Feature articles use a variety of techniques that you should have studied: pullout lines, short sentences, descriptive words, anecdotes, informal language, quotes, jokes, et al. You don't need to use all of them, although you should use:
* A title. It doesn't have to be catchy, but if you come up with a good pun be my guest.
* Appropriate tone. A feature article is not an essay with a title. It's important for you to attempt to create a relationship with the reader. It's perfectly acceptable to use 'I' and 'we' in a creative text, or even to write an anecdote using the second person 'you'. Keep it simple and don't get bogged down in details.
* Specialised content. I hate to say this but you can't write a feature article without having some understanding of what you're writing about. Statistics or quotes from related sources and important events in the past or present are a good way to show understanding. Informative but not scientifically detailed.
It differs for everybody but generally when I'm planning I write in dot points in order of writing. For example, for a feature article in a novice-techy magazine about the future of telephony
- calling home is easier than ever [title]
-- story not being able to get in contact with family when younger [anecdote]
-- in fact, % of 13 and older have a mobile phone
-- start of industry's revolution - opinions? [point]
--- development of mobile phones
--- the internet
---- development of webcams / chat rooms / instant messaging
--- ip telephony (voip)
-- how this has changed our lives
--- the way we talk to one another
--- how often we see one another
--- advantages and disadvantages?
-- another anecdote (funny) about still getting lost even though we have mobiles
-- close with quote
(please don't kill me! I just made it up then)
Notice how it doesn't have a traditional essay structure (at least I wouldn't give it one) - rather, it relates back to society / in particular the AUDIENCE of the article.
