Great intros - can anyone ever do better?
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Roy Greenslade
@GreensladeR
Friday 23 April 2010 08.59 BST First published on Friday 23 April 2010 08.59 BST
Writing intros, whether for news stories, sports reports or features, whether in print or online, is often the greatest challenge a journalist faces.
I recall many colleagues, reporters and subs, who believed that once they had the intro everything else would fall into place. I guess we were all influenced by the first line in the bible: "First God made heaven and earth." Beat that!
Anyway, a couple of old hands writing on the gentlemanranters site remind us of some classic intros while offering advice along the way.
Roy Stockdill, former News of the World staffer, recalls the famous opening line in a column by Nancy Spain after she left the Daily Express to join his paper:
Mother always said I would end up in the News of the World.
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Geoffrey Mather, ex-Daily Express features editor, records one of the all-time greatest intros by the all-time greatest popular paper colour writer, Vincent Mulchrone, of the Daily Mail. It was a piece about the lying-in-state of Winston Churchill:
Two rivers run silently through London tonight, and one is made of people. Dark and quiet as the night-time Thames itself, it flows through Westminster Hall, eddying about the foot of the rock called Churchill.
And Ken Ashton, award-winning journalist and journalism tutor (and one-time mayor of Prestatyn), recalls a wonderful opener that James Thurber, dared to write in his days on the New York Evening Post:
Dead. That was what the man was when police found him in an area way last night.
Ashton goes on to offer advice on how to write attention-grabbing intros "to lure the reader into reading on." Here are some of his thoughts:
In a news story, the ideal should be as few words as needed, with a maximum of 25. In a feature, you can extend that to provide colour.
The intro should be short, tight, crisp and contain a couple of magic words to make the reader feel he needs to know more. Never put a place, name or date in an intro...
It's a good idea to practise writing intros and rewriting published ones. Sometimes they are the journalist's worst nightmare. Features are different. What sells them? Anecdotes.
You can begin your feature with any kind of anecdotal line that makes the reader feel 'I want to read this.' Some of the best features intros come from writers who have a tale to tell.
Then he gives specific advice on intros for travel writing, film reviews general interest features and sports commentaries. He concludes:
If you're stuck for an intro – an advanced version of writer's block – what do you do? The simple answer is to carry on writing... I recommend filling a notebook with snatches of intros, good and bad and your own versions. It's a habit that will pay off.
My own favourite intro is attributed to the sports writer Harry Harris during his days at the Daily Mirror, probably in the 1980s:
Here in Jerusalem, birthplace of the legendary Jesus Christ...
Oh yes, he did. The copy paper was passed around along with some of Harry's other gems. On the other hand, the guy was an amazing story-getter, a reminder that we need a mix of skills in journalism.
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Roy Greenslade
@GreensladeR
Friday 23 April 2010 08.59 BST First published on Friday 23 April 2010 08.59 BST
Writing intros, whether for news stories, sports reports or features, whether in print or online, is often the greatest challenge a journalist faces.
I recall many colleagues, reporters and subs, who believed that once they had the intro everything else would fall into place. I guess we were all influenced by the first line in the bible: "First God made heaven and earth." Beat that!
Anyway, a couple of old hands writing on the gentlemanranters site remind us of some classic intros while offering advice along the way.
Roy Stockdill, former News of the World staffer, recalls the famous opening line in a column by Nancy Spain after she left the Daily Express to join his paper:
Mother always said I would end up in the News of the World.
Sign up to the new-look Media Briefing: bigger, better, brighter
Read more
Geoffrey Mather, ex-Daily Express features editor, records one of the all-time greatest intros by the all-time greatest popular paper colour writer, Vincent Mulchrone, of the Daily Mail. It was a piece about the lying-in-state of Winston Churchill:
Two rivers run silently through London tonight, and one is made of people. Dark and quiet as the night-time Thames itself, it flows through Westminster Hall, eddying about the foot of the rock called Churchill.
And Ken Ashton, award-winning journalist and journalism tutor (and one-time mayor of Prestatyn), recalls a wonderful opener that James Thurber, dared to write in his days on the New York Evening Post:
Dead. That was what the man was when police found him in an area way last night.
Ashton goes on to offer advice on how to write attention-grabbing intros "to lure the reader into reading on." Here are some of his thoughts:
In a news story, the ideal should be as few words as needed, with a maximum of 25. In a feature, you can extend that to provide colour.
The intro should be short, tight, crisp and contain a couple of magic words to make the reader feel he needs to know more. Never put a place, name or date in an intro...
It's a good idea to practise writing intros and rewriting published ones. Sometimes they are the journalist's worst nightmare. Features are different. What sells them? Anecdotes.
You can begin your feature with any kind of anecdotal line that makes the reader feel 'I want to read this.' Some of the best features intros come from writers who have a tale to tell.
Then he gives specific advice on intros for travel writing, film reviews general interest features and sports commentaries. He concludes:
If you're stuck for an intro – an advanced version of writer's block – what do you do? The simple answer is to carry on writing... I recommend filling a notebook with snatches of intros, good and bad and your own versions. It's a habit that will pay off.
My own favourite intro is attributed to the sports writer Harry Harris during his days at the Daily Mirror, probably in the 1980s:
Here in Jerusalem, birthplace of the legendary Jesus Christ...
Oh yes, he did. The copy paper was passed around along with some of Harry's other gems. On the other hand, the guy was an amazing story-getter, a reminder that we need a mix of skills in journalism.
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