The lead is the first sentence of your story and the most important sentence of your story. Writing a great journalism article includes writing a great lead. Your story is more likely to get published and more likely to get liked and shared on social media if it starts out with a great lead. We know that readers often don’t manage to get to the end of a story, and therefore don’t manage to absorb the importance of your message. It is vital that you don’t lose readership because of a weak lead.
You have probably heard of the saying "don't bury your lead." In a general way, it means don't wait until the end of your article to get to the real meat and potatoes of what you are trying to say.
So, how do you write a great lead that gets readers invested in your story? Well, there are some important points to keep in mind when creating your lead.
Step 1
First of all you need to understand the function of the lead. The lead needs to provide the reader with the main points of your story AND get readers interested in your story. Furthermore, this dual function must be done in as few words as possible. Typically, it is suggested that lead be limited to 35 to 40 words.
Step 2
Secondly, the lead must answer the 5 W’s (plus H) which are who, what, when, where, why, and how. Say, for example, you want to write a story of a man who was injured falling down a hole:
Who? - The man
What? - He fell down a hole
When? - Yesterday
Where? - On Main Street
Why? - There was an open manhole
How? - The construction crew failed to block the hole
Your lead might look like this: “Yesterday a man was injured on Main Street after falling down a manhole that was left uncovered by a construction crew.”
Step 3
Thirdly, after you have completed your story revisit your lead with the aim of making it even better. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does it actually answer the 5 Ws (plus H)?; and
- Can it be tightened up with a reduced word count?
If you can answer the first question in the affirmative and the second question in the negative then you have your lead. Just remember not to bury your lead.
