How Professional Writers Capture Readers

FIRST IMPRESSIONS How Professional Writers Grasp

Hold of Readers

The typical reader

will give you only

15 SECONDS to capture their

attention.

If you don’t grasp hold

of them IMMEDIATELY,

they’re gone…

That’s why professional writers

obsess over THE LEDE – the

first sentence or paragraph of

an article or blog post.

Always grab the reader by the

throat in the first paragraph, sink

your thumbs into his windpipe in

the second, and hold him against

the wall until the tag line.

“

” - Paul O’Neil, former veteran Life magazine writer

Great ledes get to the point.

I regret nothing.

The end. - Ron Swanson

The lede is no place

to “set the scene.”

“

”

Don’t bother with the big wind-up.

Don’t feel like you have to justify

what you’re going to talk about –

‘XYZ season is fast approaching,

folks, so …’ Just start talking about

it. If you feel like readers need

background information, don’t lead

with it. Lead with what’s new, with

what your article is about.

- The Bleacher Report Writers Report

Entice the

reader.

Think g-string…

…not granny panties.

“ ” Render the reader helpless to do

anything but read on.

- Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winner

GREAT LEDES

“When they heard the screams,

no one suspected the rooster.” - Kelley Benham French, St. Petersburg Times (2002)

4

“The babies showed up on

Craigslist at 1:26 p.m., May 6.” - Kristen Hare, St. Louis Beacon (2008)

"Gary Robinson died hungry.“ - Edna Buchanan, Miami Herald (1985)

“The Pigeon King delivered his

closing statement to the jury

dressed in his only suit.” - Jon Mooallem, New York Times Magazine (2015)

The lede is no place to be

meek or modest.

Come out swinging.

“ ” The voice should be strong, and it

should be compelling.

- George Pelecanos, bestselling mystery author

Great ledes build

DIRECTLY on the

headline.

This looks like a good place…

If a reader clicks on your

article or blog post, that’s

proof they’re interested in

the topic…

Leverage that to your advantage.

This rock ain’t so heavy after all…

Pentagon Curbs Use of Psychologists

With Guantanamo Detainees

- James Risen, The New York Times

The United States military has sharply

curtailed the use of psychologists at the

prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in

response to strict new professional ethics

rules of the American Psychological

Association, Pentagon officials said.

Headline

Lede Affirms headline…

…then builds

How Pulitzer-Prize winners build

on headlines…

Make every single

word count…

“ ”

A long lede shows a lack of

confidence, like you don’t believe I’ll

read the whole story so you have to

tell me as much as you can as fast

as you can.

- Steve Buttry, Director of Student Media, LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication

A good benchmark is 30 words…

Be specific

Name names

“

”

If we think about the beginning of

the book, the opening pages, then I

feel it is imperative that the writer

get down to business quickly and

draw the reader in to such a degree

that he or she will not want to stop.

- Paul Auster, New York Times bestselling author

Make it easy to read

To be clear, none of these

are hard and fast rules…

But let me leave you with one thought…

“

”

In [writing,] as in life, you can get

away with what you can get away

with. If you’re good enough, you

can get away with murder. If you’re

not -- and most of us are not -- you

can’t.

- Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author

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