FEATURE

WRITING
 Foundations
in Feature
Writing
* experience
* imagination
F–E–A–T–U–R-E
F – factual (not fictitious)
E – entertaining
A – appealing to the emotions
T – timely or not timely
U – unusual
R – reader-oriented
E - explanation (extrapolation)
 STRUCTURE
INTRODUCTION
◦- draws the reader in
◦- most important part
◦- use drama, emotions, quotations, questions or
descriptions
BODY
◦- needs to answer any question in the intro
◦- maintain an “atmosphere” throughout the writing
◦- use drama, emotions, quotations, questions or
descriptions
CONCLUSION
◦- helps the reader to remember the story
◦- uses a strong punchline
DETAILS ( The Main Article )
◦facts / statistics which support the writer’s
opinion
◦personal viewpoints
◦opinions from authorities and experts
◦quotes
◦anecdotes / stories
◦specific names, places and dates
Battling “Writer’s Bloc”
* Talk to the paper
* Begin in the middle
* Write a letter
 CAPSULIZED
PARTS OF A FEATURE ARTICLE
LEAD
1. LEAD – short with an element of
surprise, magical, mysterical, intriguing
2. SCENE SETTER, ENTRANCE OF THE
STORY (anecdote) – use figurative
language
BODY
3. NUTGRAPH
4. REPORTING
5. SIMILE/METAPHOR
6. QUOTES, QUOTES
7. PERSONAL REACTION (opinion)
8. STAND ( call to action)
ENDING
1. STORY CLOSER – (what happened?)
(what will happen?)
2. ENDING – there is a connection
Lathalain
1. TITLE (maging matapang, kakaiba at hindi pa nagagamit)
Mga halimbawa:
* Dilaw ang Kulay ng Ulan
* Ligo na U, Ligo na Me
* Peksman, Nagsisinungaling Ako
* Stupid is Forevermore

Topic: Panaginip
Title: Pwedeng Paextend?
2. FIRST PARAGARAPH
- wag magtanong o mag-quote
- magical / element of surprise
- maiksi

◦ Title: Darating Siya

◦ First Paragraph: Apat na dekada na akong naghihintay ngunit
wala ka pa.
2. SECOND PARAGARAPH
- pwede ng magtanong
- go back to the basic
- describe the subject but do not write who the subject is

◦ Halimbawa:
Humahalik ang init sa kanyang labi…
Pilit na sumasabay ang hangin…
2. THIRD PARAGARAPH
- magkwento
- may facts / data
- connection ( kausapin ang bumabasa )

◦ Halimbawa:
“Ayoko ng makita ang mukha mo…”
“Tinangka kong habulin ang lumalayong ikaw…”
Reminders:

1. magpasok ng STYLE
2. minimalism
3. apply rhyming words – patula
4. apply alliteration
5. insert positive words / symbolism ( tala, langit, ulan,
buwan, clouds, rainbow, heaven…)
6. flashback technique ( ito ay makikita o mababasa sa body )
( Naaalala ko pa…. I still remember… I recall…)
7. simile / metaphor ( paghahambing) ( Ikaw ang sugat ko….)
8. repetition for emphasis
Ayoko na… Masakit…
Ayoko ng mabuhay… Napakasakit…
Ayoko ng makita ka…
9. sounds / tunog ( kriinggggggg…..kreeeek ….)
10. Plot twist
• Una at huli ay opposite
• Una at huli ay magkadustong

