After reading 2 articles from the “Welcome To The Features Department”, my view of feature writing was changed. For example, Donald Murray was very intriguing in the way he explained how feature writers need to predict the news that’ll happen “days, weeks, months, and years ahead”. Not only that, he explained that the lead is not only the most important thing in a feature story, but rather the conclusion as well. That the ending gives a sense of completion to the story. Christopher Scanlan also gave a different approach when he wrote the story “A Day in the Life of a Feature Writer” ; as to what a writer thinks, does, and eventually writes. I found them both very helpful and appealing.

After reading Mrs. Kelly’s Monster by Jon Franklin, my view of feature writing has changed. I didn’t realize how much vivid detail could go into a journalistic type story. I was in awe at Franklin’s attention to detail; such as the exact time something happened, or how he demonstrated Mrs. Kelly’s heart beat with “pops”. Not only that, I was very intrigued when you couldn’t tell what the story was going to be about right away — how he built the suspense. As opposed to a news style article where you know exactly what the article is going to be about in the first sentence.