Best Ways to Start Your Stories! Introducing Five Types of Leads For News Stories.

In a previous blog, I have introduced you all the ways to pick up your interests as a writer. However, a harder part after that is how can you start your story in a way that can attract your readers to continue reading.

Writing a good lead is a great way to introduce your stories to the readers. (Source: Pexel)

Therefore, now I will be introducing you five types of leads that you can make use of in your stories. As the Covid-19 news are the most common news in the recent pandemic, therefore I will be using the news related to the Covid-19 pandemic as examples to illustrate how each type of leads can be used.

1. Summary Lead

As to start, the Summary Lead is one of the most common lead to start a story. The author will often use it as a straighforward way to describe the 5W1H of the stories, which means who, where, what, why ,when and how. The lead often just introduces the facts of a news story only.

The news entitled <Covid-19: Malaysia records 0.4% rise in new cases, says Health DG> by The Star which uses a summary lead. (Source: The Star)

As for the example of the Summary Lead, the local news agency The Star had published a news entitled <Covid-19: Malaysia records 0.4% rise in new cases, says Health DG>.

The lead of the news is:

" Malaysia recorded a 0.4% increase in new Covid-19 cases for the Epidemiological Week 23 (ME 23) from June 5 to 11, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abudllah ."

In the lead, the writer cleary written out the few elements of 5W1H of the news story, which are Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham (WHO), from June 5 to 11 (WHEN), Malaysia (WHERE) and recorded a 0.4% increase in new Covid-19 cases (WHAT). Thus, it is a great example of a Summary Lead which can be used in our stories.

Link for orginal news: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/06/13/covid-19-malaysia-records-04-rise-in-new-cases-says-health-dg

2. Descriptive Lead

Other than Summary Lead, another lead that is quite similar to it is Descriptive Lead. Descriptive Lead also state the facts of the news story. However, the lead dives deeper into the stories and gives more details of the stories.

The example for Desciptive Lead can be shown in the news storu entitled <Fears of data abuse as Chinese health code turns red for financial scandal protesters> by The Star. The news was mainly about the situation of the policy in China regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

The news is about the China protest regarding the pandemic policy there. (Source: The Star)

Below is the lead of the news, which is a Descriptive Lead:

"Victims of what could be one of China’s largest financial scandals found themselves unable to step outside to join planned protests because their health QR codes had turned red, reigniting fears that the large-scale data collected for contact tracing would be abused for other uses."

From the lead, you can cleary understand the details of the protest of China, which was related to the data collecting from the health QR codes. It discloses a detailed amount of informations, which allows the readers to obtain the overall information of the story instantly.

Link for original news: https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2022/06/14/fears-of-data-abuse-as-chinese-health-code-turns-red-for-financial-scandal-protesters

3. Punch Lead

In contrast to Descriptive Lead, the Punch Lead goes to a totally different direction. The author will use a short but powerful verb to kick start the story. Instead of juicy details, the author will intentionally uses strong verbs and a direct way to attract the readers instantly and tells the stories afterwards.

The example of news for this kind of lead is <Few takers on last day of PICKids> on The Star.

This news illustrates the uses of Punch Lead. (Source: The Star)

The Punch Lead used in the news story is:

"There was little fuss as the curtains came down on the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids)."

The lead is short and does not describe any details of why the amount children receiving vaccination is low. It uses keywords such as "little fuss" and strong verb like: "came down" to attract the audiences to continue reading.

To conclude, the lead in this news story, which is a Punch Lead is a great example of ways to gain readers' attention in a short amount of time.

Link for original news: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/06/01/few-takers-on-last-day-of-pickids

4. Anecdotal Lead

Besides, another creative way to start your story is using the Anecdotal Lead. The lead uses a descriptive narrative to attract the readers into the story.

The lead usually shapes its focus on the minor perspective of the story, which lead the readers feel like reading the opening of a storybook.

A example for the lead can be potrayed in the article <Last chance to get free vaccines for kids> written in The Star.

The news entitled <Last chance to get free vaccines for kids> shows the uses of anecdotal lead. (Source: The Star)

The lead of the news story is written as below:

" A business executive, who wants to be known only as Annie, has taken leave from work today. The 37-year-old wants to ensure that her six-year-old daughter gets her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine before the deadline."

The author specifically did not tell the readers about what the story will be about in the lead. It attracts the readers to continue reading as they are curious of how Annie and her daughther"s story will turn out afterwards.

Thus, we can conclude that the Anecdotal Lead is another interesting approach to reveal the start of the story and lead the audiences wanting to read more about it.

Link for original story: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/05/31/last-chance-to-get-free-vaccines

5. Contrast Lead

Last, Contrast Lead is also one of the interesting ways to start the story. Contrast Lead uses two statements which have opposite view on the same event.

The opposing statements creates a strong paragraph which encourage the readers to wanting to know more about the justifications from both sides.

The example for this kind of lead can taken from the news entitled <Rise in cases ‘does not indicate an impending wave’>. It is a news published recently by The Star to show the experts' opinions on the rise in cases of Covid-19.

The news describes the experts' opinions on the rises of Covid 19 cases. (Source: The Star)

The lead of the news is

"Despite daily Covid-19 cases breaching the 2,000 mark, experts say there is no reason to worry about a new wave."

The news described the serious situation of the cases rising until the 2000 mark, but also show the experts' opinions that said it is nothing to worry about.

The author used the contrasting statement to interest the readers to continue reading and learn about the how the experts justify the statement that is contrasting with the situation.

Link for original news: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/06/18/rise-in-cases-does-not-indicate-an-impending-wave

As a final conclusion, the using of the five types of leads can help you start a story effectively and attract your target readers. Therefore, try making use these types of leads above to enhance your storytelling skills in the future!