Advances

I have three advances I want you to read. Look at how they let readers know about upcoming events. The key for these types of stories is to not bore the reader with a basic recitation of what is happening and where. You should try to find a story there somehow.

Little known portrait photographers captured small-town life more than a century ago

Boatload of racers lures spectators to shore

Tractors help cultivate appreciation for country life

Read these stories and then do some research into what campus events you could write an advance about.

Welcome to Feature Writing

Welcome to JDM 320 Feature Writing. I will use this blog to distribute assigned readings throughout the semester. Each week, we will discuss a different type of feature writing, ranging from event advances to service features to profiles. I will post the stories I want you to read sometime the week before we will start discussing them, so bookmark this blog and check it frequently.

Readings for Spring 2011

The Last Patrol, by Brian Mockenhaupt, in The Atlantic

The Runaway Doctor, by Buzz Bissinger, in Vanity Fair

The Dirtiest Player, by Jason Fagone, in GQ

Master of Play: The many worlds of a video-game artist, by Nick Paumgarten, in The New Yorker

Innocence Lost, by Pamela Colloff, in TexasMonthly.com

American Grotesque, by John Jeremiah Sullivan, in GQ

The Biggest Little Man in the World, by Andrew Corsello, in GQ

Growing up Gaga, by Vanessa Grigoriadis, in New York Magazine

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde, by Mark Bowden, in Vanity Fair

How to Fall 35,000 Feet — And Survive, by Dan Koeppel, in Popular Mechanics

Vertigo: At sea with Javier Bardem, by Chris Jones, in Esquire

Eleven Lives, by Tom Junod, in Esquire

Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds, by Michael Lewis, in Vanity Fair

Believeland, by Wright Thompson, ESPN.com

Roger Ebert: The Essential Man, by Chris Jones, in Esquire

The Brain That Changed Everything, by Luke Dittrich, in Esquire

The Boy Who Died Of Football, by Thomas Lake, in Sports Illustrated