How To Write Special Feature Articles | Page 9

only in the writing of special feature and magazine articles, but also
in newspaper reporting, editing, and short story writing. To write
constantly under guidance and criticism, such as it is impossible to
secure in newspaper and magazine offices, will develop whatever
ability a student possesses.
Experience as a newspaper reporter supplements college training in

journalism and is the best substitute for college work generally
available to persons who cannot go to college. For any one who aspires
to write, reporting has several distinct advantages and some dangers.
The requirement that news be printed at the earliest possible moment
teaches newspaper workers to collect facts and opinions quickly and to
write them up rapidly under pressure. Newspaper work also develops a
writer's appreciation of what constitutes news and what determines
news values; that is, it helps him to recognize at once, not only what
interests the average reader, but how much it interests him. Then, too,
in the course of his round of news gathering a reporter sees more of
human life under a variety of circumstances than do workers in any
other occupation. Such experience not only supplies him with an
abundance of material, but gives him a better understanding and a more
sympathetic appreciation of the life of all classes.
To get the most out of his reporting, a writer must guard against two
dangers. One is the temptation to be satisfied with superficial work
hastily done. The necessity of writing rapidly under pressure and of
constantly handling similar material, encourages neglect of the niceties
of structure and of style. In the rush of rapid writing, the importance of
care in the choice of words and in the arrangement of phrases and
clauses is easily forgotten. Even though well-edited newspapers insist
on the highest possible degree of accuracy in presenting news, the
exigencies of newspaper publishing often make it impossible to verify
facts or to attain absolute accuracy. Consequently a reporter may drop
into the habit of being satisfied with less thorough methods of
collecting and presenting his material than are demanded by the higher
standards of magazine writing.
The second danger is that he may unconsciously permit a more or less
cynical attitude to replace the healthy, optimistic outlook with which he
began his work. With the seamy side of life constantly before him, he
may find that his faith in human nature is being undermined. If,
however, he loses his idealism, he cannot hope to give his articles that
sincerity, hopefulness, and constructive spirit demanded by the average
reader, who, on the whole, retains his belief that truth and righteousness

prevail.
Of the relation of newspaper reporting to the writing of magazine
articles and to magazine editing, Mr. Howard Wheeler, editor of
Everybody's Magazine, has said:
It is the trained newspaper men that the big periodical publishers are
reaching out for. The man who has been through the newspaper mill
seems to have a distinct edge on the man who enters the field without
any newspaper training.
The nose for news, the ability to select and play up leads, the feel of
what is of immediate public interest is just as important in magazine
work as in newspaper work.
Fundamentally the purpose of a magazine article is the same as the
purpose of a newspaper story--to tell a tale, to tell it directly,
convincingly, and interestingly.
Practical experience in the field of his specialty is of advantage in
familiarizing a writer with the actual conditions about which he is
preparing himself to write. To engage for some time in farming,
railroading, household management, or any other occupation, equips a
person to write more intelligently about it. Such practical experience
either supplements college training in a special field, or serves as the
best substitute for such specialized education.
WHAT EDITORS WANT. All the requirements for success in special
feature writing may be reduced to the trite dictum that editors want
what they believe their readers want. Although a commonplace, it
expresses a point of view that aspiring writers are apt to forget. From a
purely commercial standpoint, editors are middlemen who buy from
producers what they believe they can sell to their customers. Unless an
editor satisfies his readers with his articles, they will cease to buy his
publication. If his literary wares are not what his readers want, he finds
on the newsstands unsold piles of his publication, just as a grocer finds
on his shelves faded packages of an unpopular breakfast food. Both
editor and grocer undertake to buy from the producers what will have a

ready sale and will satisfy their customers.
The writer, then, as the producer, must furnish wares that will attract
and satisfy the readers of the periodical to which he desires to sell his
product. It is the ultimate consumer, not merely the