Writing Feature Stories

Mario G. Manico
What is a Feature Story?
Feature stories are human-interest articles
that focus on particular people, places and
events.

Main objective of a feature story is to

entertain readers using present human
interest stories.
Facts about Feature Stories
A feature story is not written in an inverted
pyramid structure.
A feature story is not a fiction.
Feature stories use “show” and not “tell”
sentences.
Examples:
Tell: She is overweight.
Show: She weighs 379 pounds.

Tell: He ignored politics.

Show: He hadn’t voted for the past 10 years.
Facts about Feature Stories
A feature story needs a theme.
A feature story uses the senses.
Below the tree line, the green mountains
in summer are a vision of heaven. Deep green
meadows give them the texture of a whipping
cream. Boulders became soft pillows. Sounds
are muted by the breeze. Wind in the dancing
treetops is a whisper, a caress.
Facts about Feature Stories
A feature story uses similes and metaphors.
Example:
Over time, the fortune of Peter and his
sisters have became entwined like strands of a
church bell rope. Like two hands clasps in
prayer.
Common types of Feature Stories
 Human Interest: The best-known kind of feature story is the human-
interest story that discusses issues through the experiences of another.

 Profiles: A very common type of feature is the profile that reveals an

individual's character and lifestyle. The profile exposes different facets
of the subject so readers will feel they know the person.

 How-To: These articles help people learn by telling them how to do

something. The writer learns about the topic through education,
experience, research or interviews with experts.

 Historical Features: These features commemorate important dates in

history or turning points in our social, political and cultural
development. They offer a useful juxtaposition of then and now.
Historical features take the reader back to revisit an event and issues
surrounding it. A variation is the this date in history short feature,
which reminds people of significant events on a particular date.
Seasonal Themes: Stories about holidays and the
change of seasons address matters at specific times of
a year. For instance, they cover life milestones, social,
political and cultural cycles, and business cycles.

Behind the Scenes: Inside views of unusual

occupations, issues, and events give readers a feeling
of penetrating the inner circle or being a mouse in a
corner. Readers like feeling privy to unusual details
and well kept secrets about procedures or activities
they might not ordinarily be exposed to or allowed to
participate in.
Parts of a Feature Story
Title
Beginning or introduction (1st -2nd
paragraph)
Theme (3rd -4th paragraph or a single
sentence will do)
Body (3-5 paragraphs)
Ending or Conclusion (1 paragraph)
Title
Grabs the attention of the readers to read the
story. It should be between three to five words
only.

May sikreto sa PDMC

Akda ng Isang Lapis
Abortion
The Power of Prayer
Introduction
a. Setting a Scene, Painting a Picture
The young Egyptian professional could pass for any
New York bachelor. Dressed in a crisp polo shirt and swathed
in cologne, he races his Nissan Maxima through the rain-
slicked streets of Manhattan, late for a date with a tall
brunette. At red lights, he fusses with his hair. What sets the
bachelor apart from other young men on the make is the
chaperon sitting next to him -- a tall, bearded man in a white
robe and stiff embroidered hat.

