Writing Leads

Recently in my Basic News Writing Skills class we learned how to write a summary news lead. Every story needs a good lead to get readers excited about reading the story. Without a good lead they are just going to go to the next story. There are six rules for writing a straight news lead. Rule one is that a straight news lead should be about 25 to 30 words long, and it should summarize the "what", "where" and "when" of the story. Rule two is the first verb should express the main "what" of the story and should be in the first seven words of the sentence. Rule three is that the first verb should also be in active voice, not passive. Rule four is if there is a "who" involved in the story, the lead should give some idea of who the "who" is. Rule five is the lead should summarize the "why" and "how" of the story, but only if it's possible. Also do not try to squeeze the "why" and "how" in the lead if it doesn't fit. Finally, rule six is if what's in the lead needs to be attributed, make sure to add the attribution at the end of the lead.