By KRISTIN GILGER
Deputy editor, Arizona Republic
Synopsis by CATRINNE JOHANSSON
After a morning of relaxed listening to the first batch of NWW keynote speakers, Kristin Gilger turned up the tempo in her workshop.
Titled “How to Break the Lead Barrier,” the workshop was an intense discussion in which Gilger displayed leads on an overhead projector and asked the audience to deliver their verdicts.
Gilger focused on leads that fall between the cracks of the “hard, “soft,” or “anecdotal” classifications. These hybrid leads are often extraordinarily powerful – if they are done right, Gilger said. And therein lies the controversy, because what makes is a lead that’s “done right,” often depends on who reads it.
Gilger offered a road map of sorts, showing the way to the extraordinarily grabbing lead, while also marking the quicksand and blind turns that threaten to leave the reader puzzled and lost:
The kernel of news has to be high in the story. Fail here, and the reader loses interest, and moves on.
Find the emotional center of the story. “The ideal lead weaves the theme with the emotional center of the story,” Gilger said.
Use pared-down language without hyperbole. This gives the lead a crisp and clear feel. “Attributions tend to take away from the pared-down feel, so they usually appear further down in stories with these types of leads,” Gilger said.
Write simple, declarative sentences. “We lose a lot of readers at the top of a story because we try to tell them too much at one time,” Gilger said.
Speak with authority. Gilger showed several examples of leads wherein attributions were scarce – leaving the impression the writer clearly knew his or her material and could speak on the topic authoritatively. But Gilger warned that speaking with authority presupposes extensive research and solid reporting skills.
She also emphasized that authority should not be confused with condescension. “Authority is not talking down to the reader;, it’s making a statement and backing it up,” she stated.
Many audience members told Gilger that their editors would “have a complete fit,” should they dare to try some of the techniques she discussed during the workshop.
Admitting to being more flexible than most editors – “because I’m crazy” – Gilger still urged the audience to keep on trying. The creative gains make up for the editor’s wrath, she said.
Gilger rounded off the workshop with a piece of text that goes against even the most basic rules, but also is the ultimate example of creative thinking resulting in a lasting impression:
“If you saw a man in a tux and black bow tie swagger on stage like an elegant pirate, and if you had been told he would spend an hour singing Cole Porter, Gershwin, and Rodgers and Hart, and if when he opened his mouth you heard a little of your life in his voice, and if you saw his body arch back on the high notes (the ones he insisted you hear and feel and live with him), and if his swing numbers made you want to bounce and be happy and be young and be carefree, and if when he sang ‘”Try a Little Tenderness’ ” and got to the line about a woman’s wearing the same shabby dress it made you profoundly sad, and if years later you felt that his death made you a little less alive, you must have been watching this man who started as a saloon singer in Hoboken and went on to become the very definition of American popular music.” (Jeffrey Page; The Record, New Jersey)
“This is a cutline,” Gilger said, pausing while the surprised rumblings quieted down.
The record-long cutline accompanied a picture of Frank Sinatra, Gilger said, describing how the writer was faced with coming up with something original for someone who’s had everything written about him already.
“Notice the writer never uses Frank Sinatra’s name,” Gilger said.
