| Divine lead draws readers into story
Author: Brian Cooper
Published: May 26, 1998
Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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The write stuff
Assigned a feature story to note National Bible Week, you might feel
it necessary to seek divine inspiration. Or you could find strength in
this lead by Michelle Bearden of The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune:
"If Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were around today, they’d probably
want to meet Bill."
So began Bearden’s profile of Bill Hults, a 74-year-old retired Army
medic who spent 18 years transcribing the Bible by hand (He did the New
Testament twice.) If you’re keeping score at home, the project filled 19
notebooks.) By the way, Bearden’s feature wasn’t stuck on the Religion
page; it was the dominant element on 1A.
That lead was just one of several outstanding openers by the Tampa staff.
Here are some examples:
"It resides nearly a billion miles away, a lustrous ringed orb locked
in a frigid dance around the sun, vast enough to swallow 700 Earths."
(By Kurt Loft, writing about Saturn, the destination of the Cassini
space probe.)
"Locked in the bathroom and slowly starving, Lucas Ciambrone begged
his big sister for help.
‘Brenda, let me out of here.’
"The secrets whispered between brother and sister, contained in court
documents, provide a chilling glimpse into one of the worst child abuse
cases in Florida history."
(By Sally Kestin, advancing the murder trial of 7-year-old
Lucas’ adoptive parents.)
"Linda Gosselin must know every twitch of the Rat King’s tail by now."
(By Donna Koehn, introducing readers to a mother whose son was dancing
the same role in "The Nutcracker" for the fourth year.)
***
Doug Wagner of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver is a repeat winner
in Scripps Howard Newspapers’ monthly in-house headline-writing contest.
Here are three gems he crafted for entertainment stories:
Concerning the movie "Flubber," Wagner wrote:
Robin Williams flubs it with gusto.
Above a Kevin Bacon profile:
Whole lotta Bacon goin’ on
And on a story about teen-age country music star LeAnn Rimes landing
a book contract:
What Rimes with $3 million?
***
Baby Bells probed on maternity time off
(By Chanta Jackson, Asbury Park Press of Neptune, N.J.)
***
Fast-food spinoff enters Pepsi-free era
(By Bill Mathewson, The Wall Street Journal.)
***
It was just a photo catchline, but it fit nicely:
Bow jests
(By Bill Gould, Houston Chronicle, below a picture of 91-year-old
comedian Henny Youngman, trademark violin in hand.)
Also from Gould:
While dead men may tell no tales, obits speak volumes about culture
(Reviewing the trends in obituaries through the generations.)
A few others from Gould’s colleagues in Houston:
History in the flaking
(By Lowry Allen, on a story reporting the crumbling condition of the
famed Alamo.)
25 years of women’s issues: Magazine’s a hit and a Ms.
(By Mike Lonsford, noting the 25th anniversary of Ms. magazine.)
Smoggy air apparent?
(By Laura Hayes, above a report that Houston is closing the gap on
Los Angeles as the nation’s smog capital.)
***
Puns are not necessary ingredients for good headlines. Here’s a clean,
to-the-point example:
Jurors acquit system
(By Bob Curran, Tampa, on a feature reporting that jury duty may
not be that bad after all.)
Like those jurors, you may find that sending me your staff’s best headlines
and leads isn’t so bad. Mail them. Fax them. Use e-mail. But contribute
to The Write Stuff.
Cooper is executive editor of the Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa.
Contact him at P.O. Box 688, Dubuque IA 52004-0688 or bcooper@wcinet.com
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