Silhouette of a person on the telephone at work — Your article should be alive with the voices of those involved in the issue you're focusing on. Photograph: Aled Llywelyn/Alamy

How to write a science feature

This article is more than 10 years old

A feature is not an essay regurgitating facts. You need to get on the phone and speak to the people directly involved, or better still meet them in person

The Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize, in association with the Guardian and the Observer, is open for entries

1. Choose your topic and length carefully

Be realistic about the issue you are covering - does it have enough dimensions to hold a reader's interest for a long feature? If the story can be summarised in 180 words, you don't need to write a 1,800-word feature. And anything beyond 4,000 words is a very long read.

2. Have a plan

Make a list of all the points you want to cover in the article, then put them into an order that allows you to move with the most ease from one point to the next. Remember to pepper fascinating points throughout the article – if you put all the juicy stuff in the first 500 words, why would a reader continue to the end?

3. Come back to the intro again, and again, and again …

Writing introductions is always a tricky business. The best introductions conjure up a clear, compelling scene, an unusual conundrum or a stark situation. Avoid rambling opening paragraphs and remember that if a sentence doesn't sound quite right, it isn't right. Move on to the body of the piece and come back to it. The introductions that seem the most effortless have probably taken the most work.

4. Get on the phone, or better still on the road

A good feature is not an extended essay, a regurgitation of undergraduate topics, or a stream of consciousness. Don't indulge in covering too many historical aspects of the issue – use them only where strictly relevant. The same goes for technical details. Remember, your audience may not have the burning interest in genetics you do, or be familiar with what an allele is.

A feature should be alive with the voices of those involved in the issue you are focusing on. Speak to researchers, speak to those affected by the issue and speak to people with different viewpoints. Record your interviews – when you listen back you may be surprised at the gems you find.

5. Get building

Once you have your transcripts from all your interviews, make one document with the quotes you want to use and the points you want to make. Then shuffle these around to create the skeleton of your feature. Then you can add detail and refine paragraphs as you go along.

6. Choose your structure carefully

A feature could take many forms, for example a long "write-through" or continuous narrative, a Q&A format, or a series of distinct sections. Would a detailed explanation of how mitochondria work be better in a separate, pull-out section, suitable for a tinted box on the printed page? Would a graphic save you 300 words? Use such furniture wisely and it will improve your feature.

7. Know what you are trying to say – don't waffle

No feature can cover every aspect of an issue. There will always be other points or angles. Make sure you have a clear idea of what is relevant to the overall thrust your piece and don't try to shoe-horn in tangential information.

8. Get your facts straight

Double check everything. If someone gives you a figure for the cost of a medical procedure, check it in the literature and ask the experts. Make sure your sources are up to date and accurate and remember to differentiate between facts and opinion. If your piece will be published online include links so that readers can easily access your sources, if it's in print give enough information for them to track it down for themselves.

9. Change the pace

Employing a single, uniform style throughout your article will make for a tedious read. Change the pace throughout – switching between emotional experiences, sobering facts, funny quotes and informative sections will keep your reader engaged to the end. Like a good play, a feature can also move backwards and forwards in time and be set in different scenes.

10. Kill your darlings

Your hilarious sentences and painfully crafted metaphors may seem like works of genius, but they are probably too esoteric to appeal to anyone else. Write them, love them, cut them.