Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The dos and don'ts of leads
I have learned that leads are crucial to the development of a good story. Leads should be concise, but should contain enough important information about the story to capture the reader's interest. Leads should not be iffy or gushy. They also should not state the obvious. The best lead is in subject-verb-object order, and leads should not contain unnecessary adjectives.
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You posted something that I did as well! Leads should be concise, but enough information to draw the reader in. It's a very challenging thing to do. Another thing I enjoyed learning in chapter 5 is eliminating unnecessary and redundant words.
ReplyDeleteIt is much harder than I ever realized to not state the obvious!! Unnecessary but interesting adjectives is another hard one as well.
ReplyDeleteSometimes stating the obvious can be the biggest downfall to a good lead. You have to dig for the unusual and realize that every other writer is doing the same thing. This can be very difficult, but is a major key to a good lead.
ReplyDeleteI think that leads are the hardest part of a story to write. Like you said leads are the crucial development to a good story. There are so many different things to remember about leads that it can get very confusing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that leads are a crucial part to any story because that is what pulls the reader in. People read stories more when the lead captures their attention than when it lets them slip by, so that is also a great note you added! I bet it would be weird if leads contained iffy and gushy stuff. I bet that would completely confuse the audience.
ReplyDeleteI agree. All leads should be short and to the point. It can be a challenge to come up with the right words in a few short sentences.
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