Guides
Part of Feature writing: a practical guide from reporting to ending
How to report, build, and verify scenes in a magazine feature
Report a feature scene from a written record of time, place, action, dialogue and viewpoint, then verify every factual sentence before it goes to press.
What to take away
- A scene is action unfolding in a stated time and place, and it earns its space only by changing the story.
- Build each scene from a written record of time, place, participants, action, dialogue and viewpoint before you draft a line.
Collect a scene record
To report, build, and verify scenes in a magazine feature, fill a worksheet for each candidate scene before you write prose.
Scene record worksheet fields
- Time and placewhat fixes the moment?
- Participantswho was present, who confirms?
- Actionwhat happened in sequence?
- Dialoguerecorded, noted, documented, or recalled?
- Detailwho observed object, sound, gesture?
- Viewpointwhose experience does it establish?
- Disputewhich facts or interpretations differ?
- Purposewhat changes because scene appears?
| Field | What to record | Filled example |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Clock time, date, or sequence cue. | 6:40 a.m., Tuesday |
| Place | Room, street, weather, light, and who could see. | Loading bay, rain, two drivers |
| Participants | Names, roles, and who spoke. | Maya, shift lead; Dan, driver |
| Action | What happened first, next, last. | Dan checked the seal, then signed |
| Dialogue | Exact words or a note that they are recalled. | "Seal was intact." Recalled by Maya |
| Records | Logs, messages, photos, timesheets. | Gate log, text at 6:42 |
| Viewpoint | Whose eyes and what they knew. | Maya's view only |
| Gap | What remains unknown and how you say so. | Dan's reason for delay |
A filled row is not proof. It is a reporting plan. If a field stays blank, either report it out or write the scene without that claim.
Interview for sequence, not conclusion. Ask what happened immediately before and after, where each person stood, what they did next, and which records could confirm a time or a wording. Confidence is not accuracy.
Build the scene around movement
Open when the action starts. Leave when its work is done. Keep the chronology legible.
Build the scene around movement
- Open when the action starts
- Keep the chronology legible
- Show changedecision, problem, evidence shift
- Let static description orient only
- Leave when the scene's work is done
Worked before and after
Before: The meeting was tense. People argued about the schedule.
After: At 9:10 a.m., Dana slid the timeline across the table. "We lose two days if we ship Friday," she said. The room went quiet.
The after passage states time, action, a speaker, and a consequence. The before passage states a conclusion. The after passage earns the tension through observable action. The quote is exact only if a recording or note supports it. If Dana recalled the words later, write that the words were recalled.
Source: The Journalist's Resource feature writing course guide.
The scene's unit is change. A decision is made, a problem appears, evidence shifts, a relationship is revealed, a consequence lands. Static description orients the reader. It cannot carry a whole scene.
Control viewpoint and knowledge
Do not write another person's unspoken thoughts as fact. Interior experience needs an attributed basis: an interview, diary, message, contemporaneous note, or recording. When the account rests on later recollection, say so where it matters. Avoid a camera-like viewpoint that moves through locked rooms or private moments without explaining its source.
Verify the completed scene
- Annotate each factual sentence with its source
- Check chronology against records
- Confirm names and physical descriptions
- Separate observed fact from interpretation
- Put disputed claims to the other side
- Ask if scene implies unsupported certainty
Dialogue gets the same treatment. Use exact quotation only when the wording is supported. Otherwise paraphrase or cut. Never improve a quote for dramatic effect.
Source: The Associated Press news values introduction on accuracy, quotations, and visual content.
Place background without breaking the scene
Place background where the reader needs it. A short explanatory passage can say why an action matters, then hand the reader back to the scene. Use a concrete time or place cue when you shift to another moment. If a flashback runs several paragraphs, reorient the reader on the return.
Verify the completed scene
Annotate each factual sentence with its source. Check chronology against records. Confirm names and physical descriptions. Separate observed fact from interpretation. Put disputed claims to the other side. Read the scene alone and ask whether it implies more certainty or access than the reporting supports.
Common questions
Can one source reconstruct an entire scene?
Sometimes, but corroborate anything contested, distant or consequential. Where a single account is all you have, attribute the scene to that person in the text rather than presenting it as settled.
Should weather and room details always appear?
Only when verified and useful to action, orientation, meaning, or mood grounded in fact. A detail that does none of those jobs is decoration, and decoration invites the reader to doubt the rest.
Can chronology be compressed?
Summary can compress time, but it should not make separate events look simultaneous. If two things happened a week apart, the sentence has to say so.
How many scenes does a feature need?
There is no fixed number. A common working range is three to five scenes for a 2,000-word feature and five to eight for a 4,000-word feature. A single scene often runs 250 to 600 words.
The count depends on the structural jobs the story needs. Each scene should perform a distinct structural job, and a scene that repeats the work of another is a cut.
