If I came to your house and told you to grab your things and follow me, how far would you go? To the front door? The driveway? Would you hop in my car without further explanation?

No matter how dazzling your scene-setting feature lead, at some point, readers want to know where we’re going with this story. And that’s the job of the nut paragraph, aka the nut graf. (This, by the way, is the nut graph for this story.)

The nut graph is the transition from the lead. In the nut graph, writers and editors:

• Explain the lead and its connection to the rest of the story
• Reveal your destination, or the essential theme of the story
• Set up the supporting material to explain the rest of the story
• Explain why the story is important to convince your readers to come along for the ride

You don’t need a nut graph in news stories, but they’re essential in feature-style stories.

Let’s pause and ponder that for a minute too.

Here are four ways to crack the nut graph:

1. Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em.

Remember the old writing guideline, “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em; tell ’em; then tell ’em what you told ’em?”

The nut graph is where you tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em.

The nut graph — aka the “billboard” or the “so-what graph” — is where you put the story into a nutshell. It explains why the story is timely and provides the kernel, or central theme, of your piece.

“Once you find that idea or thread, all the other anecdotes, illustrations, and quotes are pearls that hang on this thread,” says Thomas Boswell, a Washington Post sports columnist. “The thread may seem very humble, the pearls may seem very flashy, but it’s still the thread that makes the necklace.”

So the first step to writing a nut graph is to find that thread. In other words, you need to figure out your point, or story angle.

2. Summarize your story angle in one sentence.

One of my J-school professors used to say, “If you can’t write your story angle on the back of my business card, you don’t know what your story’s about yet.”

To figure out what your story is about, write a one-sentence walkaway. That’s the one sentence you want your reader to — you got it! — walk away with after reading your piece. Then craft that so tightly that it will fit on the back of a business card:

Your walkaway sentence should answer the readers’ two most burning questions:

1. What’s your point?
2. Why should I care?

Stuck? Try telling a friend who knows nothing about the story what it’s about. Then capture that summary for your nut graph.

Start every writing project with a one-sentence walkaway. It will help you figure what goes in, what stays out and how to frame your story. You might even tape it to your computer screen to keep it top of mind while you write.

3. Make a promise to your readers.

At The Philadelphia Inquirer, the nut graph is known as the “You may be wondering why we invited you to this party” section, writes Chip Scanlan, affiliate faculty member at The Poynter Institute.

It’s also known as the R.A. paragraph, says Don Ranly, Ph.D., professor of journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. That’s as in “rat’s ass,” as in “Who gives a rat’s ass about this story?”

The nut graph — aka the “so-what graph” — shows readers where the story is heading so they can decide whether they want to follow along. The nut graph is where you make a promise to your readers: If you read this, you will learn …

So tell readers why it’s important for them to read this story now. Don’t drop the “Why should I care?” angle of the story. The nut graph is a great place for a WIIFM or a reader benefit. Stuck? Try starting your walkaway sentence with You.

Make sure someone gives a rat’s ass. Want to grab readers’ attention? Start with a dazzling feature lead. But if you want them to follow you throughout the story, follow up with a solid nut graph.

4. Keep it short.

Don’t let your nut graph become the pig in the snake, counsels Jacqui Banaszynski.

“I like the nut graph,” says the Knight Chair in Editing at the Missouri School of Journalism and visiting faculty member of The Poynter Institute.

“Readers need a frame around the picture. But sometimes the nut graph sticks out like a pig going through a snake. The nut graph doesn’t have to be a paragraph. Instead, it can be one elegant line that foreshadows the rest of the story.”

Roy Peter Clark, vice president and senior scholar of The Poynter Institute, agrees: “The ‘nut’ is supposed to signify the hard kernel of the story, what is at the center. But it’s a clumsy metaphor, because it suggests there is a shell that has to be cracked to get to it.”

That’s no fun for the reader, writes Kate Long, a writing coach for The Charleston Gazette: “You’re eating this nice brownie, and suddenly you hit a chunk of dry flour.”

To keep your reader from choking on your nut graph, write a short, graceful summary that’s in keeping with the tone and style of the rest of your piece.

Summarize your point in a sentence or two. That’s all you need for a nut graph.

