How to write a good feature

Wannabe writers often email the studentBMJ asking how to write a feature.
Experienced journalist Lynn Eaton gives the lowdown

One of the hardest things about writing a feature, rather like telling a good

story, is knowing how to begin. Imagine you are just back from a trip to

China and are off to meet your friends to tell them all about it. Unless you

and your friends are trainspotters, the last thing you would do would be to

tell them the time and type of every train you took to get from A to B.

Instead, you would tell them an amusing or exciting anecdote about what

happened while you were there.

Similarly, when starting to write a feature, you need to grab your reader's

attention, to make them want to stop whatever they are doing and to listen

to what you have to say.

But although finding that "hook" is one of the hardest aspects of feature

writing, it is only one element of what makes a good feature writer. Before

you even start typing, think about how you are going to achieve your goal of

communicating to your audience in a way that--to cite the guiding principles

of the BBC--educates, informs, and entertains.

Know your reader

Writing a feature for the studentBMJ is a far cry from writing an essay for

your tutor. The tone is different; the style is different. A feature can be

written in a less formal more conversational way.

Writing for an audience of medical students is going to be different again

from writing for qualified doctors, readers of a women's magazine, or the

readers of the Sun (a British tabloid) newspaper. Remember to use points of

reference that will be meaningful to your audience. There's little point

alluding to a recent trip you have made in your Saab, for example, if your

audience is more likely to be using a bicycle (box 1).

Box 1: Know your reader

It is always good to write an introduction that is likely to resonate with

your audience's own experience. This one in the studentBMJ by Keri
Michele Lodge, works because she alludes to the long hours a doctor
works."I'm on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round,"
says Chris Davies. "No, Chris Davies is not an overworked doctor. He
is one of 5.9 million carers."
The style of feature

Features come in many guises. The studentBMJ has its own particular "slots," each with

their own character. Check these by reading the magazine or looking at the guidelines to

authors, which are available on studentbmj.com.

Make sure you know what type of feature you are writing. If you are pitching an idea to a

magazine that you do not read, buy a copy first to get an idea of the style of its various

features (box 2).

Box 2: Finding out what works where

Think about the features that you have read and enjoyed, whether it was a piece in a national
newspaper, your favourite magazine, or even the last issue of studentBMJ. What made you want to
read it in the first place? How did the intro grab you? And what makes you carry on reading it? Is it the
clever phrases used by the writer? The fact you know you can believe what they have told you? The
fact they make you laugh? Finally, were you convinced by the argument? Has it made any difference
to what you think about the topic? Would you save the article, or suggest someone else read it? And
how does the style differ in a professional journal to a piece in a woman's magazine?

A profile needs to give more of an idea of the individual you are interviewing--concentrate on their

personality and what is interesting about them, rather than running chronologically through their CV.

The profile should contain lots of quotes from the person, as well as some of your own personal

observations. Tape the interview rather than just relying on your notes (box 3).

Box 3: Making profiles more interesting

There is always a danger, with a profile, of just telling the reader about the person's CV.
The first version below did not appear in print; the second did. Which would you want to
read more of? John Reid, health secretary, was appointed to the post in June after the
unexpected resignation of his predecessor Alan Milburn.It came as a huge surprise to
everyone--not least, John Reid himself--when he was appointed health secretary after
Alan Milburn's unexpected resignation in June. According to the Mail on Sunday, the
reaction of the former Northern Ireland secretary was, "Oh fuck, it's health."

Prepare your questions in advance, but be prepared to be flexible if the conversation

takes a different turn in the interview. You may miss an important point just because you

stick rigidly to your preplanned questions.

If you are writing about your personal experience you will need to be quite open. Try to

keep the tone straightforward and conversational. You are trying to communicate here,

not show off your ability to regurgitate long words from the Oxford English Dictionary

(box 4).

Box 4: Grab your reader's attention

First person features still need to grab the reader's attention. This introduction, which
later explains that the author is taking part in a drug trial, certainly does that. The reader,
not knowing why she has this complaint, is immediately wondering what is wrong with
her."As I coughed up blood in the shower for the fourth time that morning, I thought once
again 'why am I doing this to myself'?"
News features give background to a current news issue. Even though the subject matter

may on the face of it be quite dull, you have to try to make it interesting. It is important to

remember that these are not opinion pieces. Even though you may have a strong

personal opinion on the subject you are writing about, you should always remain

impartial, fair, and accurate. Get quotes from others--preferably experts in the field--that

back up the arguments you are trying to make (and be prepared to change your mind if

the experts do not agree with you).

News features should be authoritative and based on facts that you have checked and

can substantiate. If the information is unclear, check it. Do not be afraid to look stupid.

You will look even more stupid if you just regurgitate nonsense.

