It's only week 3, but feature writing class has given me some dilemma and struggles.
I was assuming that feature writing was gonna be easier than the news reporting and writing because of varieties of stories, however, like many say, an assumption is not always right. I had a slightly bitter experience in interviewing as well as difficulties in putting informations in a story effectively.
The hardest part was when I had to think of what would be an intriguing story for readers to entertain. Feature writing focuses on timeless stories whereas timely matters in news reporting. I puzzled for a while. As I was writing a first story, I got stuck. The story was boring. If I was a reader, I wouldn't be reading after the third paragraph. Even though I had tons of information from interviewing 3 people, I still wasn't able to make the story worth reading. I learned that it's better to know what you really want to tell to the readers.
On the other hand, the fun part of feature writing is I can pick any type of stories such as narrative, color story, review, investigative and evaluation. The stories are available anywhere. Since anyone has a story, it's easy to get an idea of what to write.
The last thing I learned was that the language can get someone wrong about what you actually meant in a sentence. For example, because of my language usage, a description of interviewee appeared to him came off inappropriate. Depends on the word I choose, the connotation can be different, so I need to be careful with word choice.
Yes, It's only week 3. I'm not going to let my inner conflict stop me from writing.
Feature story exercises and samples
How to write under stress
Where to find story ideas
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