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Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life e Defense Information Schꝏl, Fo George G. Meade, Maryland Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course Feature Writing 1 Personality features are human- interest features that focus on a single person. This can be someone in the news, such as someone who wins an award, or someone who has an interesting hobby. People want to know about people, so personality features will add reader interest to your publication. Personality feature Photo courtesy of Defense Imagery

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Page 1: Personality feature - Blackboard Inc. Content... · Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade,

Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life

The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland

Basic Public Affairs Specialist CourseFeature Writing

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Personality features are human-interest features that focus on a single person. This can be someone in the news, such as someone who wins an award, or someone who has an interesting hobby. People want to know about people, so personality features will add reader interest to your publication.

Personality feature

Photo courtesy of Defense Imagery

Page 2: Personality feature - Blackboard Inc. Content... · Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade,

Personality Feature Feature Writing

The Center of Excellence for Visual Information and Public Affairs2

Home | Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life

Definition and purpose A personality feature is a type of human-interest feature, and like all features, it both informs and entertains. Personality features differ from human-interest features. Human-interest features focus on a topic; personality features focus on a single person and something interesting about that person.

Personality features can be attached to a news peg or can be more timeless.Personality features employ creative writing concepts to “bring to life” the person you’re profiling for your readers. Personality features attempt to dig beneath the surface and get at what makes the subject interesting, special and different. Personality features are the ultimate human-interest stories and strive to bring forward the interesting elements of the subject, even if they are serious, sad, tragic, eccentric or funny.

Now that you understand what a personality feature is, let’s focus on some examples of personality feature ideas.

Photo courtesy of Defense Imagery

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Personality Feature Feature Writing

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Home | Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life

Personality feature ideas Story ideas are everywhere. Everyone has something special or unique about him or her. It is your job to seek out that angle. Remember, story ideas are everywhere. You just have to be looking.

Many times, military journalists will focus on an aspect of a person’s job or hobby.

Examples:

y Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Stan Travioli’s experiences as a combat photographer enable him to give BPASC students an accurate perspective on what they can expect as deployed PA professionals.

y Sarah L. Hood is a movie buff and brings her love of movies to work.

y Faye B. Jones has a unique teaching style that helps her students learn and retain more.

y The military policeman and his dog, what creates that special bond?

y The dining facility manager and how he ensures hundreds of students are fed daily.

y The dog groomer who gives cats and dogs haircuts and manicures.

y The cake decorator at the commissary and how she got good at what she does.

Remember, story ideas are everywhere. You just have to be looking. Now that you understand where story ideas come from, let’s talk about how you can bring your subject to life in a personality feature.

Photo courtesy of Defense Imagery

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Personality Feature Feature Writing

The Center of Excellence for Visual Information and Public Affairs4

Home | Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life

Bringing the subject to life Use quotes liberally -- let your subject tell the story as much as possible, and get opinions as they relate to your focus. Quotes show how people talk and what they think. You’re personality feature should contain about 50 percent quotations, both direct and indirect. Be careful to paraphrase and clean up grammar problems.

Example:

Quote: “I’m not a super studly guy, “ he said. “I’m well rounded, maybe even a little chunky, but I can hold my own. You put 10 to 15, 200-pound guys in a pit for a Rage Against the Machine show, and there are going to be some people flying over, trying to stage dive. We’re going to stop them. They’re not going to get by us. They never do.”

Paraphrase: Porter said large physical stature isn’t a requirement for his job in security.

Describe a person’s physical characteristics -- this includes personal appearance, demeanor, facial expressions and dress. Describe hair color, eye color, height and weight when relevant to the focus of your story. Be as specific as possible. Words like tall and stocky mean different things to different people. Try 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 260 pounds instead. Remember, you are painting a picture for your reader. Try not to lump all physical description together in one paragraph, as this is awkward and forced. Sprinkle

physical description throughout your story. A good personality feature will leave the reader feeling like he knows the subject.

Observe your subject in his environment, and bring to life for your reader using description. This requires good observational skills. Sit in on your subject’s activity and watch him in action. Take notes.

Example:

Herbert Reed is an imposing man, broad shouldered and tall. He strides into the VA Medical Center in the Bronx with the presence of a cop or a soldier. Since the Vietnam War, he has been both.

His hair is perfect, his shirt is spotless, his jeans sharply creased. But there is something wrong, a niggling imperfection made more noticeable by a bearing so disciplined. It is a limp – more like a hitch in his get-along.

It is the only sign, albeit a tiny one, that he is extremely sick.

(From Is an Armament Sickening U.S. Soldiers? by Deborah Hastings. Published Aug. 12, 2006 by the Associated Press)

Give biographical or background information about the subject. Background information helps develop the character in your story. Again, try not to lump information.

Example:

At 54, he is a veteran of two wars and a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department, where he last served as an assistant warden at the

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Home | Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life

Riker’s Island prison.He was in perfect health, he said, before being deployed to Iraq

Notice how this relates to previous information about Herbert Reed and his physical description.

Interview secondary sources -- give the opinions of others as they relate to your focus. This shows how friends and associates react to the subject. Often, others are able to give anecdotes about the subject that will help bring him to life for the reader. Interview friends and co-workers of the subject. You must have at least one secondary source, and secondary sources must be able to speak about your subject in relation to your focus. If your personality feature is about an NCO who surfed while stationed in Hawaii, but no one she works with has any experience with her surfing, you have a source problem. You are required to have at least one anecdote.

Let your source tell the story by using direct quotes liberally. Be careful to avoid remarks that tell versus show.

Your secondary source should be able to quantify what he is saying about your subject. You should always follow up canned answers with questions like “why” and “how.”

Example:

“Tech. Sergeant Jones was a timid instructor when I first met her,” said Navy Chief Petty Officer Jamie Kirk.

“We went through the Instructor Training Course together, and I thought she wouldn’t make it through her first lecture without having a panic attack. But she’s really blossomed. Now, she breezes through large lectures with 50 or more students like it was nothing. It’s amazing to see how far she’s come,” Kirk said.

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The Center of Excellence for Visual Information and Public Affairs6

Conclusion

Basic Public Affairs Specialist CourseFeature Writing

Home | Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life

Remember, personality features are the ultimate human-interest stories. It’s your job as a public affairs specialist to strive to bring forward the interesting elements of the subject, whether they are serious, sad, tragic, eccentric or funny.

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References

Home | Definition & Purpose | Personality Feature Ideas | Bringing Subject to Life

Hay, V. (1990). The essential feature. Columbia University Press

Williamson, D. (1975). Feature writing for newspapers. Hastings House Publishers, New York

Ruehlmann, W. (1978). Stalking the feature story. Writers Digest Books

Itule, B., & Anderson, D. (2002). News writing and reporting for today’s media (6th ed.). The McGraw-Hill Companies

Alexander, L. (1975). Beyond the facts: A guide to the art of feature writing. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, TX

Patterson, B. (1986). Write to be read: A practical guide to feature writing. Iowa State Press

Harrower, T. (2005). The newspaper designer’s handbook. The McGraw-Hill Companies. *I could locate only 1997 and 2001 editions

Rich, C. (1999). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Wadsworth Publishing, Florence, KY.

Harrigan, J. & Dunlap, K. (2003). The editorial eye. Bedford/St. Martins, New York, New York 10010

DINFOS Policies and Procedures Manual (2008)

Feature writing handbook (2008)