6.2: Feature news story structures

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Reading the news in Cartagena, Colombia. (Unsplash free-to-use license; Jorge Gardner)

    

There are many ways to build on a great feature lead and organize a compelling feature story. All great news features have a clear beginning, middle and end. To drive a narrative, writers need a character or characters who change over time.  Real people dealing with real life can make for the most compelling characters.

Professional newswriters see character arcs in real life and tell compelling stories by deciding which facts to prioritize, which details to include and which to leave out all while being faithful to the truth.

While details help flesh out a story, the skeleton of any narrative is a main character (or group) who starts in one place physically, emotionally, and intellectually and ends somewhere else on most or all of those fronts.

Features almost always include more imagery and emotional quotes than straight news, but this is not a license to let a feature story drone on. As with any other type of storytelling, a great feature should hold a reader's attention throughout, or it needs an edit.

The previous chapter section covered common feature news leads. The rest of this section details where to go from there.

Lead + nut graf 

One of the most popular feature news story structures is the anecdotal OR descriptive lead + nut graf. The term "nut graf" refers to a paragraph containing some of the key points of a story that might otherwise have been put in a summary lead in a hard news story.

The nut graf conveys the news value. It connects the character to issues or events that affect large numbers of people. In news, what often makes a character arc most compelling is if it represents circumstances similar to what many others have experienced. 

Lead + Nut Graf Example

Anecdotal lead

Sharon Jackson sat at her Formica-topped kitchen table leafing through an old magazine filled with stale celebrity gossip. Page after page of photos of film stars past their prime flipped past. Jackson was only vaguely interested in who used to date whom and which former reality stars were pregnant. She coughed more out of boredom than necessity. Her phone buzzed.

It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman. 

“Sorry,” she said, as she stuck to her practiced response: “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments at this time.” 

Notice how the lead tells a brief story before transitioning to the topic at the heart of the piece. 

The nut graf follows immediately 

Jackson, 21, and her best friend Carla Brown, had gone viral earlier in the week after a bystander shared a video of them getting into an argument outside of a local Houston restaurant. 

Notice how the nut graf includes much of the Who, What, When, and Where. In many ways, a nut graf is comparable to a delayed summary lead. It includes essential information not covered in the feature lead. It connects the lead to the piece's news value, and it serves as a transition between the attention-getting lead and the rest of the narrative.

From this point, the story can continue to use descriptive details to explain Ms. Jackson’s thoughts, feelings and experiences related to being thrust into public view for a fight that might otherwise have only taken a few minutes of her life before being forgotten.

This feature goes beyond the viral video and beyond the straight news story you might read about a woman who went viral for having a fight.

It provides context and details the aftermath of this woman's viral moment.

When placing the nut graf, let the flow of the story dictate where it should go, and keep with the tone of the rest of the piece.

The middle of a feature and narrative flow

If most feature stories include either an anecdotal lead or a descriptive lead and then a nut graf at the beginning, what should go in the middle? Most are organized according to themes. Writers should only include the number of themes necessary to bring readers from the beginning to the end of the story. Paragraphs should still be no more than 1-2 sentences long, and quotes and descriptions should be used as necessary.

The body of a feature story can go in a number of directions depending on the facts, the tone of the story, and whether or not the ending of the story can be sewn up neatly or left somewhat open-ended.

Identify essential pieces of information that drive the character arc forward or that provide details that evoke emotion. Separate those pieces into themes, and label the themes in the body of the story with subheadings. Work your way to the conclusion and clearly demonstrate where your main character has ended up and what might be next if there is no definitive resolution.

Show, don't tell

When writing the body of a feature story, show through examples and description how the story unfolds rather than telling readers through mere statements of fact what happens next. By showing readers instead of telling them, they can better visualize places, characters, and events. They can relate to the story more deeply and should find it more engrossing.

Telling 

Friends describe Amariah as a generous and vibrant person who was involved in several nonprofit organizations.

Showing

Tracey proudly recalls her friend’s generosity. “Amariah is usually the first person to arrive at a volunteer event, and the last to leave. She spends four hours every Saturday morning volunteering at the mentoring center. It’s rare to not catch her laughing, flashing her perfect smile. She’s just a burst of positive energy.”

The previous example uses a quote to provide detail and to try to evoke readers' emotions. Writers have many options when deciding how best to deliver the details that make a feature story sing.

The living end

The end of a feature story should not be a simple summary.

• If the story started with a central character, the end should return to them.
• If the writer sets up a problem in the lead, readers should be presented with a solution or set of possible solutions before the end of the piece.
• If the feature is about an event, it is not enough to say that the event ended. Describe how and why.
• If a story is about an urgent need, it might end with a reasonable call to action. The level of advocacy a story adopts will depend on the outlet where it is published.

Feature stories should have a clear, concise ending statement. This is not an invitation to end with a cliché. Usually, great feature stories do not end with quotes, although there is no hard and fast rule against it. What matters most is that the story ends on a memorable note that sticks with readers. Leave them with a feeling worthy of the gripping lead you used to hook them at the start, and reward them for making the journey with you.

The case for publishing features in a social media age

Feature articles are often more compelling and potentially more historically and culturally important than flashy social media posts or standard straight news stories. 

Professional media writers will need to know how to create all types of media content in the future, but as an industry it is important to maintain the positive elements of the feature writing tradition.

Features enable readers to understand main characters on a deeper level. They impart facts about issues in a way that readers can relate to. They convey snapshots of culture at a given time, and professional news features, whether they appear in newspapers, magazines, online news sites with legacy brands or independent online publications, demonstrate that the craft of writing compelling nonfiction is alive and kicking.