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The inverted pyramid technique Here's the way Lawrence Surtees of the Globe and Mail describes the structure of a news story: Take a look at a recent daily newspaper (in print or on the Web) and look at the front page. Scan several stories briefly. No matter how different the news is and the stories they tell, it doesn't take long to realize they all seem similar. News stories are organized in much the same way. And once
you learn how they are organized,
The structure of a news story is often referred to as the
inverted pyramid. That is because the The inverted pyramid arose during the era of movable lead type. It allowed editors and composers, who laid out columns of type set stories, to trim a story quickly at the last minute from the bottom up. The replacement of hot type with computers has made it easier to edit a story to fit its allotted space on a newspaper page -- and eased the strictures about news story writing. The rules of newswriting have relaxed over time and different styles are popular with various newspapers. But many reporters still use the inverted pyramid technique to organize their stories and ensure that the most important information goes at the beginning of the story. Here's how it works: 1. Lead/lede -- The lead is the opening sentence/paragraph which summarizes the basic facts of a story and conveys to the readers what you, the writer, found out in your reporting. But it must be more than just an opening to your story. The lead must also catch a reader's or listener's attention and make them want to read the rest of your story. Journalists are taught a simple rule about basic news leads, called the "5-W's." They are: Who? What? Where? When? Why? A sentence or paragraph that gives a reader the answer to all the five W's will automatically summarize any story. There are many other kinds of news leads, but they all fall into two categories: "hard" leads and "soft" leads. The choice depends on the nature of the story and determines the form of the rest of the story. A hard lead is suited for an urgent, breaking event, while a soft lead is more indirect and suited to feature writing. A hard lead:
A soft lead:
2. Body of the Story The rest of a news story is called the body. In a hard news
story, the body supports the lead and in After the lead, a story may have a theme paragraph that spells
out the theme or sub-themes in In addition to the writer's narrative, each sub-theme is backed
up with background facts and The body of a story can be written in other ways that depart
from the inverted pyramid. One form is But a story should proceed in a natural and CHRONOLOGICAL
order. Sticking to a logical order After you write down a lead, begin the body of the story with
a brief point-form outline. An outline Newswriters also refer to a story's "flow." Writers don't just plop down a string of ideas and sub-themes, one after another. You have to string them together, which you do by writing "transitions." Those come at the end of one idea and relate that thought or statement to the next idea.
3. Ending -- Inverted pyramid stories don't need a strong ending since those hard news stories simply end when there is nothing more to say. But other kinds of news stories often need a good ending. And as with any other kind of writing, the ending can be as difficult as the beginning. One way to end is with a "kicker," which is often
a catchy quote. Another effective ending is to But avoid preaching or lecturing at the end of the story.
It is often hard to resist, but if the story is |
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