• Write your feature with the idea that you will try to get it published. Don’t include material that will appear “dated” or as if it’s “old news” a few weeks from now. If your feature is about an event that is coming up, mention the date and time of the event high in the story.
• Do NOT lead with a sweeping, unreported generalization; plunge right into the reported material
• Describe/SHOW vs. Tell
• The more reporting, the better. You can’t make up for a lack of reporting by trying to write cleverly. You need several voices, so that you’re not going back to the same source for more than a couple or so paragraphs. Every page should have a lively, dynamic mix of voices – not just one person!
• Eliminate wordiness! Do NOT repeat anything!!
• Paraphrase or rewrite rather than using parentheses/brackets. You should only need to use parentheses once or twice a year – NOT once or twice in a single paper.
• Keep quotes short so that they have a greater impact. Paraphrase!!
• Don’t jam together, spliced by a comma, two complete and unrelated sentences. For instance, don’t say something like, “Wearing her black moccasins, Jane Doe is a graduate of UMass.” Avoid getting into traps like this by using SVO.
Example introductions:
“Wires, computer chips and various other electronic parts cluttered the nearly empty UNOCCUPIED? rows of workstations in the basement laboratoryGOOD SPECIFIC LOCATION; ESTABLISHES THE PLACE WHERE THIS SCENE TRANSPIRED of Marcus Hall at UMass Amherst on a recent Thursday evening.GOOD – PLACES THE SCENE IN TIME Among the mishmash of components and equipment GOOD VISUALS; AS THOUGH THE STUDENTS ARE OUTSIZED BY THE EQUIPMENT sat four students, focused intently on the prototype in front of them.GOOD VISUAL With their April 8 deadline looming, GOOD PLACES THIS IN TIME; ESTABLISHES THAT THIS IS CURRENT, NEWSWORTHYthe group was making the final adjustments to their Senior Design Project – a football helmet fitted with a real-time concussion analyzer.” IF IT WERE A MOVIE, THE CAMERA WOULD NOW ZOOM IN ON THE OBJECT AT THE CENTER OF THE STORY
Max Nowak pauses in front of a door, DOOR IS SPECIFIC, CONCRETE, VISUALloud music and shrieking voices emitting from the room. He bangs on the door and says, “RA’s on duty!” The room plunges into silence as a nervous resident cracks open the door. CHEERFUL TONE Nowak reminds him of quiet hours and recommends that everyone calm down. It’s just a warning – for now. INTRO PLUNGES US INTO THE ACTION/SCENE
The following is an example from a previous class:
(Permission was received to post the following piece.)
Jessica Troland
Craig’s Place: A Shelter From the World
Southwest is loud and shouts are echoing. Phillips Street is blasting music. To students at UMass, this is a typical Friday night and the walk to the Phillips frat houses is simply part of the routine. What they don’t realize is that on the corner of North Pleasant, in the back of the First Baptist Church, there is a line of homeless men and women waiting to see if they will have a place to sleep tonight.
Opening its doors for service in November and remaining open every night of the week until April 30, Craig’s Place is a seasonal shelter that provides homeless men and women with a warm place to rest their heads. From the hours of 9:30 p.m. to 8:30a .m., homeless men and women in the Amherst area have a bed to call their own, even if that bed is only a small cot with a tattered blanket and pillow.
Craig's Place is named after a late, local homeless man, who once said that he just wanted a door he "could close." It can be a heartbreaking place, but staff say they would never change their job for any other in the world.
At 9:23 on a recent Friday night the doors to Craig’s homeless shelter have not yet opened. Outside is a line of about 15 people, all there for the same reason: to claim a bed.
At 9:30, the line disappears and the men and women are finally welcomed into the entrance of the shelter. They process down a long hallway. One by one, they check in at a second doorway where a staff member is waiting for them. Here is where they claim their cot for the night. They enter into a large open room. Sixteen cots are spread throughout. For tonight, this is home.
There are two long tables in the front of the room. In the center of each table sits a bowl of fruit. A volunteer begins to make rounds at each of the dining tables. Grilled cheese sandwiches, some warm soup and hot coffee are offered. These three items are offered every night without fail, and they are free.
Some guests take seats at the tables and begin to eat. Some look through magazines or chat with friends and for others, it's straight to bed.
The shelter works on a first come first served basis. If guests arrive before 10pm they are admitted and given a bed. This bed is guaranteed to them every night for as long as they like provided they show up by 10p .m. After that, the bed is fair game and can be given away to someone else. Along with a bed, guests are provided with a bin to store any belongings have with them. Blankets and pillows are provided but there are not always enough to go around so some guests bring their own. Their bedding can stay in their assigned bin all day while the guests are out so they don’t have to carry it around with them.
In a situation where there are more guests than there are beds, Craig’s Place makes calls to other shelters around the area to try and find somewhere for those guests to sleep.
“If we can’t house them, we try to find somewhere else for them to go. We give them a bus pass if the busses are still running or we have a taxi service that has offered to be on call to bring them to other shelters,” says Jennifer Blair, a staff member at Craig’s place.
Blair started working at Craig’s place this January.
“You can’t walk away from this unchanged,” she says.
“People have a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about the homeless. A lot of the times the homeless are just viewed as part of the sidewalk. It’s about seeing people as people," she said.
The shelter may be free for the homeless but it does not survive without the generosity of others.
There are about 50 to 100 volunteers who volunteer here, and about 78 paid staff members, said Blair.
