News Writing Information: Various Types of Leads

When it comes to writing a news story one of the most important parts of the article is the lead. With a wonderful lead to a news story you can pull in thousands of readers and even readers who would not normally read the story. On the reserve side with a bad lead you can push readers away or not attract their attention. Here is a look at what a lead to a news story is and the different types of leads that can be used for a number of news stories.

A lead in a news story involves the first few sentences of the story. A lead can involve anything from catchy phrases, quotes from well known figures in the area or even asking the reader a question. A lead is meant to stand out and grab the reader’s attention so that they are enticed to read the rest of the article.

There are two types of leads a news writer can use. There is a soft lead and a hard lead. A soft lead is something that is fluffy and creative. Soft leads can range from having a quote from a book, movie or celebrity, a catchy phrase or even asking the reader a question. A hard lead is more concrete with what it presents the reader. Hard leads usually present important facts to the reader in one to two sentences. A reader can generally walk away from a hard lead knowing the important parts of the news story after just reading one sentence.

The type of lead that is used when writing a news story depends on the story that is being presented and where the article is going. Usually pieces that are known as interest stories or fluffy pieces use a soft lead, while those that are meant to present cold hard facts will use a hard lead.

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Steps to Creating News Stories for Local Newspapers

Many people assume that writing a news story takes hours of research. While there are stories out there that take research time and the ability to conduct interviews, there are also local news stories that are just perfect for your local newspaper. The key to developing and writing these types of news stories is knowing how to find a topic that might be of interest to not only yourself but to your readers.

Here are a few tips on how to find a news story for your local paper without having to spend hours finding a topic that might be of interest to yourself and your readers.

Create a List. Almost all writing starts with brainstorming and news writing is no different. Start by creating a list of things that you know about your local area. This can be hobbies that you engage in, organizations you volunteer for or events that your neighbors or you are hosting. Just sit down and create a list of everything that you know is going on around you in your local area.

Expand on the List. The next step is to expand on the list of ideas. Take each item on the list and try to think of areas that you can expand on. A great example of this is someone who plays softball through their local parks and recreation department. You could take that idea and expand it to talk about any new baseball fields, fundraising events, new uniforms or even hikes in fees to play the sport.

Start Your Research. After you have created expanded ideas from your list you can start your research. Try to think about local people that you can interview or ask questions as most people reading the local paper are interested in local people.

Take the Information and Write. Once you have the ideas and research you are ready to go. Just sit down and let the ideas flow. Sometimes creating a catchy headline works to inspire the story.

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How to Start Out Your News Story

News articles can take a lot of work. There is the need to come up with a story, do the research, conduct interviews and then write the story in an unbiased way that will not only inform readers but will catch their attention. Many people who write news articles have a tough time figuring out how to go about writing their news article. These people generally have the topic and research but do not know how to go about getting the words on the paper. If you are one of those people here are some tips that will help you write a great news article.

Do Extensive Research. You cannot write a great news article without researching the piece first. The problem many writers run into is that they did not research the article enough and therefore do not hold enough knowledge to create an article that is informative and important to the readers. Make sure that you get as much information as possible on all aspects of the topic that you are writing about. This will help you when it comes time to write the story. Remember you can never have too much research.

Create an Approach to the Topic. Many writers have a hard time writing a news article because they do not know how to tackle the topic that they are covering. It is important that you take a few minutes to figure out how you are going to approach the topic. Make sure that you determine how you want to present information, what you want readers to get out of the article and how you want the article to flow. All of this will help you once you go to write the article.

Write Eye-Catching Leads. Readers like to read stories that have great leads this is why a great eye-catching lead is so important. Many writers spend most of their time creating great leads that will grab the reader. It is always a good idea to write several leads to a news story so that you can create a great news story.

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Commonly Misused Pronoun and Possession Homonyms

First Person: I am, We are

Second Person: You are

Third Person: (S)He is, It is, They are

Doesn’t matter the Person: Who is, There are

This is many different ways in which English uses the verb “to be.”  Some of this gets tricky enough to fool English speaking people into getting it wrong grammatically.

It’s vs. Its

It’s time to learn some grammar.  “It’s” is the proper way to conjugate the verb to be for the pronoun it. “It’s” can be interchangeably used with “It is.”

The dog kept chasing its tail. “Its” is one of the few possessive words (words that describe a noun) that doesn’t require an apostrophe.  “Its” is possessive because the tail belongs to the dog.

There vs. Their vs. They’re

There are many toys you can play with, like that monkey game over there.  “There” describes where something is (as in here and there). When that random place of “there” is the subject of the sentence, you would use “There are.”

