There are nine types and it will be challenging for the students to find at least one example of each type:
Ø Anecdote- start with an insightful
short story
Ø Description- set the mood by
describing how someone or something looks
Ø Quotation- good if it catchy,
insightful
Ø Question- pose an engaging question
Ø Suspenseful leads- intrigue makes a
reader keep reading
Ø Ironic leads- play on the
unexpected
Ø Direct-address- use of “you” as if
talking directly to the reader
Ø Words used in unusual ways- be
clever and creative with the English language
Ø Shockers:
lead with an unexpected twist
ANECDOTE LEAD
Time magazine- Jan. 14, 2022
Cover story on Hollywood producer Shonda Rhimes
The Lead:
Shonda Rhimes and I are deep into conversation about what makes a healthy work environment when she has to stop me from saying something ridiculous.
Comment: Starts to tell an insightful story that gives insight into Rhimes' personality.
DESCRIPTION LEAD
Time magazine- Dec. 27, 2021
The Lead:
Around 9 p.m. on July 27, as Simone Biles soared high above the vault at the Tokyo Olympics, she lost herself. You could see the confusion in her eyes..."
Comment: Shares the incident when Biles felt "the twisties" that freaked her out some!
See this link for another anecdotal lead, this one is in a business story about the effect the "soaring" U.S. dollar is having around the world.
MORE ANECDOTAL LEADS
(Above) Former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley officially announces she will run for president of the United States. This is from the Charleseton Post and Courier on Feb. 2, 2023.
The lead: "It was the 1970s, and Nikki Randhawa was having trouble fitting in at Bamberg Elementary.
Her father wore a turban. Here mother wore a sara. (continues)
Comment: This lead tells some of the challenges Ms. Haley had to deal with early in her life.
In that same issue of the paper is this other front-page story with an anecdote lead.
The lead:
To Rogan Gibson, the Murdaughs were like a second family. He grew up with brothers Paul and Buster, hunting, fishing, and driving ATVs on their family's spacious Colleton County estate.
Comment: This lead and the one that follows show how close Rogan was to this family.
DIRECT ADDRESS LEADS
Students will share their findings in a blog post that will look like this.
The lead:
If you're itching to get out of the house but are still a little wary of being particularly close to other people, these movie options may be a good choice.
Comment: Note the use of "you're" in the lead. Direct address leads try to engage readers by speaking directly to them with words like "you," "us," and "we."
From Charleston magazine (January 2022)
The Lead:
You would never know it by her intricate, emotionally-charged quilts but textile artist Renee Fleuranges-Valdez had a long career rising through the ranks of IBM before she picked up a quilting needle.
Comment: Renee lives in my neighborhood. The use of "you" helps engage the reader and is followed by an interesting contrast to her earlier career, and makes me want to know more about her.
The Lead:
Upon your arrival, the world you know will fade away. Here,
everything slows down, allowing you the opportunity to
digest our coastal community fully.
everything slows down, allowing you the opportunity to
digest our coastal community fully.
Comment: The use of "your" and "you" is very engaging with the idea of exploring a place that is different, relaxing and interesting.
The story is about dolphins and their presence in Charleston area waterways and current research involving this most intelligent of fish.
The Lead:
You may not know it, but Charleston is one of the most important places for dolphin research in the world, according to experts at the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF).
Comment: Pretty straightforward lead but it does have the "you may not know" part that is often part of direct address lead.
QUESTION LEAD
The lead:
What do you do when the entire world thinks you are a racist? When your career has collapsed because you uttered the N-word during a late-night video game?
Comment: This two-sentence lead poses two questions, which effectively tell us what happened and lets us know the story will explain how this driver is trying to overcome his big mistake.
I put this brief post together to share with the students so they have a better idea what I'm looking for in the blog post. Here are two examples, seven more are needed per the other types of feature leads listed above.
I put this brief post together to share with the students so they have a better idea what I'm looking for in the blog post. Here are two examples, seven more are needed per the other types of feature leads listed above.
QUESTION LEAD II
Charleston Post and Courier- Feb. 16, 2022
Feature story in the food section about local pastry chef successes
Feature story in the food section about local pastry chef successes
The Lead:
What do some of the Lowcountry's best pastry-paletted food trucks have in common? Their owners once worked as pastry chefs at some of the best restaurants in town.
Comment: Raises a question then answers it immediately in a very concise short way.
SHOCKER LEAD
Charleston Post and Courier- Jan. 24, 2022
Story about Wadmalaw Island residents picking up litter
The Lead:
The things they find.
The worst was the old toilet, said Michelle Sinkler.
"Disgusting."
Her son found a dead opossum inside a beat-up gas canister. Gross.
Comment: Strong use of short paragraphs to begin the story with vivid comments from participants.
SHOCKER LEAD
Time magazine- Nov. 21, 2021
SHOCKER LEAD
Time magazine- Nov. 21, 2021 (part of a cover story about
the best inventions of 2021)
The Lead:
In human years, Ryan Kaji is 10. In YouTube views, he's 48,597,844,873. If, in our digital age, a person's life can be
measured by their online footprint, Ryan's is the size of a
brachiosaur's, which, as a lot of Ryan's fans know, is
gargantuan.
brachiosaur's, which, as a lot of Ryan's fans know, is
gargantuan.
Comment: The number in the billions is very shocking!
SHOCKER LEAD (above)- Time magazine- Jan. 31, 2022
The Lead:
After Chloe Kim returned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea she put her gold medal in what felt at the time like the right place: a trash bin in her parents' house.
Comment: She worked so hard to win a gold medal and she threw it away? Spoiler alert: she later took it out of the trash!
The Lead:
Some years ago, a student in my psychology class sighed in
anguish, "Don't make me think, just give me the answer." Of
course, this took me aback as a teacher. It also delighted me
because thinking is my hobby."
Comment: It is shocking (and revealing) that a college student
(presumably) would say something like this out loud in class.
WORDS USED IN UNUSUAL WAYS
Oblique fitness magazine (Charleston)
January/February 2022
January/February 2022
The Lead:
Friday 10/29 began like every Friday.
4:30 a.m. wake up + walk the dog.
5 a.m. coffee + breakfast
5:30 a.m. head to the gym
6 a.m. write the workout on the board
7 a.m. Let's DO THE WORK
Comment: From feature titled "My Training Saved
My Life" about a man overcoming obstacles
My Life" about a man overcoming obstacles
ANOTHER WORDS USED IN UNUSUAL WAYS LEAD
Charleston Post and Courier , Oct. 9, 2022
USC defeats Kentucky in Football
The Lead: Culture? Kanceled!
Comment: Clever play on the cancel culture movement. The letter "K" used for canceled as it begins Kentucky.
IRONIC LEAD
Charleston Post and Courier, Oct. 16, 2022
Front page seasonal feature about seeing fall foliage
The Lead: Stress can do marvelous things.
Comment: It can? Stress is thought of as being so bad for us!
ANOTHER IRONIC LEAD
Front page feature story about blacksmith Jason Redick
The Lead:
Perched on a stool behind an anvil and a 5-pound mallet, the expert blacksmith and knife maker waited for the first group of patrons who signed up for a session with the "Angry Giant."
But Jason Redick isn't angry at all. Standing 6 feet 7 inches tall, he indeed can cast a menacing shadow. But the gentle, mild-mannered owner of Angry Giant Forge in Fletcher, N.C. turned out to be a patient teacher.
Comment: I supposed this plays on some irony over the perception that someone so large in size isn't mean and grumpy but gentle and patient.
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