Kraft 1: Getting Started
Kraft 2: Finding Ideas
My reading score: I read 100 percent of the assigned chapters carefully
- Kraft (2019) says, “To determine whether an idea is worth writing, think like the readers you wish to serve” (Kraft, 2019, p. 9)
- “The key to finding features is to understand what gives an idea ‘feature value’, basically, why people would care enough to read a story about this topic” (Kraft, 2019, p. 10)
- Kraft (2019) writes that everything seems ordinary until it is seen through fresh eyes—which it then becomes extraordinary. (p. 14)
- While it does not matter what the motivation is behind a story pitch, “what is crucial is that the story idea you develop and the publication you pitch are a perfect marriage” (Kraft, 2019, p. 24)
Kraft (2019) says, “The key to finding features is to understand what gives an idea ‘feature value’, basically, why people would care enough to read a story about this topic” (p. 10). I find this idea very fascinating as I feel most writers, as Kraft previously stated, simply write what they are passionate about—not necessarily what the readers will find interesting. Readers’ interest, however, is a crucial factor in newswriting and I appreciate that Kraft pointed that out. Without the readers caring about the feature, the writing will never be read and thus lose all purpose to begin with. I believe this is what separates newswriting from writing for that of a novel, for example, since novels are written to exist while features are written to be read. I will keep this in mind when choosing a feature.
References
Kraft, N. (2019). Writing fabulous features. The Ohio State University Pressbooks.
Ellen Batty 