ories at a smaller local weekly paper. A lot depends on the publication's resources and editorial emphasis. You'll need to read a lot of each publication to decide.

One of the great things about being on the newspaper's features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any featu

I completely agree with you that thoughtful feature writing can be more challenging than the classic hard news stories. I don't think that your preferences necessarily make you more suited for magazine work than for newspaper work, but I do think that you should consider pursuing a feature writing career rather than a hard news career.

Whatever you pursue, the good thing about hard news and features for both papers and magazines is that you can use your creative writing skills for virtually any story. A "featurey" lead is all the rage anyway. I wish I had more concrete advice for you, but perhaps these comments can help you find the right path for you.

You're aware that you can do the creative feature-writing you love at a newspaper, right? A lot of my newspaper career was in the "Living" section of various newspapers (the section containing the soft news, features, articles on health, technology, recipes, interesting people, etc.). The larger newspapers may give you more latitude for writing features because they have a larger budget and more staff; the smaller ones may have more budget constraints and fewer staffers, leaving you less time for features.

Then again, you may have to chase hard news more at the big papers and have time to get to know your community and write the really up-close-and-personal stories at a smaller local weekly paper. A lot depends on the publication's resources and editorial emphasis. You'll need to read a lot of each publication to decide.

One of the great things about being on the newspaper's features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any featur

.

Whatever you pursue, the good thing about hard news and features for both papers and magazines is that you can use your creative writing skills for virtually any story. A "featurey" lead is all the rage anyway. I wish I had more concrete advice for you, but perhaps these comments can help you find the right path for you.

You're aware that you can do the creative feature-writing you love at a newspaper, right? A lot of my newspaper career was in the "Living" section of various newspapers (the section containing the soft news, features, articles on health, technology, recipes, interesting people, etc.). The larger newspapers may give you more latitude for writing features because they have a larger budget and more staff; the smaller ones may have more budget constraints and fewer staffers, leaving you less time for features.

Then again, you may have to chase hard news more at the big papers and have time to get to know your community and write the really up-close-and-personal stories at a smaller local weekly paper. A lot depends on the publication's resources and editorial emphasis. You'll need to read a lot of each publication to decide.

One of the great things about being on the newspaper's features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any featu

You're aware that you can do the creative feature-writing you love at a newspaper, right? A lot of my newspaper career was in the "Living" section of various newspapers (the section containing the soft news, features, articles on health, technology, recipes, interesting people, etc.). The larger newspapers may give you more latitude for writing features because they have a larger budget and more staff; the smaller ones may have more budget constraints and fewer staffers, leaving you less time for features.

Then again, you may have to chase hard news more at the big papers and have time to get to know your community and write the really up-close-and-personal stories at a smaller local weekly paper. A lot depends on the publication's resources and editorial emphasis. You'll need to read a lot of each publication to decide.

One of the great things about being on the newspaper's features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any featu

r writing features because they have a larger budget and more staff; the smaller ones may have more budget constraints and fewer staffers, leaving you less time for features.

Then again, you may have to chase hard news more at the big papers and have time to get to know your community and write the really up-close-and-personal stories at a smaller local weekly paper. A lot depends on the publication's resources and editorial emphasis. You'll need to read a lot of each publication to decide.

One of the great things about being on the newspaper's features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any featu

ories at a smaller local weekly paper. A lot depends on the publication's resources and editorial emphasis. You'll need to read a lot of each publication to decide.

One of the great things about being on the newspaper's features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any feature story you want, with your editor's approval. It's a tremendous amount of autonomy.

You also might consider working for one of the news services such as AP, Reuters, etc.; a lot of the wire stories I pulled during my newspaper career were features. I'm not sure how to get started with them, but it wouldn't hurt to ask your professors how to get started. Many college students "string" for them and establish themselves as reliable journalistic professionals that way.

I also suggest that you look at newspapers that publish the kinds of stories you absolutely love, and target them for your job search. Search for award-winning feature stories online, or perhaps scan journalistic think tanks like the Poynter Institute for ideas. Some papers are large enough that they can and will cut one or two reporters loose from their regular duties for special-assignment reporting - such as an in-depth six-week series on teen drug abuse, etc. Often they're just seeking awards, but the long-view stories like this really do benefit the community, and it's a great gig for you if you can land it.

If I had to make a suggestion, I would suggest that you work at a newspaper and freelance for a magazine. My opinion is that it's harder to break into feature writing at magazines unless you go with the "trade" publications, as I did. I