Matagal-tagal ko na ring kakilala si Pitong. Bagama’t

isa siyang palaisipan sa akin, hindi ko ito masyadong
sineseryoso. Sapat nang siya, para sa aming mga kapitbahay
niya ay isang tindero. Tindero ng ano?
Use an Anecdote
BEIJING — The first sign of trouble was powder in the
baby’s urine. Then there was blood. By the time the
parents took their son to the hospital, he had no urine at
all. Kidney stones were the problem, doctors told the
parents. The baby died on May 1 in the hospital, just two
weeks after the first symptoms appeared. His name was
Yi Kaixuan. He was 6 months old.
The parents filed a lawsuit on Monday in the arid
northwest province of Gansu, where the family lives,
asking for compensation from Sanlu Group, the maker of
the powdered baby formula that Kaixuan had been
drinking. It seemed like a clear-cut liability case; since
last month, Sanlu has been at the center of China’s
biggest contaminated food crisis in years. But as in two
other courts dealing with related lawsuits, judges have
so far declined to hear the case.
 Isang masayahing bata si Bitoy. Palabiro at
palaging nakatawa. Ngunit isang araw, ang dating
maliksing bata ay biglang nagkalagnat. Dahil sa
kakulangan ng pera ay pinainum lamang siya ng
kanyang nanay ng ordinaryng gamot sa lagnat ngunit
pagkalipas ng apat na araw ay nakitaan ito ng maliliit
na butlig sa katawan. Nang dalhin si Bitoy sa hospital,
dito na na lamang nalaman na tinamaan na pala ito ng
Dengue.
Sa hospital, apat na araw na nakipaglaban si
Bitoy para sa kanyang buhay. Ngunit pagkatapos nito
ay hindi na nakayanan ng kanyang murang katawan
ang impeksiyon. Siya ay tuluyan nang bumigay.
Question
Who says that age is an obstacle to
education? Take it from Procopio
Demakulangan of San Miguel, Iloilo who
stopped going to school 50 years ago after
finishing his elementary grades. This year, he
enrolled as a grade seven student at Andres
Bonifacio National High School.
Startling statement
Hindi pa kami laos!
Ito ang pahayag ng mga “young ones” –
mga guro, pinuno ng paaralan at mga
magulang – ng kanilang ipagdiwang ang Araw
ng ISCOF, Hunyo 12 at lumahok sa iba’t-ibang
palatuntunan at paligsahan upang bigyang-
buhay ang pagdiriwang.
Quoted Remarks
“I earn while I learn.” He smiled at me as
the interview reeled off. “How can you work,
have a part-time job as an exotic dancer, and at
the same time go to school?” I asked.
“Well, it is easy”, she explained. “I don’t
do all of these at the same time.”
An Old Maxim or “salawikain”
“Tubig, tubig sa lahat ng dako, ngunit
kahit isang patak ay walang maiinom.” Ito ang
siniping sabi ni Samuel Coleridge sa tulang
“The Ancient Mariner” na wala nang bisa
ngayon. Kahit na tubig na galing sa baha ay
maiinom na. Paano? Ganito ang paraan.
 The Theme
The theme should state the point of the story. It
should immediately follow the beginning.

Halos lahat ngayon sa bansa ay naaalarma sa

biglang paglobo ng kaso ng dengue. Ang noon ay
pang tag-ulan lamang na sakit ay rumaratsada na rin
kahit tag-init dahil sa epekto na rin ng “Global
Warming.”
Ayon sa tala ng Department of Health, mahigit
400 na ang kaso ng dengue sa buong bansa. 100 na
dito ang namatay at karamihan ay mga bata. Isang
katotohanang hindi dapat baliwalain nating lahat.
The young Egyptian professional could pass for any New York bachelor.
Dressed in a crisp polo shirt and swathed in cologne, he races his Nissan
Maxima through the rain-slicked streets of Manhattan, late for a date
with a tall brunette. At red lights, he fusses with his hair. What sets the
bachelor apart from other young men on the make is the chaperon
sitting next to him -- a tall, bearded man in a white robe and stiff
embroidered hat.
"I pray that Allah will bring this couple together," the man, Sheik
Reda Shata, says, clutching his seat belt and urging the bachelor to
slow down.
Christian singles have coffee hour. Young Jews have date. But many
Muslims believe that it is forbidden for an unmarried man and woman to
meet in private. In predominantly Muslim countries, the job of making
introductions and even arranging marriages typically falls to a vast
network of family and friends.
In Brooklyn, there is Mr. Shata. Week after week, Muslims embark
on dates with him in town. Mr. Shata, the imam of a Bay Ridge mosque,
juggles some 550 "marriage candidates," from a gold-toothed electrician
to a professor at Columbia University. The meetings often unfold on the
green velour couch of his office, or over a meal at his favorite Yemeni
restaurant on Atlantic Avenue.
Body
Series of events that support your introduction (just
continue the story you started in the intro. .
Quotes
Anecdotes and stories

Wala naman kaming nakikitang paninda niya. Katunayan,

kahit ang nanay niya, na kaibigan ko, hindi matukoy ang tunay
na hanapbuhay ng anak. Basta ‘ika nito, sa takipsilim
ay umaalis na si Pitong upang “magtinda.” Isang di-
sinasadyang pagkakataon ang nagtambad sa akin kung ano ang
totoong paninda ni Pitong. Na-stranded ako sa kahabaan ng
ClaroM. Recto Avenue dahil sa traffic at namaybay na lamang
sa bangketa ng lugar hanggang sa may parteng nakakrus dito—
ang Tomas Mapua Street.
 Dina is no stranger to public school education
and to poverty. She is second eldest to 10 siblings.
They used to live in Sohoton, Barotac Nuevo where
her father farmed a small plot of land.
“Our life here is much better but because our
school is roughly three kilometers from our home, my
parents decided to move to Cruz and live with my
mother’s relatives,” she told Mikay. His father worked
as a photographer in Cruz. When there is no occasion,
he had to dry unmilled rice for a living, earning
roughly P10.00 per sack.
“I went to school without slippers so I hopped,
especially when the weather was really hot,” she said.
“I used to have a pair of slippers, which we teasingly
dubbed as “Flag” because one was colored red and
the other was blue.
Conclusion
The last paragraph that aims to leave a lasting
impression
1. A forecast or prophecy

Alam kong hindi pa tapos ang aming pag-uusap.

