Writing an effective lead/hook

1. Writing an effective lead/hook

2. What is a Lead/hook? *A hook is what grabs the attention of the audience in a piece of writing. *Good writers know that it is important to catch their audience’s attention right from the beginning. *There are a few different ways to make your audience want to read more…

3. Ask a question • Makes the audience want to read more to find the answer. • May even be a question that the reader already had in mind. What are you thankful for? Assignment background — Lingering unemployment, stock market plunges, and depressed home prices have done a number on Americans’ savings and psyches. So, what should you be thankful for? Despite all this, on November 24, families will put aside their worries, stuff themselves with turkey and count their blessings. In these uncertain times, many of us are grateful for things we might not have appreciated in the past: A job; health insurance; old friends; a home.

4. Use a quote • Use a quote that is relevant to the article. • Interesting way to give audience an idea of the topic. (CNN) -- Amazon is rumored to be making a phone. "(Mark) Mahaney's note doesn't spell out that the phone will use Google's Android operating system, but it suggests that will be the case by saying Amazon will need to pay Microsoft an 'OS royalty‘. Microsoft has recently been able to get payments from other Android hardware partners,” said blogerAllThingsD. Citing checks of the company's supply chain, an analyst at Citigroup has issued a memo saying the phone may cost less than $200 and likely will be available in the middle of next year, according to multiple news reports in financial publications.

5. Use an anecdote/short narrative • Helps humanize the article and allows audience to relate to the topic. • Good for a story about an individual or group of people. Zell buys luxury Elysian Hotel in Chicago's Gold Coast Sam Zell is jumping into the luxury hotel market with a deal to buy the two-year-old Elysian Hotel in the Gold Coast and convert it into a Waldorf Astoria. Sources say the billionaire financier has agreed to pay about $95 million for the 188-room boutique hotel, which competes with luxury chains Peninsula and Four Seasons as one of the most expensive in the city, with suites starting at $525 a night. At about $505,000 a room, it would be the highest per-room price ever paid for a Chicago hotel.

6. Say something unexpected • People are drawn to the unexpected. • Surprises the audience and grabs their attention. In video, White House shooting suspect calls himself 'modern-day Jesus‘ Weeks before his arrest on a charge of attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama, an Idaho man taped a video pitch for Oprah Winfrey -- expressing his contempt for government, offering secrets to solving global problems and proclaiming himself to be "the modern-day Jesus Christ." The video, released Friday to CNN by Idaho State University, features a man dressed in all black, with brown hair, a beard and a crucifix hanging around his neck.

7. Just the facts • Most common lead/hook for news stories and releases. • Must be an interesting fact related to topic. China arrests head of school that ran packed bus A young survivor of a fatal collision between a school bus and a coal truck recovers at Qingyang People's Hospital in Qingyang City, in northwestern China's Gansu province The bus, originally a nine-seat van, was carrying 62 children and two adults when it crashed head-on with a truck in northwest Gansu providence on Wednesday. Their teacher and the driver died along with the children who were 3 and 5 years old, and all 43 surviving children were injured.

8. sources • http://www.writing-world.com/basics/dawn07.shtml • http://nonfictionbookeditor.com/2010/08/02/hook-me-now-how-to-write-a-strong-lead/ • http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Write-Attention-Grabbing-Introductions-That-Will-Instantly-Hook-Your-Reader&id=137971