Pennine Productions

Features and Travel Writing

Both Clare and Janet have wide experience of writing features for newspapers and magazines – and for creating features for radio. In addition, Clare teaches Feature Writing at Sheffield Hallam University, and is married to national newspaper travel writer Stephen McClarence.

We enjoy passing on our skills to other women, so if you’ve ever fancied being the next Lynn Barber (“The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”) or Dervla Murphy (“Through Siberia by Accident”), ask us about our writing workshops.

Among the Feature Writing topics we cover are:

• Finding the Idea, and the Angle
• What kind of feature is it, anyway? Arts, Education, Entertainment, Health, Human
• Interest, Social Interest, Sport, etc
• What kind of treatment does it deserve? Backgrounder, Colour Piece, General Feature, Interview, Q&A, etc
• Who is your target audience?
• Getting the Commission – dealing with feature editors, including agreeing a fee
• Research Skills
• Interview Techniques
• Writing it up

Among the Travel Writing Topics we cover are:

• Finding the Idea, and the Angle
• What are the outlets – newspapers, magazines, online, etc?
• A quick run-down on the range of travel writing that’s around – from “What I did on my holiday” to amazing exploration
• How to tailor the idea to the outlet
• Getting the Commission – approaching and negotiating with editors
• What makes a travel writer?
• Tips and winkles on how to be one
• Writing up the article