ABSTRACT
Careful use of linkage words will help tie one thought to another, one graf to another. When the people have completed their lead, they will be tempted to just bang away, plugging facts, color and other stuff into their story as it comes to mind. A lead is the people promise to readers of things to come, facts to be revealed, a story to be told. A Washington Post correspondent takes readers on a trip: San Cristobal, Mexico — Chickens strut along the dust-blown streets, pecking for scraps among newly laid paving stones. Nevertheless, the people can build credibility in their writing and maintain reading momentum by explaining frankly what they don’t know. Nothing maintains story momentum like a sparkling anecdote or a bit of humor inserted carefully to tug readers ahead. Many news stories require switches in geographic locators — the “where” elements. Like law and science, American politics has its subtleties, which the people must catch and translate.
