Personal feature article

Two basic approaches

Personal experiences of others about which you write: Describe in detail unusual and appealing experiences of individuals in a highly personal approach but are not written in first person. Descriptions of a writer who uses experiences of another person for the basis of the article

Two basic approaches

Personal experiences of your own: Commonly called first-person articles. Draw on your own experiences for primary material. Are often stories of medical problems, trips, crime incidents, life or death accident situations, human relationship, family experiences

Components: A point of view

What’s the unique way in which you can present the situation? How are you or your source involved? What perspective do you offer? Inside view will generally be preferred; fares better than filling article with descriptive details of the actions of others at the expense of personal reactions and opinions. How it felt, what it meant, how you grew as a person during and after the experience

Components: Some basic truth

Have a goal. After you have come out of your personal experience, you should be able to reach a conclusion about what you have learned. You should reach a new level of understanding that you convey to your readers.

Component: Emotional involved

Place readers in the middle of your emotional reaction to the situation. Cannot afford to hide feelings in writing. When you become part of your story, readers become closer to you because they can identify with you. You share your observations and experiences as well as thoughts and emotions

Get the components to work

Pick an experience you care about deeply: Although you do not have control over the events that you might use for an article, you can control your selection of those about which you feel most strongly and use them

Get the components to work

Don’t write a personal experience article to vent anger, indignation, or other negative emotions: Don’t write about experiences that make you angry (bad service at a garage or an annoying neighbor’s lifestyle)

Get the components to work

Don’t make publication your primary goal: Primary objective should be to discover how you feel about an experience by writing about it. Afterward, you try to publish the article, and you have an added benefit. Initial satisfaction should come from the writing and the discoveries you make in the process

Get the components to work

Have the courage to reveal yourself honestly: Must convey feelings by opening yourself to others, perhaps thousands of others. That takes nerve, is not for everyone. These feelings are not always positive and bright. Reveal yourself honestly

Get the components to work

Don’t tell what you went through - show it: Means to dramatize it. Reset the scene and put yourself and the readers there together. Often means telling the story in chronological fashion. This is a simple step by step process that takes readers from beginning to end

Get the components to work

Don’t show everything: Don’t write about the mundane details of the experience. Much of the time, too many details drag the story down. The clutter can get in your way. Is the detail relevant to the story? If so, include it. If not, forget it.

What’s marketable?

Is the experience dramatic?

Is it timely?

How involved is the author in the action?

Is there an ending/ resolution?

Marketing tips

Stick to the facts

Do interviews with experts/ witnesses

Begin the story with impact

Organize it well, clear chronology

Use direct quotations in storytelling

Develop the people involved

Avoid too much detail/ personal emotion

Keep an eye on the tone of the piece

Identify interesting experiences

Although these events do need some drama, tension, and a resolution or solution, they don’t have to earth-shattering or catastrophic.

Story-telling techniques

Dialogue: reconstructed dialogue, direct quotations between key individualsDescription: Rich, descriptive wordsPlot: Make it suspenseful, if appropriate. Give story a moral. Stick with story lineFacts: Stick to facts. Don’t embellish or falsify to enhance story line. Use real names, places, dates, times. Reality adds valuable dimension that can’t come from elsewhere

Problems with telling a story

Selective or failing memory if it happened a long time ago

You must be prepared to go to extra lengths for details that might be forgotten. Use yearbooks, photo albums, other records to stimulate detailed recollectionsBetter off admitting to readers that they cannot recall some detail or piece of the puzzle. Do not guess

Source ideas

Researching the experience of others

Other newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and online publications

Civil and criminal court files

Radio and television talk shows

Neighbors and friends

Source ideas

History booksLocal museums and schoolsSpecialized World Wide Web sitesYour own experiencesFamily albums

Source ideas

Family albumsSchool yearbooksObservationNotebooks, diaries, or logbooksHome movies and videotapesConversations with family and friends

Different formats

Exclusive celebrity interview: Two examples of this type of article - “My 12 years with Prince Charles” by Stephen Barry and “Diana’s Life as a Wife, Princess, and Mother.”

Different formats

Crime and suspense: Two examples - “Shattered Night,” the trial of the wife of a famous heart surgeon who, after suffering years of physical and psychological abuse, shot and killed her husband. “Who Killed Patricia Gilmore?” This young woman was killed by her former boyfriend after the authorities failed to take his threats seriously

Different formats

Weight loss stories: We look for new but sound breakthrough on weight-loss products, techniques, or diets. An example: “I Lost 100 pounds Through Hypnosis.”

Different formats

A miracle or legal first: Two examples - “A new Life for My Joi.” This is the story of the first pancreas transplant as a treatment for severe diabetes. “The 14 Million Dollar Woman.” Story of Dorothy Thompson, who initiated and won a landmark antidiscrimination suit against the U.S. government

Different formats

Personal courage: Example - “Alice William’s Impossible Dream.” Inspiring story of how a sharecropper’s daughter, the only one among her siblings to graduate high school, managed to put her own 11 children through college

Different formats

Provocative issue: Examples - “Doctors and Rape.” The trial of a young nurse who accused three doctors of raping her. “Malpractice.” A doctor and expert witness opens his casebook on malpractice suits, some of which have made medical and legal history.

Different formats

Medical oddities: Examples - “I Froze to Death - But Lived.” (A Young girl, caught in a Minnesota blizzard, was frozen literally as stiff as a board -- but much to her doctor’s amazement, she recovered fully). “My Heart Stopped While My Baby Was Being Born.” (Doctors thought there was a high probability that neither Laura Spitler nor her baby would survive, but they both bead the odds).

Different formats

Unique family lifestyle: Examples - “A Very Different Kind of Family.” A fascinating glimpse into what it was like growing up in a polygamous Mormon household with 47 brothers and sisters. “His, Mine - Ours.” What happened when a mother of two children married a widower with four -- and got his former mother-in-law as well.

Different formats

Brief, personal, nostalgic essay: Examples - “A Spoonful of Love.” The precious gifts passed down from mother to daughter. “Watch Out, Great Grandma is Coming - “ An anectodal tale of multigenerational life

Different formats

People’s problems and solution: Examples - “My Husband Was a Tightwad” and “I Fell in Love With My Doctor.”