Masusundan at masusundan pa ito. Masarap ang magkaroon
muli ng koneksyon sa isang malau-layo na ring nakaraan.
Taong 2000 kami huling magkaharap ni Bebe at mahigit isang
dekada na. inaamin long sabik akong muling makausap siya.
Makadaupang-palad siya. Hindi lamang dahil mayroon siyang
mga kuwento kundi dahil kilalako si Bebe, isang mabuti at
matapat na kaibigan at isang kaluluwang busilak. Parang
lotus na kahit ano mang dumi ng tubig ay hindi kayang
tunawin ang taglay nitong kabanguhan.
2. A summary of the whole article
Makinig ka sa dalubhasa: ang paninigarilyo ay
lubhang masama sa kalusugan. Maaring maturingan kang
tunay na lalaki dahil sa paninigarilyo mo subalit hindi tatagal
ang buhay mo upang mapatunayan mo ang iyong pagkalalaki.

3. A suggested result or significance

Let us conserve our forests now if we want to save the
future of our country and our children.
A simple Feature Story Layout
Title
1st – 2nd par…………………
Introduction/Beginning
3rd par…………………………. Theme
4th - 6th par …………………. Body(Tell more
about the topic. Use
show sentences,
quotes and figures of speech.)
7th par…………………………..
Conclusion/Ending
Feature Story Layout No. 2
Title
1st par ………….. Song related to the topic
(first stanza only)
2nd par…………. Theme
3rd – 5th par …. Body (Tell more about the
topic. Use show sentences, quotes
and figures of speech.)

6th par…………..Song (chorus)

Feature Story Layout No. 3
Title
1st – 2nd par … Tell about your most
unforgettable experience
about the topic.
3rd par ………. Theme
4th – 6th par… Body (Tell more about the topic.
Use show sentences, quotes and
figures of speech.)
7th par ………. Ending
SAMPLES
(Topic: Lapis) AKDA NG ISANG LAPIS
Ako ang unang bagay na ibinigay sa'yo ng nanay at tatay mo
noong sinabi mong "gusto ko nang mag-aral!". Hindi mo pa ako kilala
noon, pero alam mo na ang aking pangalan. Hindi mo pa alam ang
tamang paghawak sa akin para makasulat ka, subalit nariyan ang iyong
mga magulang at tinuruan ka. Natatawa pa ako sayo dati noong bago ka
pa lang natututong sumulat. Nauubos mo ang ilang minuto sa pagbuo ng
isang titik. Kahit anong husay ang gawin mo, ang tuwid na linya ay
palaging bumabaluktot. Syempre para sa'yo tuwid pa rin ito. Alam kong
mahirap ang magsimulang sumulat, lahat ng ninuno ko ay iyan ang
sinasabi, subalit anumang hirap ay may kapalit na tagumpay. At ikaw
nga ay natuto na. Ang una mong isinulat, ang pangalan mo.
Hindi mo na mahintay ang unang araw ng pasukan noon.
Nasasabik ka nang pumasok sa paaralan. Ihahatid ka ng iyong ina,
babantayan hanggang uwian. Syempre kasama mo ako. Nasa loob ako
ng bag mo. Katulad mo'y nasasabik din ako sa araw araw. Masipag
tayong dalawa, palagi tayong nagsusulat. At marami ka na nagyong
naisusulat.
Sa paglipas ng panahon muntik ko nang hindi mapansin,
lumalaki ka habang ako'y lumiliit. Dumating pa sa puntong kailangan mo
na akong palitan dahil hindi mo na ako mahawakan. Nariyan ang mga
kapatid ko. Sila ang makakasama mo habang ako'y nagmamasid sa'yo at
tinatamasa ang aking pagretiro. Oo, sinubaybayan kita na parang
 Dumaan pa ang mga araw at natapos mo ang
elementarya. Hindi lang ako ang masaya kundi pati ang pinsan
kong may tinta. Kasama mo kami sa una mong diploma. Ngayon
aakyat ka na sa sekondarya.
Mas humusay ka sa sekondarya. Hinarap mo ang lahat ng
pagsubok sa iyong kakayahan. Nakipagsabayan ka sa
teknolohiya. Lahat ng bago ay gusto mong subukan. Madalas ay
gusto kitang isumbong sa nanay mo dahil ginagabi ka sa
palaruan. Buti na lang at nagsawa ka sa katagalan. Natuwa ka
nang lumabas sa merkado ang kauri ko ngunit sya ay
elektroniko. Kung ako'y sumusulat sa papel s'ya nama'y sa
mukha ng iyong telepono. S'ya na yata ang paborito mo. Mas
marami kasi s'yang nagagawa kaysa sa tulad ko. Pero alam ko na
mas magaling ako, dahil kahit walang kuryente makakasulat ako.
Hindi nagtagal naging kolehiyo ka na. Sa utak mo ngayon
ay tumatakbo ang pagnanasang maging malaya. Natutuwa ako
dahil hindi ka napariwara pero natatakot dahil sa kakayahan mo
at kaisipang tinatamasa ngayon ay maari kang maging isang
bomba. Totoong marami ka nang natutunan at natuklasan.
Ngunit ang lahat ng yan ay panimula pa lamang. Sa pagtatapos
mo ng kolehiyo iba na ang magiging guro mo. Kapag ikaw na ang
 May mga bagay na kahit ating marating,
makakaramdam tayo ng paghahangad ng iba pa. Gaya
mo na noong una gusto ay lang maututong sumulat at
bumasa, pero ngayon ay gustong yumaman pa. Sa
katulad kong isang lapis hindi ka na magtataka, ginawa
lang ako para turuan ang iba. Ito ang misyon ko pero
alam kong ako'y maligaya. Dahil sa tagumpay ng mga
katulad mong minsa'y naging isang bata, humawak ng
lapis at isinulat ang pangalan. Naging bahagi ako ng
iyong kamusmusan at kahit ngayong malaki ka na hindi
ako nawala. Darating ang araw magkaka-anak ka. At pag
nag-aral sya ako ang ibibigay mo sa kanya. At sa kanya
makikita mo kung paano tayo noong una, simpleng
magkaibigan, masipag, masaya. Sa lahat ng ito ay may
napatunayan ako. Ang buhay ay simple kung gugustuhin
mo. Gaya ko'y may misyon ka rin kaibigan, ngunit sa
pagtupad mo huwag mong kalilimutan, minsa'y nagsama
tayo at magaan sa pakiramdam. Ako na isang lapis ay
 Topic: Father’s Day
My Father’s Smile

