WRITING FOR NEW MEDIA
Module 6
Starting The Feature
Objectives
- Introduce the feature essay as a form.
- Shift the attention from self as writer to other as subject.
- Practice critical questioning for feature writing.
- Introduce the idea of a public as audience.
Methods
- Active reading.
- Critical thinking.
- Note-taking.
Introduction
While the parts of the essay (or any narrative writing for that matter) are basically the same, i.e., beginning-middle-end, introduction-body-conclusion, there are many different types of essay.
Each type means a change in content (what is written), in tone (how it’s written), and in audience (for whom it is written). This also means having a different set of goals for sitting down to write the essay.
For this class, the feature article signals the start of writing for an audience beyond just your teacher. The feature and all the writing after it requires that you have a very clear sense of who your audience is, given what you are writing about.
What makes the feature essay distinct?
Easily, it is the fact that you, as a writer, is featuring something else in the essay. While you use your voice and perspective to talk about the subject of the essay—whether it’s a person, an event, a product—ultimately the function of this essay is to feature its subject.
This doesn’t mean that you, as a writer, are erased from the telling. It just means that you are using a particular voice to talk about your subject given a particular perspective that you also decide on.
Here, the subject of the feature is who or what you’re talking about.
Your perspective on the subject is the point-of-view that you take when you write about it: is it from the perspective of someone who is already familiar with the subject matter and introducing it to readers, or is it from the perspective of someone who is discovering the subject through the essay, just like the reader is?
The voice that you use in your essay is about tone and diction, which dictate choice of words and the general attitude of the essay about the subject. Is the general attitude that of excitement, or joy? Discovery, or urgency? Is it celebratory of your subject?
These three things you need to be clear about before you even begin writing your essay.
Active Reading
Read the different feature articles in the class google drive. As you read, identify the following (1) the subject of the feature, (2) the perspective that the writer uses to talk about her subject, and (3) the particular voice and tone she uses.
A Variety of Features
The different features in your reading list give you very different types of subjects. You have people (Angel Locsin, Sandata, IP leaders), cultural products (film), place (Manila), and advocacy (climate change, disasters).
Across the different feature essays, you also see different perspectives and voices. The ones on advocacy are interesting because while the one on disasters takes a very serious tone to highlight the urgency of the subject, the one on climate change takes a lighter tone that is consistent with the perspective of someone who wants to encourage us to take part in the fight for climate action.
The features on people are also different from each other, given who the subjects are. A feature on a celebrity or influencer will obviously have to do with her public persona, while the feature on IP leaders will be more introductory than anything else. The feature on Sandata is more complex in that it doesn’t only feature the people behind it, but also Sandata itself as a project.
The feature on film is interesting because it is actually also a set of short reviews of five films that has been framed by the writer as “revolutionary.” What it’s missing though is a conclusion, which is necessary to tie the feature together.
The feature on place is extra special because it is actually a love letter to Manila, which means that it is not mere place, but actual living, breathing person. In the process, one is reminded of how the places we live in are only as alive and well as we keep it.
A Guide to Writing the Feature
Given the readings, you now have a better sense of the kind of features you can write for this class. Given the difficulty of doing interviews, you are encouraged to do feature essays on subjects that are not people at this point in time.
So the first step is to decide on your subject. Make sure it is something that interests you as this means you will need to do research. In order to feature any subject, you need to have an amount of research to back up what you say about it.
The feature essay is not just you and your opinions about your subject—that would be a different essay altogether. The feature requires that you actually talk about your experience with your subject (the films you’ve watched, the music you listen to, the artists you love, the places that are special, the advocacy you hold dear, the issues that you feel are important), and how or why this subject is important, special, or unique.
Once you know what you’re going to talk about, start doing some research. By looking at what others have said about it, you would know if you have something new to say in your feature. The only way for the feature essay to succeed is if your perspective on your subject—your experience of it, the voice you use, the research that you employ, and even the form—is different from most people.
In this way, you succeed at writing a feature that is about you as writer, but more importantly, is about your subject as worth talking about.
Critical Thinking
Pick at least two topics that to you would be interesting as a subject for your feature essay. In a maximum of 300 words, explain your unique experience of either topic, the tone and perspective you want to use in writing about it, how this is important to talk about.
Proceed to Module 7. ***
