The 5 W’s. You may have heard on several occasions how important it is to solve these questions when writing a journalistic text. What, how, when, where, where, who and why are the main questions of any story you are developing.
And if you’ve heard of the 5 W’s, you’ve probably also heard of the lead. It’s the first paragraph in which you answer one of those five essential questions. The lead goes right after the headline. It’s very important and must be engaging, to hook the reader and invite them to read on.
We know it seems like a lot of pressure. That’s why we bring you some tips so that writing the lead doesn’t become a nightmare. There are several types of leads. Here we explain some of them.
Direct Lead
Sometimes less is more. In some cases, it is not necessary to overthink what would be the best way to start our story. Sometimes the information is so shocking that you don’t need to do anything more than state the facts.
The direct lead or traditional lead (like the Inverted Pyramid of news writing style) is one in which one of the 5 W’s is answered. Most of the time it can be the what or the who.
Example:
“Pope Francis came so close to death at one point during his 38-day fight in hospital against pneumonia that his doctors considered ending treatment so he could die in peace, the head of the Pope’s medical team said”.
As you can see in this lead taken from CBC News, the who (Pope Francis) and the what (he is struggling with his health) is resolved here.
Summary Lead
In some cases, listing or summarizing the most important part of what you are going to say can be a good way to attract your readers.
Example:
“Netflix’s chilling new drama Adolescence isn’t scaring parents because it’s unthinkable that a seemingly sweet and innocent boy could be ripped from his childhood bed by police, accused of stabbing a classmate.”
In this example, also taken from CBC, you can see how the journalist summarizes what the news will be about.
Delayed Lead
Very common in feature stories. In this case the lead can be in the second or third paragraph. The first paragraph is used to make your text more attractive. For example. Talk about one of the characters in your story, describe a time or place or paint a scene in words.
Example:
“They are strangers, arms outstretched, waiting for the boy to fall.
Minutes earlier, three of them had tried to wrench open the apartment door. But it was too swollen by the heat of the fire.
So the brothers, three and 10 years old, are trapped.
They are crying at a window, 15m (49 feet) up, choking on thick black smoke billowing behind them. To their left, flames rage from a carpet draped over a balcony railing.
Their apartment is in La Villeneuve, a French modernist suburb once heralded as a social utopia, but which has since suffered decades of stigma and neglect.”
This example was taken from the BBC which published this report entitled The Catch, the story of two children who were trapped in an apartment fire in France. Here you can see how the first few paragraphs do not yet give any information about the event, but serve to involve the reader in the story.