Feature Writing

Catalog description

In this course, students learn the art and craft of feature writing-how to write compelling human-interest articles and substantive non-fiction stories that look to a corner of the news and illuminate it-from both a practical and a creative perspective. Students work together to examine and deconstruct the various types of feature writing for magazines, newspapers and digital media, from shorter, front-of-the-book stories to service pieces to profiles to news features. Students read and discuss articles from a range of popular, literary and trade magazines, and, in a community of peer writers, they write, review and revise several works of their own. They also learn how to develop ideas for features and how to craft research-based stories with characters, development and a structural arc. The class format is a blend of lecture and discussion and focus on interviewing techniques, developing an eye for detail and organizing material. Students also get an overview of the industry and instruction in the skills needed to successfully pitch articles as a freelancer.