Need help writing a lede!! I am writing a story about the diversity in my town. a lede is a first paragraph..?

Question

my subtopic is MULTIRACIAL (more than one race) families in our town.....and how they add to the diversity of my town....this story is for my journalism calss and i need help writing a lede...please help...thanks in advance.

this is what a lede is:

http://www.uark.edu/~kshurlds/FOJ/HW2.html

Answer 1

Is this a feature? It sounds like a feature type story. Is this newspaper or magazine journalism?

I write both, and they're definitely different. However, I don't think it ever hurts a story to be interesting even in a newspaper.

For a lede on such a story I'd comb my interviews for a anecdote, or a scene, or even (gasp!) a quote that sets the tone you want on the article - maybe a family holiday dinner where both races are present and the festivities include traditions from both worlds. Or maybe how a child of mixed race introduces some of their unique traditions to their elementary school class.

Without doing the interviews myself, I can't tell you what will make a good lede. I will tell you that the BEST article will be the one where reader can't tell you are in it. Let the people speak. Use their word choices. Don't lead your reader into a "lesson". Readers feel cheated when you do that. Just give the reader a peek into these people's lives with the challenges, rewards, and unique insites of mixed race marriages.

The best compliment I ever received was when a neighbor recognized the source of my interview from the wording of the quotes. He said I had captured Arlin and Betty so well, he felt like he was sitting at the table talking to them instead of listening to his wife read him the article.

Shoot for that and you'll win prizes and earn awards.