Creativity and Feature Writing

Ellie Levenson is a freelance journalist and lecturer in journalism at Goldsmiths College, University of London. As a freelance journalist, her work has appeared in many publications including the Guardian, Independent, The Times, Financial Times, Daily Express, Cosmopolitan, Easy Living, Times Educational Supplement, Local Government Chronicle and New Statesman. She also runs journalism courses for www.journalism.co.uk and for think tanks, businesses and other organisations. She is the author of two non-fiction books, The Noughtie Girl’s Guide to Feminism (2009) and Fifty Campaigns to Shout About (2011), as well as two books for children.

Part 1: How to get ideas 1. What is an idea? 2. Getting ideas from objects 3. The Lego example 4. Getting ideas from your own life and the lives of your friends and family 5. Getting ideas from the news 6. Getting ideas from other (non news) articles, including books, leaflets, the internet and any other printed matter 7. The magazine example 8. Getting ideas from people you don’t know, places you’ve not been and things you haven’t done before 9. Getting ideas from press releases, and from direct contact with charities and press officers Part 2: You’ve got an idea, now what? 10. Finding a hook 11. Key components of your article 12. Pitching and writing your article 13. Ideas!