The post How to write a nut graf, or nut graph appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

New York’s Grey Lady isn’t so gray any more. Topping one-third of its stories with feature leads, The New York Times covers the world in living color.

Feature leads grab attention with concrete, creative, provocative details. In a recent edition, the Times brought 33% stories to life with feature lead approaches including:

1. Description

Description lights up readers’ brains — literally.

Let’s pause and ponder that for a minute too.

For description, go to the scene and observe, using all five of your senses. Then recreate what you’ve experienced on the page, showing readers what they don’t ordinarily see, making them feel what they don’t normally feel.

Description topped the list of The New York Times feature lead approaches, with seven descriptive leads making up 8% of all leads in a recent edition.

Matt A.V. Chaban uses description to start a story about how real estate development has stalled out in North Brooklyn, despite the boom elsewhere in the city.

Notice that feature leads aren’t just for feature stories. This lead, for instance, tops a business analysis.

2. Examples, for instances

Lead by example: A pint of “for instances” is worth a gallon of abstraction.

Darth Vader toothbrushes and Pepto-Bismol-slathered schnauzers change the pictures in people’s heads and move readers to act.

Examples came in No. 2 of The New York Times feature lead approaches in a recent edition. Six “for instance” leads made up 7% of all the leads we reviewed.

Ben Sisario uses examples to launch a story about radio’s hottest new format:

3. Juicy details

Fun facts and juicy details make your copy more vivid. The New York Times ran five juicy details leads — 5% of all leads — in a recent edition.

Michael Paulson uses juicy details to introduce a story about how local governments are taking an increasingly hard line on religious shop owners who refuse to serve gay customers:

4. Anecdote

When you need to win the hearts and minds of your readers, tell them a story. Anecdote, narrative and other storytelling techniques are the most powerful forms of human communication.

The Times ran four anecdotal leads — 5% of all leads — in a recent edition.

Tatiana Schlossberg and Nina Bernstein use anecdote to start a story about the vulnerability of frail nursing home residents in New York state. There, rates of substandard care, neglect and abuse are high, according to national studies:

5. Compression of details

For compression of details, you list your most powerful details, squeeze them together in a paragraph, then polish them. Like squeezing together a lump of coal to make a diamond, compression of details condenses fascinating facts into a passage that’s more than the sum of its parts.

The Times ran two compression-of-details leads — 2% of all leads — in a recent edition.

Claire Cain Miller compressed three details to introduce a story about new machines that can handle knowledge and service jobs, as well as factory and clerical work:

6. Wordplay

Want to captivate your readers? Get the media to steal your sound bites? Make your message more eloquent and memorable? Wordplay can help.

The Times ran two wordplay leads — that’s 2% of all leads — in a recent edition.

Wordplay includes techniques like alliteration, balance and rhyme. Matthew Goldstein used twist of phrase in this lead for a story about a billionaire investor who managed to fend off a criminal insider trading investigation of himself. Now he’s looking for a former prosecutor and several agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to join his new $10 billion investment firm:

7. Metaphor

Human beings have always learned metaphorically: We add to our knowledge by comparing new concepts to those we already understand. Take computers: They have desktops, files, folders, documents and notepads — all analogies for things in offices.

These analogies serve as shortcuts to understanding. So when you want to help your readers understand new, technical or complicated information, metaphor is the answer.

The Times ran two metaphor leads — that’s 2% of all leads — in a recent edition.

Matthew L. Wald used metaphor to launch this story about how hundreds of scientists and engineers are looking at new kinds of nuclear reactors, intended to be safer, cheaper sources of energy worldwide:

8. Human interest

It’s the “Peer Principle of Persuasion”: People connect with people.

Readers find messages more readable, understandable and persuasive when your let a person stand for your point. So find a poster person and use human interest for your leads.

The Times ran one human-interest lead — that’s 1% of all leads — in a recent edition.

Elisabeth Rosenthal used human interest to start this story about how “testing has become to the United States’ medical system what liquor is to the hospitality industry: a profit center with large and often arbitrary markups”:

Feature features.

Want to grab people’s attention and keep it for the long haul? Take a tip from The New York Times and run more feature stories and feature leads.

What can you steal from the newspaper of record’s approach to starting stories?

The post Why should you write feature article leads? appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..