Notes from meetings -- One of
the best sources for background
information in the military comes
from meeting notes. Usually you can
get this information from your public
affairs officer or noncommissioned
officer in charge. In some cases, you
may attend meetings yourself. Get
in the habit of taking extensive notes
during meetings. You may often find
gems of information during meetings.
yy Biographies -- It is common in
the military for senior officers
and senior NCOs to have written
biographies. These are always helpful
in conducting research for such articles
as personality features or historical
features.
yy
Traditional forms -- Traditional
forms of research remain a great
way to get background information
about your stories. These include
such references as encyclopedias,
dictionaries, journals, atlases and
books. Most installations have public
libraries where you can find these
sources.
These are only a few forms of research
material. Curiosity about a subject
will help motivate you. Once you feel
comfortable about the amount of research
you have conducted, the next step in
the planning process is to conduct a
brainstorming session.
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Writing Principles
Feature Writing
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a technique used
to generate ideas and promote creative
thinking. In brainstorming, you create a
list of ideas to help you develop topics or
main points for your story. This technique
can be done alone or in a group. When
you write your features during this course,
you must conduct brainstorming alone.
However, in the field or fleet, it may
be an entire office activity. There are
some key aspects of conducting a useful
brainstorming session. Let’s take a look at
them:
yy It is important to have a strong focus
before creating your list. This will give
you a good starting point and will help
you get high-quality ideas.
yy Give yourself a time limit. When
creating a list you could go on forever.
Limit yourself. This helps you stay
focused on the task.
yy All ideas are welcome. While
brainstorming, don’t limit your ideas.
An idea may not be important, but this
is the time to explore. At this point, no
ideas are too silly or useless.
Photo courtesy of Defense Imagery
yy Piggyback on other ideas. One idea
may lead to several others. Explore
those thoughts. Again, let your mind
flow freely during this brainstorming
session.
yy Keep notes. It’s easy to lose a good
idea if you don’t write down your
thoughts as you go. There is no need
for organization at this point. Get your
thoughts down on paper as quickly as
possible.
Now let’s take a look at a suggested
outlining technique.
Click icon to watch Brainstorming 101
(Flash required)
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Writing Principles
Outlining
After you have conducted your initial
research and brainstormed some ideas
about your main points of your feature
story, you should be ready to put them in
outline form.
`
Outlining is a technique to help you
give shape to your ideas. Most of you
have been exposed at some point in your
life to the idea of creating an outline.
You may have used formal outlines,
where you develop a thesis statement
followed by main topics highlighted
by Roman numerals and supporting
topics highlighted by letters. If you are
comfortable with that, then you can create
a detailed outline.
yy The first step is to look at the list
of ideas you created during your
brainstorming session. Remember,
during the brainstorming session,
you quickly jotted down ideas without
providing explanations for these ideas.
Feature Writing
yy After grouping your ideas develop
three to four topics to support your
focus. One way to do this is by using
a wheel-and-spoke diagram. In the
center wheel, write the story’s focus.
In the circles attached to the spokes,
write titles for the supporting topics.
Outside of each circle in the spokes,
write the ideas you grouped together
according to the main topics.
yy From here you can develop a more
formal outline. However, this informal
outline is good enough. It will help you
later in the writing process when you
develop questions for your interviews
and begin writing your story. Your
outline should provide you with a
flexible tool to help you stay organized
throughout the remainder of the
writing process. The key is flexibility.
As you move forward, you may find
you need to adjust your outline as you
discover aspects of the story you may
not have thought about.
yy Once you understand the ideas, look
for common elements among the ideas
and begin to group, or compress,
them. At this point you can eliminate
ideas that don’t seem to fit or
duplicate ideas.
Click icon to complete creating
an outline exercise
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Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course
Feature Writing
Conclusion
This chapter discussed some basic
techniques to help you plan your
feature stories. These are not the only
techniques. The main point of this lesson
is to use these techniques or develop
your own. Regardless of what technique
you use, planning is a crucial step in
any communication process. Planning is
especially necessary in journalism writing.
Often, you will be pressed for time, and an
organized planning process will help you
meet deadlines at DINFOS and in the field
and fleet.
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Writing Principles
Feature Writing
References
Hay, V. (1990). The essential feature. Columbia University Press
Williamson, D. (1975). Feature writing for newspapers. Hastings House Publishers, New York
Ruehlmann, W. (1978). Stalking the feature story. Writers Digest Books
Itule, B., & Anderson, D. (2002). News writing and reporting for today’s media (6th ed.). The
McGraw-Hill Companies
Alexander, L. (1975). Beyond the facts: A guide to the art of feature writing. Gulf Publishing
Company, Houston, TX
Patterson, B. (1986). Write to be read: A practical guide to feature writing. Iowa State Press
DINFOS Policies and Procedures Manual (2008)
Feature writing handbook (2008)
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