1 / 17

How to Write a Yearbook Feature

How to Write a Yearbook Feature. There is no substitute for good writing. It flows. It glows. It lives. -Susan Duncan.    REMEMBER most yearbook copy should be features, not news. Make your features interesting. If you are bored reading it, others will be also.

ostinmannual
Download Presentation

How to Write a Yearbook Feature

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. How to Write a Yearbook Feature There is no substitute for good writing. It flows. It glows. It lives. -Susan Duncan

  2.    REMEMBER most yearbook copy should be features, not news.

  3. Make your features interesting. If you are bored reading it, others will be also.

  4. Find a central idea or angle for your story. As yourself, “How can I present this topic in a new way?”

  5. Capture true feeling and human interest in your story.

  6. Use a clustering technique or brainstorming to get a list of ideas to possibly include in your feature.

  7. Compose good questions to use in your interview. Avoid yes/no questions. Ask plenty of HOW and WHY questions. Use DESCRIBE questions. You are asking questions to get specifics for your copy. ?

  8. INTERVIEW the subject. Do not let the words “Give me a quote” ever come out of your mouth.

  9. Sit down and talk to the subject with your question sheet in hand, but do not be limited by your pre-interview questions. Ask follow-up questions. Write down everything the person says or use a recorder. This is the most important part of the process.

  10. If a person you are interviewing says, “Just make something up,” tell them you are taking journalism, not creative writing. Give them more time or ask more questions to spur them into saying something actually worth putting down on paper.

  11. Avoid “I enjoyed,” “I was excited,” “It was interesting,” “hard work and determination,” or any other cliché quotes.

  12. Write the feature using interviews from three or more sources. Write while the interviews are fresh.

  13. Write your lead, using a narrative, a shocking statement, an incredible quote, an anecdote, or specific information about the subject.

  14. Use at least three good quotes per copy block tied together with transition or fact paragraphs.

  15. Don’t be stodgy or too formal. You are a student, not Confucius. Avoid Webster, too. He is also dead.

  16. End the feature with a good quote, a scene, an anecdote, or a startling statement.

  17. Make your feature complete a circle from the lead to the conclusion. The reader should sigh in admiration that the path you began in the lead has been brought full circle in the conclusion.

More Related