Saturday, November 1, 2014

I'd rather not have bugs in my breakfast

This week share a great beginning from a newspaper, magazine, website or book, explaining why it worked. Remember to do this in such a way that your readers learn something about how to begin a piece of writing.     

One of my favorite websites to follow online is Bustle.com. It is a website that posts articles that are entertaining and relatable. They cover a variety of topics ranging from entertainment to lifestyle to fashion and news. They came to mind when I read this week’s topic because part of the reason I enjoy their articles is the quirky leads.  For example, they recently posted an article on “14 Harmless Things That Don’t Deserve All The Hate They Get” The opening sentence was: “There are some things in this world that are universally acceptable to hate, including the series finale of How I Met You Mother, any kind of vegetable that ever grew, and airport security lines.”
It’s a great lead because it opens the conversation on the topic in a humorous way that makes the reader want to keep reading. They quickly brought up things readers might actually dislike to create a base point for the discussion on things that don’t deserve the hate. Tip 20 in the slides say to have fun and Bustle.com works hard to do that. I think the best thing anyone can learn from their example is that leads don’t have to be dry and simply informative introductions.

Editing mistake of the week: My best friend flew out to visit so I’ve been having a small “staycation” in her hotel. This morning when I went to order room service I couldn’t help but laugh at the editing mistake the restaurant had made on the menu.



How I would edit it: Remove the capitalized letters, add a coma in the list and offer warm maple syrup rather than worm maple syrup.


Thick french toast battered with eggs & cinnamon, warm maple syrup and topped with whipped cream.

2 comments:

  1. I agree that leads should be fun, as long as the subject of the article is fun. The finale of How I Met Your Mother was terrible though.

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  2. Worm syrup! What a terrible mistake to find on a menu! Good catch.

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