The dogs kept chasing their tails. “Their” describes a possession, that the noun following it belongs to whoever “they” are.

They’re always late. “They’re” is a shorter way of saying “They are.”  It is the plural form for “He is, She is, and It is.”

Whose vs. Who’s

She loves her mother, whose picture is sitting on the mantel. “Whose” is a possessive as the mother’s picture is on the mantel.

Who’s the man responsible for breaking this record? “Who’s” can be interchangeable with “who is.”

One thing to consider, when deciding which way to go, if you can use it in the form such as “Who is” or “They are,” then you want the apostrophe. If it would not make sense to say, “Who is picture is sitting on the mantel,” then you know the apostrophe version isn’t the way to go.

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Six Basic Writing Tips

Show, Don’t Tell

Use actions and research to make your point. What you stand for should speak for itself.

Utilize all Five Senses

Many stories are based on observations made from sight; however, a blind man’s version of the same story will be very different. Do not use all 5 senses to describe one thing as that would be overly descriptive.

Use an Active Voice

An active voice is when the subject is accomplishing the verb “The three types of conflict are…,” or “The bear ate the food.” On the contrary, a passive voice is when the subject is not directly performing the verb like “There are three types of conflict…” or “The food was eaten by the bear….” It’s okay to use a passive voice, especially when the subject is unknown, but many times it’s wordy and less emphasizing. Did you notice the previous sentence was passive?

Provide Conflict or Contrast

When placed next to each other, contrasting colors stand out. Writing and ideas are no different. In fiction, conflict makes the plot a little more exciting and gives it more purpose. The three main categories of conflict are man vs. himself, man vs. God, and man vs. man. In non-fiction, contrasting ideas sometimes make for a great means to remove bias and get to the truth in addition to creating a compelling masterpiece.

Focus on your Nouns and Verbs

Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. Instead, find a better noun or verb to describe what the adjectives and adverbs are modifying. For instance, replace “loudly walk” with a “stomp” or “tap dance.”

Use Proper Grammar

Some rules of grammar are meant to be broken, but the more you allow yourself to get into the habit of breaking all the rules like you are texting, the harder it’s going to be on you when it comes time to write on a professional level, whether it be for school or for work.

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Create Fascinating Characters

Humans are designed to socially connect with each other, and some of your best loved works resulted from most loved characters. Who are the Muppets without Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy? Which Disney character is quick to act and lose his temper? “No one, but Donald Duck.” Not only do we humans enjoy falling in love with characters, but we equally enjoy hating characters and psychoanalyzing characters.  Here are some basic tips for creating those fascinating characters you love and hate.

Avoid Overly Describing Your Characters

Leave some of the description to the reader’s imagination. Many times, they may see a character to resemble people they already know, which is an easy way for readers to feel that instant connection. In addition, most people do not want to read a bunch of paragraphs that sound like a social networking “about me” quiz. Only describe what is necessary to the story, and unfold details through action and dialogue.

Give Them Personality

Take a few personality tests in character. Write out some of the answers that you feel most compelled to bring out in the story. Of course, don’t exactly say, “Kari is your average introvert,” but something more like, “As Kari walked into the chaos of the large party, she kept her head low looking to the ground as she made her way to the shadows behind the punch bowl to stand alone and observe the Mad Hatters frolicking in their protective egos.”

Test Them

Readers not only like to connect with the characters, but they also like to see what the characters are going to do when faced with moral and ethical concerns. What if Kari finds a wallet on the floor? What if the wallet belonged to a person she hates?

Give Them Easy Names

It’s difficult to connect to a character with a name you aren’t sure how to pronounce let alone remember when you walk away from the story.

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Give your Topic Depth for Academic Papers

In the world of fiction, the experts tell you that story matters over style, and the same holds true to an academic audience such as your teacher. The point of writing a paper is to show your teacher you learned something, but it shouldn’t have to be boring to read or write. Giving your paper an experimental quality to it creates a level of suspense and mystery to make nonfiction just as interesting as a fiction novel.

In the process of narrowing down your topic to fit the length of the paper, ask a research question and create a hypothesis. In science class, a science project usually consists of some sort of experiment whether it is creating a volcano or comparing the effectiveness of various antacids. No experiment would be complete without a paper that describes the hypothesis, research methods, observations, results and conclusion. This method is not reserved only for science. In fact, any field of research usually uses the same scientific thinking to make the conclusions you would cite from the bulk of your research.

The sky is the limit with what you can do with a research paper. Your experiment can be based on research already available, or it can be based on a project you do. Uncharted territory is usually a great place to visit because no rules are set, there is room for opinion, and you might actually provide your teacher with information he/she did not already know.

