Feature Guidelines
A good Flak rule of thumb: Write about something obvious in a really fresh way, or write about something really fresh in an obvious way. Either of these approaches are golden. We can chat personally about the topic of your article, and your initial pitch. For now, please read about how to pitch us a feature story idea. It will be good for both of us. Really.
THE FLAK PITCH
A good feature story represents a lot of work for the writer — and the editor. It's a waste of everyone's time if you don't have your story at least somewhat planned from the outset. Here are some things to keep in mind when you pitch your story idea to Flak. Note that if you've already written your story, you can use these guidelines to introduce your story and tell us why it's worth running.
1) Most good stories have some sort of news peg — an upcoming or recent event that makes reading them particularly important or interesting.
2) If you lack a peg, you probably want to pitch a stylistic gimmick — an anthropological explanation of (X), or an exclusive interview with (Y), or a guide to the "secrets" of a particular activity or organization. Note that even interviews should have something timely when possible... an author's new book, a director's new film, relevant comments on current events in the interview subject's area of expertise, etc.
3) Then you want to be clear about why your story is relevant to our readership. Why will Flak's readers care? How will they connect with it?
4) What's your angle? Why is this story going to read differently than the other 50 stories written about the event? Or has no one ever heard of the thing/person/event you're writing about?
5) Then, it's useful to give your editor a preview of the sources you plan to use — people you might have talked to, the kind of people you plan to talk to, things you're reading or general ideas of where you'll get your information. If you've already done a good interview, you could throw a teaser quote into the pitch for spice.
6) The mechanics of the piece. This includes:
a) How many words you plan to shoot for (a range is fine — and Flak features should generally be at least 750 words, up to 3,000 for a multi-part feature)
b) Whether you'll have photos for us
c) Whether you will have graphics — or a graphics request — for us
d) When we can expect your final draft
You're probably thinking: "That's a lot of work." It is. But if you put together a strong pitch, you've actually got a lot of the initial organization work for your story done, and you'll have a clear guideline for how to procede.
EXAMPLE OF A BAD PITCH
I want to go to the Burning Man festival and do a story on how it's not as indie as it used to be.
Flak: Didn't you read our pitch guidelines?! Fool! Down to the dungeon with you! Lick each dirty step as you descend into the stench!
EXAMPLE OF A GOOD PITCH
The Burning Man festival is coming up in 2 weeks. I'd like to cover it for Flak — it tends to attract over 20,000 people, many of whom are young, hip, relatively bright people like the people who read Flak.
Burning Man gets write-ups all over the place, but I'm specifically looking at how the festival has drifted from its founding ideals of countercultural, anticommercial fun in the desert.
I'll be looking at its origins (including its "constitutional document") and interviewing its founders about how it's drifted. I know one of them already, and he's happy to go on the record and talk about how the festival is becoming yet another corporate money milkathon. Of course, there will be plenty of the usual colorful writing about people's tripped-out costumes and bizarre politics.
I can put together a 1,200-word write-up, and a friend of mine will be there to take photos. Also, I hope to do a timeline that will clearly spell out for readers how the festival grew since birth — and when things started going bad.
I can get it for you by Jan. 20, at the latest. What do you think?
Flak: Sounds great, [fictional] writer. We're looking forward to your [purely hypothetical] story.
SOME GENERAL GUIDELINES
1) If you're planning to write any of your article in the first person, or write in an opinionated, advocacy journalism way, please check with us before you start. Most of the time, we don't like that stuff.
2) Adhere to journalistic style if possible — Associated Press style, preferably. If you don't know what that means, that's fine. But it does make life easier.
Flak's feature editor is James Norton. Drop him an e-mail with your pitch.
