Not the Killing but Why

"Writing a feature story, you have to use all your fiction-writing skills except making things up, then you have to make the fictional techniques work with the information you've gathered and the commentary you've managed to come up with." --Beverly Lowry

It pays to know how to write creatively, no matter what genre/field of writing you're in. I remember taking an intro to journalism class my freshman year and thinking, "Well, I don't want this to be my major. I could have written you a piece with no personality without this class." After my first creative writing class, it all became clear to me what I really needed to do to grow as a writer. I've heard a quote (and many quotes like it) that says, "Fiction is telling the truth truer." When you create fiction, you have to examine all the things that make life extraordinary and present that to the reader. You have to cut down to the bare minimum and help the reader see what you see. It's the same for writing a feature story, except with all true events. I think a lot of journalists who haven't written much fiction probably have very bland voices--the voices of a newspaper one-size-fits-all writing formula. Reading certain publications would be so much easier and enjoyable if writers would use all their skills, even the ones that aren't traditionally associated with their present genre.