Leads are Seeds

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Leads are Seeds

• Leads are seeds that help a writer begin to
  figure out where the plant is growing.
• Barry Lane
• Revisers Toolbox

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What are leads?

• Leads are not
• Topic Sentences
• Introductions

• Leads are
• Attention grabbers
• leading our audience to the rest of our
  narratives
• Springboards for the rest of our narrative
• Sometimes action-packed

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Why are they important?

• The lead is one of the crucial parts of a piece
  of writing. Its often the point when readers
  decide if theyre going to continue reading
  As writers, youll want your leads to bring your
  readers into your writing by creating
  tensionsome problem readers solve or question
  they answer by reading the rest of the writing.
  Later on you can embed the context and fill in
  the who-what-where-when-why that a reader will
  need as the text progresses.
• Nancie Atwell, In the Middle New Understandings
  About Writing, Reading and Learning

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The Lead Board
Adapted from Barry Lanes Revisers Toolbox

• 1. Action Leads jump into the middle of a
  story
• Ex And suddenly everything stops.
• Runa by Alison James
• Snapshot Leads creates a picture in readers
  minds
• The doorman of the Kilmarnock was six foot
  tall. He wore a pale blue uniform, and white
  gloves that made his hands look enormous. He
  opened the door of the yellow taxi as gently as
  an old maid stroking a cat.
• Smart Alec Kill by Raymond Chandler

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The Lead Board

• 3. Talking Leads start it with dialogue
• Ex Where is Papa going with that ax? said
  Fern to her mother as they were setting the table
  for breakfast.
• Charlottes Web by E.B. White
• Ex. Scott! Get down here on the double!
• Dad bellowed.
• 4. Thinking Leads start it with a thought
• Ex As a boy, I never knew where my mother
  was from where she was born, who her parents
  were.
• The Color of Water by James McBride
• Ex I couldnt imagine why my father was
  hollering for me at 700 in the morning. I
  thought fast about what I might have done to get
  him riled.
• Examples cited in Nancie Atwells In the
  Middle

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The Lead Board

• 5. Misleading Leads set up expectations, the
  surprise
• Ex Until Columbus reached the New World the
  people he called Indians lived in peace and
  harmony with one another. Not so.
• Not So! By Paul Boller Jr.
• 6. Set-up Leads set-up the action for the whole
  story in a few sentences
• Ex I gulped my milk, pushed away from the
  table, and bolted out of the kitchen, slamming
  the screen door behind me. I ran down to the
  dock as fast as my legs could carry me. My feet
  pounded on the old wood, hurrying me toward the
  sound of my dads voice. Scott! he bellowed
  again.
• Examples cited in Nancie Atwells In the Middle

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Boring and Typical Leads

• What is the most boring lead?
• In this report/paper I will tell you about.
• In my English III class we were assigned
• I will be writing about
• Typical Leads
• It was a day at the end of June.
• --Read example
• According to.
• The __________________ states that
• In Websters dictionary, the word ____ means

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Leads in Expository (To Inform) Writing

• 1. Snapshot paint a picture to draw in reader
• - Boring Ice skating is my favorite sport.
• - Better Its ten degrees outside and the
  river is frozen a foot thick. A lone figure
  glides along the black ice. The only sound is
  the scraping of each blade as it bites into the
  river. Thats me doing my favorite sport, ice
  skating.
• This has been edited from
• a longer list by Barry Lane to
• suit our purposes for Personal
• Narrative writing.

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Leads in Exposition Writing

• 2. Strongly stated question readers might have
  a strong question is one we all want to know the
  answer to.
• - Boring In this paper I will attempt to
  answer the question why history is important.
• - Better Whats the point of studying
  history? Who cares about what happened long ago?
  After all, arent the people in history books
  dead?
• - The History of US by Joy Hakim

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Leads in Expository Writing

• 3. Flaunt favorite bits of information from your
  event facts that made you smile, laugh or
  grossed you out.
• - Boring Did you ever wonder what kind of
  embarrassing things could happen to you in high
  school?
• - Better Though weve been killing them for
  years now, I have never tested the folklore that,
  with a little cream and sugar, flies taste very
  much like black raspberries. Until I got to
  Biology class
• Now you try it! Plant a seed.

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Resources

• Lane, Barry. Revisers Toolbox.
• Shoreham, VT Discover Writing Press, 1999.
• Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle New
  Understandings About Writing, Researching, and
  Learning. 2nd ed. Ed. Lois Bridges.
  Portsmouth, NH Boynton/Cook, 1998.