Writing Feature Articles - Notebooks And Files
Every writer who is on the lookout for subjects and sources of material should keep a notebook constantly at hand.
Subjects suggested by everyday experiences, by newspaper and magazine reading, are likely to be forgotten unless they are recorded at once. A small notebook that can be carried in the pocket or in a woman’s hand-bag is most convenient. Besides topics for articles, the titles of books, reports, bulletins, and other publications mentioned in conversation or in newspapers, should be jotted down as possible sources of material.
Facts and figures from publications may be copied for future use. Good titles and interesting methods of treatment that you’ve observed in the work of others may prove helpful in suggesting titles and methods for your own articles. Separate sections of even a small notebook may conveniently be set aside for all of these various points. Keeping a notebook is like keeping a dairy: once you start keeping one you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it!
Don’t forget your mobile phone. Most mobiles nowadays have built in cameras and video if you come across an interesting idea, just don’t note it down in your notebook take a snap of it - a picture is really worth a thousand words.
Filing Material. For an article to be useful it has to be researched and this calls for a methodical approach on behalf of the author, for this reason some form of filling system is essential.
Filing does not have to be an expensive undertaking, it can be achieved through nothing more expensive than a number of stout manilla envelopes, or maybe you’d prefer a selection of coloured files, or box files. Any of those will do as long as they are large enough to take newspaper, magazine, printed reports, and photographs.
If a writer has many of these files, a one-drawer filing case will serve to keep them in good order. By constantly gathering material from newspapers, magazines, and printed reports, he will soon find that he has collected a considerable amount of information on which to base his articles
The personal computer or notebook is an essential tool for the modern day writer. Excess to the internet is almost taken for granted. As you build up material you might want to put it onto computer for easy retrieval, a good free flowing database that I’ve found useful over the years is http://www.asksam.com/
And that’s it. Over the past few days I hope I’ve convinced you that there is a great deal of material out there that can be turned into profital special feature articles. With a little practice, and some imagination there is no reason why you should not make a good part time income from writing these special feature articles.
