The Art and Craft of Feature Writing: Based on The Wall Street Journal Guide

Table of Contents:
Introduction The disorganized, debilitated reporter Learning to function more efficiently The major commandment: Make it interesting Chapter 1: Raw Materials How and where to get ideas Picking the proper subject matter The need for files Finding and cultivating sources Thinking about story ideas: Extrapolation, synthesis Advancing story ideas: Localization, projection, viewpoint switching What readers like and don't like: Dogs, people, facts, observers, numbers Why the ideas with action in them are the best ideas Chapter 2: Shaping Ideas The importance of forethought Range of the story: Keeping it narrow Theme of the story: The importance of the main theme statement Developing the theme of a general profile or a microcosm profile Approach of the story: The limits of the profile and the roundup Tone of the story: Why it is important Chapter 3: Story Dimensions Time: The importance of the past and the future, as well as the present Scope: The quantity, locale, diversity and intensity of a development Variety: Using various source levels and internal proofs Movement: The built-in kind and the alternation of opposite elements The reporter's role: Neither lawyer nor scholastic nor objectivist nor formula follower. But what then? Chapter 4: Planning and Execution A six-part guide for the reporter: I. History: Does the main theme development have roots in the past? II. Scope: How widespread, intense and various is the development? III. Reasons: Why is it happening now? IV. Impacts: Who or what is affected—and how? V. Countermoves: Who is acting to counter or enhance the development or its impacts—and how? VI. Futures: What could happen if the development proceeds unchecked? A slightly altered six-part guide for preparing profiles Another story element: Focus points and people. Descending to the lowest level of the action A reporter's sources: Wise Men, Paper Men and Rabbis Interviews and techniques in relation to storytelling How long should the reporting take? When to begin writing? Chapter 5: Organization Follow the laws of Progressive Reader Involvement: Tease me, you devil; tell me what you're up to; prove it; help me remember it A first reading of materials gathered for the story: Refining the main theme statement, looking for conclusions, looking for endings Indexing materials to help proide order Rules of organization in writing: —Keep related material together —Let what you have already written suggest what comes next —Try to isolate material from one source in one place —Digress often, but don't digress for long Type of narrative lines: Block progression line; time line; theme line; and hybrids The lead paragraphs: Why they are often elusive. What to do when they are Chapter 6: Handling Key Story Elements Types of leads: Hard news, anecdotal, summary Standards for anecdotal leads: Simplicity, theme relevance, intrinsic interest, focus Why the general, or summary, lead is often better, difficult though it may be Numbers: How to handle them; when to avoid them People and quotes: Limiting the number of "talking heads" to emphasize the important actors in the story Reasons to quote people: To lend credibility, emotional response, trenchancy or variety Using anonymous quotes judiciously When paraphrasing is preferable Three roles for the reporter in the story: Summarizer, referee and observer Chapter 7: Wordcraft Being specific in words and phrases Being mean and tough with yourself and your turns of phrase Choosing what to describe How to describe well: Imagic exactness, the people principle, animation, poetic license Promoting a conversational quality The narrative flow and typical troubles with transitions, attributions and explanations How "purposeful structures" in writing can promote speed, force, and rhythm Chapter 8: Stretching Out Some tips on handling lengthy stories: The importance of maintaining orderly development Alternating plot and character Maintaining suspense and setting up material to come Using typographical devices Chapter 9: Notes on Self-Editing and Style Editing yourself for content, for conclusiveness and flow, for pace and precision The anguish of young writers, and how some overcome it Appendix 1. Reading for Writers Appendix 2. Full Texts of Sample Stories

About the Author :
William E. Blundell was a news editor at the Wall Street Journal, where he was a reporter, page-one writer, Los Angeles Bureau chief, and national correspondent. He won the Mike Berger Award, granted by the trustees of Columbia University, for distinguished metropolitan reporting in New York; the Ray Howard Public Service Award of the Scripps-Howard Foundation, and the Distinguished Writing Award for non-deadline feature writing, granted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.