• Umpisa ng title: Sa Ngalan ng Ama ng Ama at ng Espiritu Santo

• Last paragraph: Amen
 SAMPLE FEATURE
ARTICLES
BORDERLESS WORLD DOESN’T PRECLUDE
THE IDEA OF A HOME
When I was little, I wanted what many
Filipino children all over the country
wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed
and white.
 I thought – if I just wished hard enough and was
good enough, I’d wake upon Christmas morning with
snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!
More than four centuries under western
domination does that to you. I have sixteen cousins. In a
couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the
Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of
“greener pastures”. It’s not just an anomaly; it’s a trend;
the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos
are scattered around the world.
 There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who
choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural
reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for
family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding
year. Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has
perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our
heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the
Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and
deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that
sacrifice.
 Or is it? I don’t think so, not anymore. True, there is
no denying that this phenomenon, aided by the fact that
what was once the other side of the world is now a
twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless
world, where no individual can claim to be purely from
where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my
father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure
Filipino – a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination
of cultures.
 Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up
of people of different ethnicities, with national identities
and individual personalities, because of this, each
square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as
much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so
is my neighborhood back home.
 Seen this way!, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of
dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many
claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World
country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its
feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make
it, given more time. Especially now, when we have
thousands of eager young minds who graduate from
college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We
cannot absorb them all.
 A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity,
yet one that is not so much abandonment but an
extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We
are the 40, 000 skilled nurses who support the UK’s
National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million
seafarers manning most of the world’s commercial
ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your
construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors
and caregivers in North America, and, your musical
artists in London’s West End.
 Nationalism isn’t bound by time or place. People from
other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain
essentially who they are. British society is itself an example
of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions,
arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!
Leaving sometimes isn’t a matter of choice. It’s coming
back that is. The Hobbits of the shire travelled all over
Middle Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every
sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or
the ‘returnees’ – those who followed their dream, yet
choose to return and share their mature talents and good
fortune.
 In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever
opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A
borderless world doesn’t preclude the idea of a home.
I’m a Filipino, and I’ll always be one. It isn’t about just
geography; it isn’t about boundaries. It’s about giving
back to the country that shaped me.
And that’s going to be more important to me than
seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas
morning.
 BREAK NA TAYO
Benjamin Escarcha Jr.

