PERSONALITY FEATURE

The personality feature is similar to other features in that it appeals to people's interest in other people. It normally points out special achievement, success or obstacles surmounted in life and centers on a particular event or achievement.

Personality features differ from other features in that they are almost always about a single individual. This type of feature gives interesting information about the person's life, rather than just the person's opinions. The properly written personality feature is a vivid word picture of the subject's personality traits and physical features as well as a description of the things that make the person unusual or interesting. The effective personality feature leaves readers feeling they have met the subject face to face and know that individual personally.

Research

Since the personality feature story delves so deeply into the subject's traits and physical features, considerable research is required. Most of the required information must be gathered through interviews. Conduct interviews with the subject and persons who intimately know the subject or have something to contribute. Some information can also be obtained from printed background material and from personal observations of friends and associates of the subject.

Personality features should contain the following information:

Biographical data. Use only that biographical data you feel is necessary to your story (i.e., age, hometown, parents' names, major duty assignments, time in service, marital status, etc.). Unimportant statistics and data tend to bog a story down and make for dry reading. The tone of a story usually dictates the amount of data required.

Description. Describe the person, the details of the setting, surroundings and general atmosphere.

Quotes. Use quotations from the interviewee in which that individual's principles for attaining success, and so forth, are related.

General accounting. Present a general sketch of personal achievement, success, and so forth, in the words of the interviewee or friends of that person.

Presentation of Information

In addition to the feature writing methods mentioned earlier in this chapter, personality features require a few techniques all their own. There are methods that can be used to enable you, as the writer, to make your readers feel they have met your subject face to face, heard that person speak, seen the individual act and know the thoughts or opinions and past life of the person. These methods are discussed in the following text:

Figure 3-1. - Subject of a personality feature in her environment.

?Telling of characteristic mannerisms and actions

Using direct quotations in a characteristic manner

Actually describing the subject's personal appearance, demeanor, facial expressions and dress in his or her environment (fig. 3-1)

Giving the opinions of others about the subject

Showing how friends and associates react to the subject

The following personality feature excerpts should help you see how some of the techniques are used:

Bryan Tyler of the station's imaging facility approaches his art seriously - with strong conviction and knowledge developed by extensive formal training and much practice.

He does not like photo contests but has won many. He would rather focus on the effects of people than photograph people themselves - but does both well. ...

Tyler is a sensitive artist who why he takes photographs. ...

"I like taking peopleless photographs that relate directly to man either by content or implication," as Tyler puts it.

During a tour of duty in Washington, the lanky Virginian worked primarily with official portraits.

"It can be frustrating shooting portraits," emphasizes Tyler as he strokes his bushy black hair. "Everyone dressed the same with his only identity worn on his sleeve and placed in the same sterile environment. The portraits I keep, and feel satisfied with, show people in their own environment, or in a meaningful situation, hopefully conveying some insight into the subject."

"In Petty Officer Tyler, I think we have one of the Navy's finest," said his commanding officer, Capt. Rose Grosbeak. "There's not one person here who doesn't feel that way about Bryan."

Tyler finds stimulation and excitement in searching for and producing meaningful photographs, even in the most mundane jobs. ...

"Photography should never end," Tyler reflects. "All you should do is change subjects and fulfill some meaningful purpose, either to me or to the person for whom I am shooting."

The material presented here gives the beginning feature writer a start in the right direction. Writing courses, taken from time to time, can help. Criticism from experienced feature writers and editors is a great aid. Studying the work of other writers, as mentioned earlier, is a fine guide to improvement. Reading about writing alone, however, never taught anyone to write. Like the disciplines of newswriting, the art of feature writing is learned by doing - by writing.

Figure 3-2 . - A speech story features something not officially disclosed before.

military personnel. This fact goes into the lead as depicted in the following text:

"All active-duty military personnel will get a four percent pay increase January 1," said Defense Secretary Justin N. Case in a speech before the National Press Club last night.

Merely that a speaker appeared before an audience has very little story merit. The speaker must say something newsworthy - something that has not been officially disclosed before. This normally happens when a speaker appears before the media in a news conference (fig. 3-2).

The subject title of the speech is rarely important enough to become part of the lead. Speech titles are usually catch phrases that reveal very little about what is the most important part of the story. For example, when the President of the United States speaks, the lead features what he said in the following manner:

"The president, in a major speech tonight, called for another tax cut. ..."