Stories open with a lead, a 25ish-word sentence that tells readers what the story is about. This is where writers make people want to read the story.
There are five main components that writers can use to guide leads. These do not all have to be in the lead, but they will be answered near the top of the story:
Who: Who is the central focus of the story?
What: What do people need to know?
When: What time frame?
Where: Where does/did this origin?
Why/How: Think “Why is this important? How do we know?”
As many of these components as possible should be in the lead and the following nut graph, which gives more context to your story so your audience understands it. There will be cases when it’s difficult to identify certain components, such as stories where the “when” is the immediate present.
When constructing a lead, it may be beneficial to outline the five W’s beforehand. Here’s an example for how to outline these when writing an event coverage story:
Story Headline: ‘We are OU’: 2019 State of the University Address highlights campus efforts
Who: Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz
What: Delivered the State of the University Address
When: Tuesday, Oct. 22
Where: Oakland Center, on campus
Why/How: To overview policies and discuss the goals for the school year
Here’s a lead for that story that focuses on the “why/how” components:
Campus-wide initiatives comprising four strategic goals and a plan to “reimagine” Oakland University were discussed at President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz’s second annual State of the University Address on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
The story is separated into sections for each initiative, so the lead sets up the story’s organization.
Lead Writing Practice
These exercises are in “quiz” form. Type responses as appropriate. The exercises where you write your own lead do not have a correct answer, since writing styles vary. Navigate through the questions by using the arrows in the bottom right corner of the box.
To save your completed answers as a .hp5 file or copy them to your clipboard, click the “reuse” button at the bottom of the quiz box.
Types of Leads
The type of lead depends on the type of story. As Harrower’s Inside Reporting says, the list is subjective — there’s not one type of lead that works every time.
Basic news lead
- Basic news leads are split up into a few different types. These are the most common, according to Harrower.
Summary lead
- Combines the most important of the five W’s into one sentence and effectively summarizes what the story will be about
Example:
More than 5,000 students have visited the Oakland University Counseling Center this semester, surpassing the center’s record of 4,000 students receiving counseling last fall.
The previous exercises focused on this type of lead, as it’s one of the most common.
Delayed identification lead (termed that in Harrower’s Inside Reporting)
- Omits a significant piece of information (typically a person’s name when writing a profile-centered news piece) until the second paragraph
Example:
After moving to the U.S. from Iraq at age 16, a student graduating this fall with a bachelor’s degree in biology has earned a perfect 4.0 GPA and is the only person in the department to earn a 4.0 overall.
When Jane Doe immigrated to the U.S. with her immediate family, she was in an unfamiliar territory, grappling to succeed with only her family to guide her.
Immediate identification lead
- When writing stories concerning known public figures or celebrities, they can be immediately identified in a lead.
Example: Reporting on the president of a university
Anecdotal lead
- Unfolds the story through an anecdote or narrative, which lets the writer take a more creative approach
- Anecdotal leads include the “nut graf,” which includes the information typically in a lead (the most important of the five W’s) in the paragraph after the anecdote.
Example: ‘Joker’ is a crookedly compelling anthology film with a distorted take on mental illness. This review of the 2019 film “Joker” begins with a narrative about the story of the Joker.
That purple suit, that emerald green hair, that menacing laugh — whether you’ve seen a single Batman film or not, you know exactly who I’m talking about.
For nearly 80 years, the Joker has terrorized millions and cemented his status as one of the most iconic villains of all time. But his reputation precedes him, and with all those years and adaptations comes an increasingly daunting pressure to live up to the “genius” of the Joker.
For many, myself included, Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance of the Joker in 2008’s “The Dark Knight” was truly untouchable. So, Joaquin Phoenix, who boldly took on the role for 2019’s “Joker,” had a lot of hype to live up to, to say the least. Ledger is the ultimate Joker — and will likely hold that title for many years to come — but Phoenix gives a compelling performance that makes the character feel new and authentic.
That being said, DC’s latest cinematic adaptation of Batman’s maniacal archnemesis is far from perfect — even if its titular lead comes pretty damn close.
Written by Trevor Tyle, The Oakland Post
There are so many ways to construct anecdotal leads, and the previous example is a more descriptive version of it. Anecdotal leads can also begin with witty comments about the story’s subject matter — this option is best for reviews or feature pieces.
The next section of the AP Style resources is The Inverted Pyramid.