Writing Feature Stories : How to Research and Write Newspaper and Magazine Articles

This is a comprehensive book which covers every aspect of feature writing. It provides many examples along the way to highlight good and poor writing. It is obvious why this fantastic book is used by many Australian universities. A practical guide to all aspects of feature writing for journalists and freelance writers.To write, we must read. To write well, we must study the best. Matthew Ricketson has done that distilling essentials of the craft into a practical text equally valuable to the learner and the practising professional.'Andrew Rule, Walkley Award-winning journalistMatthew Ricketson's book is both useful and thought provoking. For the young reporter struggling to write features, it provides a good basic primer. For those interested in pushing the boundaries of the journalistic form, it provides encouragement and provocation.'Margaret Simons, award-winning journalist and author of Meeting of the WatersMore feature stories are being published in newspapers and magazines than ever before, ranging from lifestyle spreads about the search for the perfect chocolate mud cake to investigative series about the illegal trade in wildlife. Feature stories offer journalists the chance to move beyond conventional news reporting and write more creatively.Written by an experienced journalist and teacher, this practical guide shows how to write both elementary and more sophisticated feature stories. It explains how to:* generate fresh ideas* organise your time efficiently* gather factual and personal information* sift and sort raw material* find the best way to tell the story* write the story* edit and proofread your work* work with editors.Matthew Ricketson has worked as a journalist since 1981 with The Age, The Australian and Time Australia. He has won several awards, including a United Nations Media Peace Prize citation and the George MunsterAward. He freelances for various publications and comments regularly on radio about media issues. A senior lecturer at RMIT, he has run the Journalism program there since 1995. His biography, Paul Jennings: The boy in the story is always me' was published in 2000.

a Systematic And User-friendly Approach To Journalistic Feature Story Writing For Journalism Students, Professionals, Freelancers, And Beginners Is Provided In This Guide. Writers Will Learn To Move Beyond Conventional News Stories And Embrace Their Creativity To Create Compelling Features. Generating Fresh Ideas, Gathering Factual Information, Sifting Through Raw Material, Choosing The Best Angle, And Working With Editors Are All Explored. Discussion Questions And Exercises Reinforce The Ideas Presented In Each Chapter. Pop Culture Examples And Recently Published Articles Are Used To Make Concepts Memorable And Easily Accessible.

More feature stories are being published in newspapers and magazines than ever before, ranging from lifestyle spreads about the search for the perfect chocolate mud cake to investigative series about the illegal trade in wildlife. Feature stories offer journalists the chance to move beyond conventional news reporting and write more creatively. Written by an experienced journalist and teacher, this practical guide shows how to write both elementary and more sophisticated feature stories. What exactly is a feature story? The variety of feature stories Crossing the bridge from media consumer to media practitioner Generating fresh story ideas Spend half an hour planning now, save half a day later Gathering the raw material The subtle and slippery art of interviewing Seeing things for yourself Finding the right structure for the story Leads, closes, and that big lump in the middle Wordcraft Editing your story and working with editors Looking ahead to literary journalism. A practical guide to all aspects of feature writing for journalists and freelance writers. Explains how to generate fresh ideas, organise your time efficiently, gather factual and personal information, sift and sort raw material, find the best way to tell a story, edit and proof read your work, and more Title from e-book title screen (viewed on June 29, 2004)