Writing soft or feature leads

We’ve pretty much mastered the hard news summary lead. But what about writing soft news or feature leads? Here are some tips.

General tips on writing soft leads

Don’t wear yourself out “creating” a lead in your head; pull it from the story.

• Make sure your lead is related to the focus of your story and can be backed up by the facts.
• Get to the point quickly, so you don’t bore or confuse your reader.
• Go from specific to general. Use a specific example in your lead to illustrate the story’s main point.
• Include a nut graph — the most important facts of the who, what, when, where, why and how — high in the story, only three to five paragraphs down.

Common soft news leads 

Here are some common types of soft news leads, as described in our text.

Three include links to stories in the local section of the Feb. 13 Akron Beacon Journal. In all three leads used as examples, the lead is actually more than the first paragraph, which is common for soft or feature leads.

• Descriptive: describes a person, place or event
• Anecdotal: starts with a story about a person or an event.
  Example: Snowy icy mess in area. It takes what could be a boring story — the weather — and gives it a personal, specific angle. See page 138-139 in the text.
• Narrative: tells a story with enough dramatic action so reads can feel they are witnessing the event. Uses all the techniques of fiction writing – dialogue, scene setting and foreshadowing. Story needs to be dramatic for this to work well.
• Focus-on-a-person lead: Can be done through anecdotal or descriptive approach.
  Example: Taking a frigid plunge for March of Dimes. It uses an anecdotal approach to talk about the upcoming March of Dimes event. It’s a great way to interest the reader in reading about an annual event to which he or she may have no connection. See page 140 in your text.
• Mystery lead: promises the reader a surprise or treat for reading on. Sets up the story like a mystery novel. One technique: start with vague pronoun – “it” or “they” – rather than the specific noun. Later, you tell the reader what “they” or “it” is.
  Example: Doctors still see value in flu shots.  Mystery leads are detailed on page 142 of your text. I think this lead also provides the reader with an interesting, memorable fact, as detailed on page 147.

The tips above were condensed from our text, Writing and Reporting News.

When can you use a soft lead? You can use a soft lead in both news and feature stories.

More on writing leads

• A summary of the different types of leads
• Are anecdotal leads a cliche? Read one journalist’s perspective. Find out more about how to avoid cliche leads.
• How creative can you be in your news writing? Find out what this editor thinks.
• Read the page on this blog about writing leads and nut graphs.

Post a link and comment

Found a good hard news or soft news lead online? Post the link in the comments section and tell us why you like the lead.

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