Kung isang araw, matagpuan akong

nakahandusay sa damuhan, duguan, balot
ng masking tape ang katawan, at
nakalakip ang isang karatulang nasusulat
ang katagang, “Mahal kita”, maniniwala
ka ba?”
 Ganito ang mga banat ko sa’yo dati. Kung noo’y
maipagsisigawan ko pang mahal kita, ngayo’y hindi na, dahil hindi
na’ko masaya, hindi mo naibigay ang aking gusto, at hindi ka
nagbago, tulad ng inaasahan ko, tulad ng ipinangako mo.
Hanggang sa kumalabit sa aking isip ang mga salitang “Ayoko na”
at ang salitang “Mahal” ay mabahiran ng gitlaping –in at
magkaroon ng anyong pang-nakaraan. Sa tingin ko, hanggang dito
na lang ang ating daan. Kaya heto ako ngayon, byahe patungong
dulo. Naglalakbay papuntang katapusan. Naglalayag papuntang
katapusan. Naglalayag sa lansangan upang tuldukan ang
pagmamahalang naging saksi ang dagat na tila may mga matang
nangungusap. Dahil nagtatapos sa tuldok ang lahat ng
pangungusap.
 Isang maulang gabi. Tila isinasadula ng kalikasan ang damdaming nais
ilabas ng aking puso, ang pagtangis. Lulan ako ng isang pampasehorong
bus, na sa hindi ko malamang kadahilanan ay may tugtuging puro awiting
makabayan. Habang ako tulala. Tumatagos ang mga titig sa salaming
pinagpipiyestahan ng mga patak ng ulan. Nakatingin sa kalawakan upang
hindi maisip ang iyong kawalan. Hanggang sa unti-unting bumagal ang
takbo ng bus at pumukaw sa aking atensyon ang mga taong
nagkukumpulan sa lansangan. Balot ng hiwaga ang mga mukha. Kaya
naman pala, isang lalaki ang natagpuang nakahandusay, duguan, balot ng
masking tape ang katawan, at may nakalakip na karatulang nasusulat ang
katagang “Pusher ako, ‘wag tularan”.
 Lungkot at awa ang una kong naramdaman,
ngunit hindi ko rin naiwasang pagmuni-munihan
kung gaano na kapambihira ang mga nangyayari
ngayon, na tila tayo ay namumuhay sa mundo ni
Doraemon, kung saaan ang isang pirasong
cardboard ay napakamakapangyarihan. Kaya nitong
mag-ala-Detective Conan. Maididikta nito ang buo
mong katauhan.
 Sa kabila ng aking pagkainosente puno ako ng takot na sa kahit
anong oras ay kitilin ako ng iyong mapanghusgang dila. Tulad ng
iba pang EJK victim, tinanggalan mo ako ng karapatang mabuhay
nang payapa. Nakakasakal. Para akong pinatay ng iyong mga
sakal.
Huminga na lang ako ng malalim. Patunay na sa kabila ng aking
pagkakasakal, pagkakasadlak, pagkakasadlak at pagkakasadlak,
buhay pa rin ako at may ibubuga pa. Tulad ng sinasakyan kong bus
na nagsimula na muling umandar sa normal nitong takbo, tuloy
pa rin ang byahe ko. Byahe ng realidad, dahil maipamumukha nito
sa’yo ang tunay na mukha ng bayan, at mapagtatanto kong ang
pag-ibig ko sa’yo ay pawang ilusyon lamang. Hanggang sa
nagsimulang tumugtog ang awiting “Bayan Ko” ni Freddie Aguilar.
 “Ang bayan kong Pilipinas, lupain ng ginto’t bulaklak…”
Para kang dinuduyan ng mga liriko at musika. Ang sarap
dumungaw sa bintana at pagmasdan ang yumi at gandang
tinutukoy sa kanta. Ngunit sa aking pagdungaw, ibang
larawan ng Pilipinas ang aking natanaw. Iba’t ibang larawan
ng isang bayang sadlak sa dusa. Mga nagkukumpulang
tagpi-tagping tirahan. Mga nanganganib ang kinabukasan.
Mga pamilyang sa araw araw ay kagutuman ang
pinagsasaluhan. May mga handang pumatay, handang
magpakamatay at handa nang mamatay dahil sa hirap ng
buhay. Ito ang mukha ng kahirapan. Ito ang larawan ng
katotohanan. Ito ang tunay na “Bayan Ko”.
 “Aking adhika, Makita kang sakdal laya…Hindi na napigilang
tumulo ng aking luha. Sa kanta kasing ito napakaraming
nakapaloob na gunita. Mga melody ng pagsubok at tagumpay,
ligaya at lumbay, hirap at kaginhawahan, kagipitan at kasaganahan.
Ito ang simbolo n gating pagmamahalan. At hanggang sa puntong
ang pagmamahalan na ito ay magtatapos na, umaalingawngaw pa
rin ang awitin nating dalawa. Tila nanunukso ang tadhana. Gusto ko
nang bumaba. Gusto ko nang magpaalam sa’yo sa huling
pagkakataon. Ngunit isang bagay ang pumipigil sa’kin mula sa
paggawa nito. Ang mabigat na daloy ng trapiko. Dahil dito, isang
bagay ang aking napagtanto. Na may pagkakatatulad kayo ng krisis
sa trapikong nararanasan araw-araw ng sambayanang Pilipino.
Ubos na ang pasensiya ko sa inyong dalawa.
Winning Works /Titles
1. Ayaw Ko ng Mabuhay sa Langit ( Paksa: Langit )
2. Dilaw ang Kulay ng Ulan ( Paksa: From Ninoy to Noynoy )
3. Tanging Hiling ( Paksa: Ondoy )
4. Goodbye, My Shooting Stars ( Topic: Death )
5. Last Supper ( Topic: End of the World )
6. Si Moses sa Makabagong Panahon
( Topic: Battling Corruption )