Learning How to Write a Feature Profile Parts 1 and 2

1. In order to write a good feature profile, you must first come up with a news angle. How is this relevant? Why should someone care? When writing be sure to incorporate the setting into the story, it allows the reader to follow the person you're profiling more closely. Also be sure to include conflict, whether it is resolved by the end of the piece or not, and character development so that the person you are profiling does not come off as two-dimensional, boring, or incomplete. Write with authority, as if you are the omniscient narrator of the story, but still try to subtly include your voice. Remember that a feature story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

2. In his article, Dave Hyde always describes the scene before anything else, the piece opens with a location and is followed by a description of the subject's home. While he's in the bar, he spends close to four short paragraphs describing it, the characters there, and their actions. He includes himself into the story by interacting with his subject and the other characters and including some of his own dialogue, but doesn't make it about him.  Although Hyde is included in the story as a character, he still tells the story like a third person omniscient narrator. Hyde describes the people he encounters in detail, includes quotes and dialogue in the form of conversation. The character Jake Scott is developed and three-dimensional. Hyde does this by including details about Scott's personal life and losses, such as his friend's death and his bankruptcy. He's not just some old football player in retirement. What makes this interesting and newsworthy is the contrast between Jake Scott's former life as a legendary athlete and his peaceful, simple life in retirement. I think that the story has a clear beginning but not a shift in between the middle and the end. As for conflict, I can't really identify a clear thing that needs to be resolved but I think it's the question "what happened to Jake Scott?" which is answered by the end of the piece.