Feature Story Prep

Feature stories are a little bit of a new concept for me as a journalist. I am used to hard news stories where the facts come first. Feature stories do present fact, but also try to add humanity into them and try to hook the readers with emotion.

Profile stories, like the one I wrote this week, can sometimes be considered feature stories depending on how they are written. I think this was a good starting place for interjecting emotion into a news setting.

My profile story was centered around a small community politician and his emphasis on community and family. I think these things can hook the readers emotion.

However, for my feature story I plan to change the type of story. I have been looking into local businesses that have interesting beginnings, interesting behind the scenes, or provide services unlike those found anywhere else.

One business I have been looking into is the Bagel Exchange in Downtown Kingsport. This small café serves breakfast and lunch to the residents of Kingsport, but also has an interesting back story. The owner is a retired NYPD police officer who moved to Kingsport with his family, but the one thing they missed from New York was the bagels so they decided to make their own.

This may not be a real heart-wrenching story, but in my opinion, it is a really cool story to had a business came to be.

Another business I have had my eye on is Shades of Grace also located in Downtown Kingsport. This is United Methodist Congregation which was started as a church with the sole purpose of spreading the word of God to those who could not normally get it.

Since, it has become a haven for the homeless as 70 percent of the Sunday service participants live on the street. The business now also provides hot meals and clean clothes for the homeless throughout the rest of the week.

Now this is a heart-wrenching story. However, both really fascinate me.

Whatever I choose to write my feature story on, I know I should be able to tackle the new ideas of soft news stories after obtaining information and organizing the layout of the story.