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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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