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454 STUDENTBMJ | VOLUME 12 | DECEMBER 2004 careers

One of the hardest things about writing a
feature, rather like telling a good story, is
knowing how to begin. Imagine you are
just back from a trip to China and are off
to meet your friends to tell them all about
it. Unless you and your friends are trainspotters, the last
thing you would do would be to tell them the time and
type of every train you took to get from A to B. Instead,
you would tell them an amusing or exciting anecdote
about what happened while you were there.
Similarly, when starting to write a feature, you need to
grab your reader’s attention, to make them want to stop
whatever they are doing and to listen to what you have to
say.
But although finding that “hook” is one of the hardest
aspects of feature writing, it is only one element of what
makes a good feature writer. Before you even start typing,
think about how you are going to achieve your goal of
communicating to your audience in a way that—to cite the
guiding principles of the BBC—educates, informs, and
entertains.
Know your reader
Writing a feature for the studentBMJ is a far cry from
writing an essay for your tutor. The tone is different; the
style is different. A feature can be written in a less formal
more conversational way.
Writing for an audience of medical students is going to
be different again from writing for qualified doctors,
readers of a women’s magazine, or the readers of the Sun
(a British tabloid) newspaper. Remember to use points of
reference that will be meaningful to your audience.
There’s little point alluding to a recent trip you have
made in your Saab, for example, if your audience is more
likely to be using a bicycle (box 1).
The style of feature
Features come in many guises. The studentBMJ has its
own particular “slots,” each with their own character.
Check these by reading the magazine or looking at the
guidelines to authors, which are available on
studentbmj.com.
Make sure you know what type of feature you are
writing. If you are pitching an idea to a magazine that you
do not read, buy a copy first to get an idea of the style of
its various features (box 2).
A profile needs to give more of an idea of the individual
you are interviewing—concentrate on their personality
and what is interesting about them, rather than
running chronologically through their CV. The profile
should contain lots of quotes from the person, as well as
some of your own personal observations. Tape the interview
rather than just relying on your notes (box 3).
Prepare your questions in advance, but be prepared to
be flexible if the conversation takes a different turn in the
interview. You may miss an important point just because
you stick rigidly to your preplanned questions.
If you are writing about your personal experience you
will need to be quite open. Try to keep the tone straightforward
and conversational. You are trying to communicate
here, not show off your ability to regurgitate long
words from the Oxford English Dictionary (box 4).
News features give background to a current news issue.
Even though the subject matter may on the face of it be
quite dull, you have to try to make it interesting. It is
important to remember that these are not opinion pieces.
Even though you may have a strong personal opinion on
the subject you are writing about, you should always
remain impartial, fair, and accurate. Get quotes from
others—preferably experts in the field—that back up the
arguments you are trying to make (and be prepared to
change your mind if the experts do not agree with you).
News features should be authoritative and based on
facts that you have checked and can substantiate. If the
information is unclear, check it. Do not be afraid to look
stupid. You will look even more stupid if you just regurgitate
nonsense.
Leaders, editorials, and other opinion pieces also fall
within the “feature” category. You will most likely be asked
to write one of these if you have a particular expertise in
the area concerned. Even then, you should be able to
support opinions with fact (box 5).
The brief
Make sure you and your commissioning editor are clear
about what they are expecting you to submit. Check with
them what sort of tone they want. Something serious? Or
is it a lighter, more humorous piece? If possible, confirm
the brief, including the word count, and deadline by
email.
Once you have agreed a brief, stick to it. Do not write
more, or less, words than you are asked for. Always make
sure you deliver your copy on time—and be prepared to
answer any queries about it after that.
Doing your research
You may well be asked to write on something you have
only the haziest notion about. If so, a Google search is
usually a good place to start. And even if you do think
you know about it, you should do a bit more research.
If you are investigating a medical story, you might want
to look into search engines such as Pubmed central,
which can be viewed direct through a link from specific
articles on bmj.com. And you can check out many stories
through the search engines on national newspaper or the
BBC’s websites.
Make sure to get an expert to comment. This is always
going to carry more gravitas than merely repeating information
from the internet or your lecture notes. It also
helps break up the narrative pace of the article, so is a
good stylistic device (box 7).
The difficulty with research is to know when to stop. You
might like to read 10 other papers you have just discovered
on the topic in the last half hour, but if you only have two
hours left to write the piece, you sometimes just have to
accept you cannot do that. As a feature writer you have to
become an instant expert and rarely have time to get
involved at the level you would in academic research.
Plan your research time carefully, leave time for people
to call you back, and leave time to write and polish your
final result. There is nothing worse than rushing an article
up to deadline, sending it in with lots of mistakes, and
never getting another commission from that magazine
again.
How to write
a good
feature
Wannabe writers often email the studentBMJ asking how
to write a feature. Experienced journalist Lynn Eaton
gives the lowdownRemember, too, to make a note of where you found the
information you are using in the piece. You may need to
find it again if there is a query about it from your editor.
The introduction
An anecdote, or an interesting observation, or even a
clever play on words will often make a good introduction.
