Customer Reviews

Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book gives is well written and informative. It explains feature writing without trying to bury the reader, and it is well organized throughout. It is somehow enjoyable as well.

I enjoyed this book, which I used as an (unassigned) textbook for a class. If I didn't know anything about feature writing, I would not just rely on this book to tell me everything I need to know, although the information provided is helpful. Sumner could make more use of examples of good feature writing (he does this to great effect with one particular fantastic article, "Mrs. Kelly's Monster" by Jon Franklin, the first article to win the Pulitzer for Feature Writing). In many cases, Sumner uses information given in other textbooks and authors' published books on writing, which means that his book is less of a primary source and more of a compendium of author comments at times. This is not a bad thing. However, the chapters were so short that by the time you really got into the material, it was over. Some of the class assignments would be really useful if done as homework for class.

Overall, this book is helpful, but I do prefer the textbook by Bruce Garrison, which I am currently reading.