You still want to include research in your paper to include empirical evidence, existing theories, and expert opinion.

Some examples of not-so-boring topics include Joseph’s analysis of dreams in the Old Testament in comparison to modern dream dictionaries, the anti-war protests effects on the advertising campaigns during the Vietnam War, whether or not horoscopes accurately portray personality, and the relationship between crime and the economy during prohibition.

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Joy to the World

Spaceship Earth (Epcot)
Image via Wikipedia

The shot of my two kids by the tree, the whole family in front of Spacehip Earth from this summers vacation to Disney or that cute shot of the kids with the dog at the beach? Which one should I use for my holiday card this year? And what do I write? How do I personalize them? How do I make every person on my list feel special without spending an eternity poring over each individual card?

Sending out holiday cards is the seasonal plague of veteran writers and stay at home moms alike. How does one outdo ones self year after year, especially as the kids get older and therefore less “cute”? And how does one even know which type of card is best to send? Do you send out seperate cards for all your friends who celebrate Hannukah, Christmas or Kwanzaa? Is a card fits all “Seasons Greetings” good enough or does it smack off political correctness and conformity.

Many online photography sites such as Snapfish and Kodak Photo Gallery offer photo templates in a variety of styles and colors. They have one that suits every holiday and occasion. Make each one of your children into a jingling bell, let every member of your family be a flame in the menorah or make your dog the star on the top of your Christmas tree. Luckily these websites offer many creative and artistic choices.

Unfortunately, none of them can come up with the text for you. How to wish uncle Mike a randy and rowdy Christmas without offending grandma? Aaah therein lies the rub. Whatever text you choose will be seen by all your friends and loved ones. Maybe next year one of these sites can offer an option where some of your holiday cards have generic messages and others have personalized ones. In the meantime, Seasons Greetings it is.

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The Mommy Blog

Who amongst us has not come home from work and been greeted by a house full of screaming kids, a too demanding spouse and a sink overflowing with dirty dishes. Who amongst us hasn’t wanted to tell their next door neighbor to invest in some new drapery or their mother in law to go shove it. We all need to vent from time to time. We all make up dialogues in our mind about what we’re going to say to “that person” the next time. The problem is we don’t say it the next time either.

The perfect solution to this problem may be the mommy blog. A blog where women can write about their everyday lives and say what they really want to say, but do so anonymously. Women can use pseudonyms when blogging here as well. In a mommy blog a woman can write about how disgusting she finds it that the neighbor’s kid picks her nose and eats it without the risk of having to explain herself to that neighbor the next time she sees her at Shop Rite. In a mommy blog a woman can write about just how many times she’s contemplated smothering her snoring husband with a pillow without having her husband calling a divorce lawyer.

Therapy is expensive. Girlfriends are a wonderful thing, but some of them don’t know how to keep their mouth’s shut. Besides sometimes you need to vent about your girlfriends. Don’t even think about venting to your mother. You’ll forgive your husband long before she ever does and I assure you that she can do a better job raising your kids than you can. A mommy blog could serve as sounding board. A way to get things off your chest without humiliating anyone. Maybe some of us should make it a New Years Resolution to get together with some girlfriends and start one.

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Term Paper Season

It’s that time of year again. It’s term paper season. The time when millions of high school and college students have to churn out that last hurrah: the term paper. As much as we’d like to think that all of these students are honestly doing their best to produce a quality paper, it is rarely the case. Unfortunately it has become increasingly easy to buy a term paper online.

Websites such as freelancer.com will let people bid on writing your term paper for you. The majority of these bidders are from countries outside the United States. This gives the term outsourcing a whole new meaning. It is even possible to pay someone to take a whole online course for you. One can even purchase a term paper on Ebay or Craigslist. Silly me, I thought these websites were for purchasing used books and selling old baby furniture.

When I was in school Cliff Notes were the big thing. Now if you want to blow off your project there are a plethora of options to choose from. And, with so many options, it is increasingly difficult to get caught. Many school use a variety of computer programs aimed at rooting out plagiarism, but with an ever growing menu of options for cheating students can the schools ever keep up? I doubt it.

What is a teacher to do? Some teachers have decreased the amount of research papers they assign. Others have turned to projects as assessments. Unfortunately, although some projects may be wonderful, there is a lot to be gained from actually doing research and verbalizing your findings. One hears all over the news how poor American students math and science skills are, but literacy is important too. Unfortunately, we as a nation, are becoming less and less capable writers. If we devalue writing as a skill then it will be lost to us forever.

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