Leaders, editorials, and other opinion pieces also fall within the "feature" category. You

will most likely be asked to write one of these if you have a particular expertise in the

area concerned. Even then, you should be able to support opinions with fact (box 5).

Box 5: Sweeping generalisation or justified personal opinion?

You should, in general, try to avoid sweeping generalisations that you cannot
substantiate--although you can get away with it more easily if you are writing more of an
opinion piece, as with this introduction from Raj Persaud."One of the enormous but
unspoken realities about the practice of medicine is that most doctors are basically
bored by their jobs."
Because Persaud is an expert, and a doctor, we can assume he is saying this from
some kind of knowledge or authority--not that he is just voicing his own personal
feelings.

The brief

Make sure you and your commissioning editor are clear about what they are expecting

you to submit. Check with them what sort of tone they want. Something serious? Or is it

a lighter, more humorous piece? If possible, confirm the brief, including the word count,

and deadline by email.

Once you have agreed a brief, stick to it. Do not write more, or less, words than you are

asked for. Always make sure you deliver your copy on time--and be prepared to answer

any queries about it after that.

Doing your research

You may well be asked to write on something you have only the haziest notion about. If

so, a Google search is usually a good place to start. And even if you do think you know

about it, you should do a bit more research.

If you are investigating a medical story, you might want to look into search engines such

as Pubmed central, which can be viewed direct through a link from specific articles on

bmj.com. And you can check out many stories through the search engines on national

newspaper or the BBC's websites.

Make sure to get an expert to comment. This is always going to carry more gravitas than

merely repeating information from the internet or your lecture notes. It also helps break

up the narrative pace of the article, so is a good stylistic device (box 7).

Box 7: Getting those quotes

Getting direct quotes is essential for a good feature. To find an expert, try a search on
Google. Or if that does not work go to bmj.com and put the subject you are researching
in the search engine. You will soon find a list of recent articles and will be able to pull out
the names of a few relevant experts--along with their email addresses.

Email is often the most effective way of approaching an academic. But if they do not
respond to your email, try calling their secretary to arrange a convenient time to talk to
them by telephone.

The difficulty with research is to know when to stop. You might like to read 10 other

papers you have just discovered on the topic in the last half hour, but if you only have

two hours left to write the piece, you sometimes just have to accept you cannot do that.

As a feature writer you have to become an instant expert and rarely have time to get

involved at the level you would in academic research.

Plan your research time carefully, leave time for people to call you back, and leave time

to write and polish your final result. There is nothing worse than rushing an article up to

deadline, sending it in with lots of mistakes, and never getting another commission from

that magazine again.

The introduction

An anecdote, or an interesting observation, or even a clever play on words will often

make a good introduction. Sometimes a direct quote will do the trick. Try to avoid the

plodding "once upon a time" style.

One of the other classic pitfalls is to make a sweeping generalisation that does not, in

fact, stand up to scrutiny. The last thing you want is for your reader to start taking issue

with you in your first paragraph.

It is worth spending time on your introductory paragraph. Play around with ideas and

images until you hit on one that works. But do not wait for the perfect intro before you

start writing. Sometimes you just need to get it down on paper, then hone the

introduction later.
Keep it coming

Your reader has a million and one reasons to do something other than spend the next 10

minutes reading your article. Why should they bother?

This is where your art as a writer comes in. Unlike news stories, where there is a

standard formula to follow, 1 features can, and should, be more creative if they are to

keep the reader's attention.

I would liken a well written news feature to an interesting but well signposted walk

through a wood. Firstly, your reader chooses to go on it with you. You lead them through

the argument, pointing out useful pieces of information about the trees and scenery

along the way. You will answer questions in the reader's mind about where you are

taking them next, and vary the pace every so often, so that they do not get bored or

tired.

The golden rule is not to lose them in a fog of confusing information, nor to take them on

a long, arduous ramble they weren't prepared for. And you should never waste their time

by leading them up a blind alley.

Sometimes when you start writing, you find you can't see the wood for the trees--a

common problem with complex features. Whether or not this happens, it is a good idea

before you start to jot down the main message, then the other points you want to make,
almost like an essay plan. Work out how you get from one point to another--and decide

which bits are unnecessary and can be cut.

Happy endings

A good ending is almost as difficult as a good beginning. Unlike news stories, where the

ending is cut if space is short, a good feature should end on a positive, or uplifting, note.

It may reiterate a theme in the introduction, or return to an analogy which runs

throughout the feature. But it should not--unlike for an essay--be a summary of your

piece.

It should, rather like taking an exciting trip abroad, leave the reader with a sense of

having travelled successfully from A to B, of having been returned home safely, but

better informed as a result--all without ever having moved from their chair.

./chermed: 19Aug2007