My father died 11 years ago, around American Father’s Day,

in Southern China, without my being there to bid him goodbye.
I had been in the United States for five years and was
preparing for the Bar exam. My family did not tell me until the exams
were over. When I learned of his death, I collapsed into my sister’s
arms and cried the whole night. For the next few months, I stumbled
around the streets of New York in silent mourning. At 28, I felt like a
miserable orphan.
Since then, I would easily shed tears over father-son stories
that I see on TV or read in newspapers. And Father’s Day, which I
have felt was an American celebration that I could ignore, has slowly
become a solemn day for remembering the man I called “Baba.”
My father’s best legacy was the dazzling smile he gave when
he could not afford to. As a son of a former landowner, my father
suffered during the Cultural Revolution. When I was about seven, he
was hanged by his thumbs up in our commune’s headquarters, yet he
refused to sign a false confession.
 I was there, peeping through a window, watching him scream as he
was beaten. It sickened me to see him being treated worse than an animal.
He caught a glimpse of me. His screams ceased, and threw a secret smile
on my way. My young heart sank with love and pain. I wanted to climb
through the windows and save him. Then he smiled again, this time with a
warning: “Son, go home.” The smile came at the high price. The cadets
beat him till one of his fingers snapped.
One winter day, when we had eaten the last of our moldy yams, my
father sneaked out of our commune to try and earn money painting houses
in a distant village. It was a great risk—under communist rule, engaging in
a private business was illegal. My mother, my three sisters, my brother
and I waited for him that night as wind slanted the winter rain. My mother
cried and prayed to Buddha.
There was no electricity, so we sat in total darkness, not having
eaten since that morning. Dad finally appeared, barefoot, drenched and
trembling with exhaustion and cold. With a difficult smile, he put a small
bag of cornbread on our table and we devoured it. Wrapped in a blanket,
he told us later that it had been tough selling a paint job on a rainy day, so
he had sold his coat and shoes to buy the food. He would have been a lot
earlier, he said, but a couple of wolves had chased him up a tree, where he
waited for hours before they vanished.
My father rarely prayed, but when his father was dying, I watched
as he knelt before our hidden shrine and asked Buddha to take a few years
off his own life and add them to Grandpa’s. With tears rolling down his
face, my father smiled as if Buddha had accepted his deal. In that brief
moment, he taught me what it really meant to be a son.
Topic: Unforgettable
Experience The Silent Teacher
The whole class slowly made its way to the dreaded third floor of the old
building. The dimly lit hallways, the decade old marble staircase and the eerie
echoes of our footsteps lent an air of creepiness to the place even if it was only 1:30
in the afternoon.
Most of the students were giggling and whispering nervously while the rest
went up silently, half reluctant and hal excited. Upon reaching the third floor, our
nostrils were assailed by the sickening odor that would envelop us for the next few
months.
I joined my other group mates and holding our breaths, we hesitantly entered
the dissection room. We quickly found our assigned table and saw our ‘silent
teacher’ for the first time.
The cadaver lay on table number four, covered with an opaque green plastic.
We gingerly lifted the cover and saw a female body shrouded in strips of sack
cloth. Her head was similarly wrappped and no one dared to look at her face. We
were relieved that the dissections for the heasd were scheduled last in our course
syllabus.
An elderly priest came to bless the repose of their souls.
The night before our first dissection, I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamed
that the bodies, wrapped in a green plastic, floated out of the third-floor windows