“For Easter we had a cook come in a donate an Easter dinner. Some nights we decide to do a pizza night and order pizza, and on some mornings, a short order cook will come in and cook eggs made to order,” said Blair.
The shelter has a donation list on its website where people wishing to contribute can see what is needed. The list is long with just about every item one can possibly imagine.
However, not all donations are as helpful as they may seem.
“We once had a donation of bags and bags of conditioner. Just conditioner. It’s nice to have but you can’t wash hair with it,” said Blair.
“People often forget that homeless people are people too.”
Anthony, a guest staying at the shelter, reflected on his past times at other shelters and the donations they received as well.
“Someone donated about 50 cigarette papers. Just the papers,” said Anthony.
To many in the middle class society that surrounds the shelter, an Easter dinner or an egg in the morning, and a warm article of clothing is simply part of life. But to the people at Craig’s Place, these necessities can be the difference between life and death, Blair said.
Craig’s place adopted its name from a case just like this.
“There was a guest who went by the name of Craig and used the shelter. He had slept at the shelter then one day after he left he died on the street during the day,” said Blair.
Since then the shelter has been named Craig’s Place and is run through an organization called Craig’s Doors.
According to the organizations website, Craig once expressed the wish to simply “have a door he could close.” Since then, the shelter has done just that for homeless all around the area.
Craig’s place is the nearest shelter to Amherst, the next closest is in Northampton.
The shelter also has a unique guest policy: Good behavior. That’s all there is to it.
“Many places require referrals from guests, we don’t. As long as they have good behavior they can stay here. For a lot of people, Craig’s place is a last resort because of this. They may have nowhere else to go, so this is the last stop,” says Blair.
A man slides his knife across the table and Blair catches it with a swift motion.
“Thank you!” she says.
“That’s another policy we have. All alcohol, drugs and weapons have to be turned in. They can have them back when they leave in the morning but they have to hand them over for the night.” says Blair.
For the most part, turning in their illicit possessions at the door is not a problem.
“A there have been a few instances where behavior was an issue, some bickers but for the most part they were all sorted out. Humor is a lifesaver at this job,” says Dave O’Shea, another staff member at the shelter.
It’s now close to 11pm and O'Shea takes the guests out for a smoke break. For staff member such a O’Shea, smoke break is a chance to get to know the guests.
Outside on the back steps, Tom, Nora, Sherman and a few others sit and enjoy their cigarettes.
First there is Tom. With a decently put together appearance, he actually seems more like a volunteer at the shelter than he does a guest. He is friendly and socializes easily with any guest who approaches him. Born in Massachusetts, he is no stranger to the area, especially since his mother lives in Springfield, Mass.
“My parents split up when I was a kid, I chose to stay on the Yankee side,” says Tom.
Tom, for the most part, still keeps in touch with his family.
“Our family’s good, close, we love each other.” says Tom.
Most of Tom’s smoke break conversation is spent reminiscing on his drunken first days of homelessness.
“For the first few nights [of being homeless] I don’t even remember where I slept or how I got there. All I remember is drinking an entire bottle by myself,” says Tom.
“I brought this [homelessness] on myself,” he says.
“I’m fine now but come back in a few weeks when this place is about to close and you’ll see how I am then,” says Tom.
Next is Nora. Dressed in an all white winter coat, Nora’s tiny figure stands out among the tattered clothing of the rest of the group. Her coat is pure white, almost as if it has never been worn.
Her face is wrinkled and her large eyes look tired. Nora has had a long day. She’s been in the hospital all day and tonight is her first night back at the shelter in almost two weeks.
“It’s cancer,” she says in a soft voice. This explains her frequent hospital visits.
Everyone on staff in the shelter has noticed her absence and has been worried about her. The word cancer does nothing to ease their worries.
Tom playfully lends Nora a light and gives her a smile.
Sherman is last to join the group. It’s late and Sherman is just arriving to the shelter. He is immediately is welcomed in. Sherman has just been arrested.
“Its amazing how being homeless almost seems like it’s a crime nowadays,” says Kevin Noonan, director of the shelter. Sherman’s news was appalling to him.
Sherman is offered and accepts a quick smoke when he arrives, then heads inside to get some shuteye. One by one, they all start to trickle in.
Craig’s Place can be seen as so much more than a shelter.
“There is definitely a large sense of community here,” says Blair, “Its almost like a family in some ways, all the guests get to know each other and the staff becomes familiar with them all too.”
Blair knows almost every guest by name.
However, every family has its ups and downs.
“There is a sense of heartbreak in this job,” says O’Shea.
“Sometimes you see a person for two weeks straight then they just disappear and sometimes you find out they died. It’s really heartbreaking, especially because you tend to grow to care about these people and get to know them,” says O’Shea.
Staff member Rebekah Wilder agreed with O’Shea.
“I’ll see someone then they’ll disappear and you just wonder, ‘where have they been? Where have they been going?’ Then they’ll pop up again and its just like ‘where have you been??’” says Wilder
No matter how heartbreaking it may be, Craig’s Place staff members Blair, Wilder and O’Shea all agree that they would never trade their jobs for anything the world.
It’s almost 12am. The shelter is quiet and almost every bed is full. A caring staff watches over the guests as they slumber and the kitchen is cleaned in preparation for the mornings breakfast. No one knows what tomorrow will bring for the 16 sleeping in the basement of the First Baptist Church in Amherst, but for now, they may sleep soundly.
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