Sometimes a direct quote will do the trick. Try to avoid the
plodding “once upon a time” style.
One of the other classic pitfalls is to make a sweeping
generalisation that does not, in fact, stand up to scrutiny.
The last thing you want is for your reader to start taking
issue with you in your first paragraph.
It is worth spending time on your introductory paragraph.
Play around with ideas and images until you hit on
one that works. But do not wait for the perfect intro before
you start writing. Sometimes you just need to get it down
on paper, then hone the introduction later.
Keep it coming
Your reader has a million and one reasons to do
something other than spend the next 10 minutes reading
your article. Why should they bother?
This is where your art as a writer comes in. Unlike news
stories, where there is a standard formula to follow,1
features can, and should, be more creative if they are to
keep the reader’s attention.
I would liken a well written news feature to an interesting
but well signposted walk through a wood. Firstly,
your reader chooses to go on it with you. You lead them
through the argument, pointing out useful pieces of information
about the trees and scenery along the way. You will
answer questions in the reader’s mind about where you
are taking them next, and vary the pace every so often, so
that they do not get bored or tired.
The golden rule is not to lose them in a fog of confusing
information, nor to take them on a long, arduous ramble
they weren’t prepared for. And you should never waste
their time by leading them up a blind alley.
Sometimes when you start writing, you find you can’t
see the wood for the trees—a common problem with
complex features. Whether or not this happens, it is a
good idea before you start to jot down the main message,
then the other points you want to make, almost like an
essay plan. Work out how you get from one point to
another—and decide which bits are unnecessary and can
be cut.
Happy endings
A good ending is almost as difficult as a good beginning.
Unlike news stories, where the ending is cut if space is
short, a good feature should end on a positive, or
uplifting, note.
It may reiterate a theme in the introduction, or return to
an analogy which runs throughout the feature. But it
should not—unlike for an essay—be a summary of your
piece.
It should, rather like taking an exciting trip abroad,
leave the reader with a sense of having travelled successfully
from A to B, of having been returned home safely,
but better informed as a result—all without ever having
moved from their chair.
Lynn Eaton freelance journalist, London
1 Eaton L. Hold the front page. studentBMJ 2003;11:401.
studentbmj.com 455
careers
First person features still need to grab the reader’s attention. This introduction,
which later explains that the author is taking part in a drug trial,
certainly does that. The reader, not knowing why she has this complaint, is
immediately wondering what is wrong with her.“As I coughed up blood in the
shower for the fourth time that morning, I thought once again ‘why am I
doing this to myself’?”
Box 4: Grab your reader’s attention
You should, in general, try to avoid sweeping generalisations that you cannot
substantiate—although you can get away with it more easily if you are
writing more of an opinion piece, as with this introduction from Raj
Persaud.“One of the enormous but unspoken realities about the practice of
medicine is that most doctors are basically bored by their jobs.”
Because Persaud is an expert, and a doctor, we can assume he is saying
this from some kind of knowledge or authority—not that he is just voicing his
own personal feelings.
Box 5: Sweeping generalisation or justified personal
opinion?
Hicks W, Adams S, Gilbert H. Writing for journalists.
London: Routledge, 1999
Further reading
Getting direct quotes is essential for a good feature. To find an expert, try a
search on Google. Or if that does not work go to bmj.com and put the
subject you are researching in the search engine. You will soon find a list of
recent articles and will be able to pull out the names of a few relevant
experts—along with their email addresses.
Email is often the most effective way of approaching an academic. But if
they do not respond to your email, try calling their secretary to arrange a
convenient time to talk to them by telephone.
Box 7: Getting those quotes
There is always a danger, with a profile, of just telling the reader about the
person’s CV. The first version below did not appear in print; the second
did. Which would you want to read more of?John Reid, health secretary,
was appointed to the post in June after the unexpected resignation of his
predecessor Alan Milburn.It came as a huge surprise to everyone—not
least, John Reid himself—when he was appointed health secretary after
Alan Milburn’s unexpected resignation in June. According to the Mail on
Sunday, the reaction of the former Northern Ireland secretary was, “Oh
[bleep] , it’s health.”
Box 3: Making profiles more interesting
Think about the features that you have read and enjoyed, whether it was a
piece in a national newspaper, your favourite magazine, or even the last
issue of studentBMJ. What made you want to read it in the first place? How
did the intro grab you? And what makes you carry on reading it? Is it the
clever phrases used by the writer? The fact you know you can believe what
they have told you? The fact they make you laugh? Finally, were you
convinced by the argument? Has it made any difference to what you think
about the topic? Would you save the article, or suggest someone else read
it? And how does the style differ in a professional journal to a piece in a
woman’s magazine?
Box 2: Finding out what works where
It is always good to write an introduction that is likely to resonate with your
audience’s own experience. This one in the studentBMJ by Keri Michele
Lodge, works because she alludes to the long hours a doctor works.“I’m on
call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round,” says Chris Davies.
“No, Chris Davies is not an overworked doctor. He is one of 5.9 million
carers.”

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