Pain. Pain is something that no matter how young or old you are, you feel. From falling over in a play ground to breaking a leg in a car accident. We cannot control pain and we cannot avoid pain. The International Association for the Study of Pain’s widely used definition defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”. Pain can be physical to the extent of bleeding or broken bones or pain can be mental, where it eats you up from the inside. Studies show that physical pain can be healed over time whereas mental and emotional pain is sometimes never healed and can effect a person for a lifetime.
John Green wrote in The Fault In Our Stars “That’s the thing about pain, it demands to be felt.” Pain is unavoidable. It is inevitable. We have learnt the hard way that sometimes the people that appear the happiest are most likely the loneliest and saddest behind closed doors, using Robin Williams as an example, a man loved by everyone, someone who could make even the grumpiest of people laugh, was indeed a very depressed man and eventually it killed him.
We have no choice in the matter regarding experiencing pain, but sometimes it can make us stronger, it can make us fight harder, it can make you stand up and carry on. Its very easy to fall into a dark place and allow pain to overcome you, but to find the positivity in pain is where the power lies. Some of the most successful people in this world have gotten to where they are today by experiencing struggle and pain but persevered to achieve their dreams.
M. Kathleen Casey once said “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”
The difference between a news article and a feature article is that a news article gives us fact on what has happened, for example “A man set fire to his bicycle outside of his work today.” A feature article explores the circumstances of the arson in detail. What was the lead-up to the incident? Had something provoked this risk-taking behaviour?
A news reporter lays out the facts of what happened and can also include the reactions of other parties, whereas a feature writer explores the information deeper, spending more time on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of what happened.
Evaluation:
I feel that I have learnt more about the ways in which to write a news article and a feature article from this session as before I was unclear of the purposes of each writer. I will now understand the difference between the two and use the styles of writing in my work. I have also found it difficult to write a news article and struggled to do so and I believe practise on both of the articles would benefit me for the future.
Very good work – considering you did this in an evening it shows a real talent. It has an interesting hook – although you could play with different intros/hooks – a good use of quotes and an attempt to structure a story in a way that lends solutions – I like that, although a feature may go deeper into investigating mental health and how it has been ignored (what has happened up to now), what s being done presently about it, and how this may change in the future. .
There are more differences between the news article and the feature that I would like you to explore: for instance the newswriting piece/article/report uses the Inverted Pyramid (important information first and descending in order of importance) where as the feature is more structured like a short story. The structure of a feature still requires a great hook/lead that draws the reader in: you then explore the present situations (what has happened up to know) and what is being done about it and possibly any change that may be taking place. It closes/concludes by referring to the opening and body but equally can leave us with a question or some of the answers – depends on the investigation –
The biggest difference is that a newswriting report goes out on the day or that week – it is happening now: A feature on the other hand can come out at any time – it can sit on the shelf for a while – as long as it is relevant to the contemporary world. It has happened, but here we explore the ins-and outs of the story in more depth.
Best way of understanding is to read a few and watch how different journalist have different styles of wring but still adhere to the rules.
Can you makes sure you give each blog post an introduction: e.g. for this one
In this blog I an exploring he differences between newswriting and feature writing and demonstrating by wiring a feature – you then answer this in some way in the evaluations.
LikeLike