Like the fiery first notes from a Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar solo, a great story lead, that first paragraph, will grab readers’ attention, pull them through the door and compel them to read further.
It sells the article.
The writer’s first judge is his editor. I
wrote this daring lead for a 1999 story on Toronto’s Pearson Airport. My
editor loved it:
“The
enormous symmetries of Terminal New are irresistible, their slender forms
reminiscent of a spaceport hailing travelers from other worlds. Once built, it
will be the centerpiece of a massive modernisation intended to meet the 21st
Century needs of Canada’s largest hub.”
 |
| Pearson Airport (GTAA) |
A few years later I wrote another Pearson
piece for a different editor, and reused my 1999 lead. This guy choked on it. “Were
you on drugs when you wrote this?” Ever the Mercenary Pen, I rotated the lead 180 degrees, from inviting my readers into the future to dragging
them 150 years into the past. I wrote:
“The size, symmetries and architectural
innovation of Lester B. Pearson International Airport’s new Terminal 1 – the
vastness of the main departure hall is intended to recapture the grandeur of a
Victorian train station – make it an impressive new addition to the Toronto landscape.”
 |
| Terminal redevelopment (GTAA) |
Surprisingly often, the editor is right.
But I still rate the 1999 lead as one of my favourites, and the 2004
retro-re-write, which ed#2 gobbled up, as B.O.R.I.N.G.
Copyright ©
Carroll McCormick 2014
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