and glided straight into our house, which is just a block away from the campus. I
woke up with a start and, without any moment’s delay, fled my room and slept
beside my mother for the remainder of the night.
I recounted my nightmare to a classmate, and we vowed that if we ever see a
cadaver move, even just a twitch of a tiny finger, we would immediately quit
medical school. Fortunately for us, nothing of that sort happened. And so we
carried out the grueling task of dissection.
 Only a handful had the nerve to work with bare hands, and so
the rapid sale of surgical gloves in nearby drugstore must have made
the proprietors very happy.
We had to carefully incise the skin and remove the underlying
fatty tissue to expose the structures we were looking for.
We methodically opened up the different regions of the body:
first the neck, then the chest, arms, abdomen, pelvis, legs, and back.
We even had to extricate the heart, lungs, and kidneys to be able to
study them in details.
After each session, we were instructed to spray formaldehyde
fumes and our noses learned to tolerate the unpleasant smell inside
the room. Some of my classmates became so used to the stomach-
turning sight that they could even eat during breaks in the dissection
room.
The day came when we had to work on the face. At first, no one
in the group volunteered to remove the cloth covering her face. But
after realizing that we were way behind schedule, we summoned the
courage to do it.
She might have been between sixty-five and seventy-five years
old, judging from the white hair and the wrinkles on her forehead.
Her small mouth was devoid of teeth and I surmised that she was
wearing dentures before she died. What struck me most were her
half-open eyelids, which seemed to be peering at us the way an old
woman with a poor vision would.
 Slowly, my fear and revulsion were replaced with pity and
sadness.
I began to see her in a different light. I used to see a dead body on
a steel table. Now, I was seeing a lifeless human being. A human being
just like me.
I began to resent the way I treated her; how unfeelingly I would
rub Vaseline on her flesh to prevent it from desiccating, how I wrinkled
my nose and complained her smell, and how mindless and brusquely I
covered her with the green plastic sheet after each session.
A professor told us that the cadavers came from a mental
institution. They were mostly impoverished patients. When they died
they were left unclaimed, neglected and forgotten by their families.
I could not imagine my deceased relatives lying humiliatingly
stark naked on the steel tables, their bodies under the mercy of our
sharp, probing scalpels.
My ‘silent teacher’ taught me lot of things, and the anatomy of the
human body was the least of them. She taught me how the world can be
very cruel and unfair, and how life can end in ways you cannot predict.
She made me realize how lucky I was to be alive.
When the semester ended, our group huddled around table
number four and said a prayer for the old woman. My group mates then
left, but I stayed behind.
 I wished I knew her name so that I could
have thanked her properly. Nevertheless, I
removed my gloves, held her hand and thanked
her anyway.
 Editorial Writing Feature
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Writing
June 26 that the U.S. Constitution provides
same-sex couples the right to marry,  My hero
handing a historic triumph to the
American gay rights movement.
The court ruled 5-4 that the
Constitution's guarantees of due process
and equal protection under the law mean
that states cannot ban same-sex
marriages. With the landmark ruling, gay
marriage becomes legal in all 50 states.
Immediately after the decision, same-
sex couples in many of the states where
gay marriage had been banned headed to
county clerks' offices for marriage licenses
as officials in several states said they
would respect the ruling.
President Barack Obama, appearing
in the White House Rose Garden, hailed
the ruling as a milestone in American