Ledes & Nut Grafs: New Tools for Better Beginnings

Ledes & Nut Grafs
New Tools
with
Margot Lester & Steve Peha
© 2016 by Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information contact Margot Lester at margot@thewordfactory.com

Session Overview
Slug: Write stronger openings
Story: Strong ledes and nut grafs make us want to
keep reading
News: The top of the story has never mattered
more than now in the noisy, mobile-enable world.
So?: There are more ways to start a story than
the 5 Ws

Why We Care About
How Stories Start
• Readers are busy people just like
you.
• In today’s media-saturated world,
it’s hard to get and hold anyone’s
attention. When you have it, don’t
waste it. You may never get it back.

So?
Today’s news consumers want more
variety in how content begins, even
straight news.
We can no longer rely simply on the 5
Ws to start our stories.

Let’s Use Ledes &
Nut Grafs to Write
Better Beginnings

LEDE: the top, or introductory,
part designed to get readers’
attention and lead them into rest
of the piece. Can be a sentence, a
graf or a series of grafs,
including the nut graf.
Ledes & Nut Grafs

NUT GRAF: the “kernel” or the “why
should you care”. Establishes
relevance and helps people decide
whether to continue reading. Can
be a sentence in the ﬁrst graf or
stand on its own. Links the lede to
the rest of the story.
Ledes & Nut Grafs

The lede is the set up. It gets you
interested with a story or other
hook.
The nut graf closes the deal with a
distillation of the story or an
announcement of what’s to come.
Ledes & Nut Grafs

Lede
+ Nut Graf
Top of Your Story
Ledes & Nut Grafs

The Top of Your Story
This structure was pioneered by Chip Scanlan @ The Poynter Institute.
Slug: 6-word distillation of the story; may become
the title or excerpt for online articles.
Story: Broad theme or the main idea – the most
important thing the reader needs to know
News: Explanation of what’s new, different or
surprising
So?: Context necessary to show readers why they
should care, why the content is relevant to them

GOLDEN GRADE: Developers of Carter Terrace hoped to create ﬂat terraces for the affordable senior housing
community, but to make the deal pencil, they had to “follow the slope”. “We had to grapple with maximizing an
accessible path of travel for people with disabilities on a sloping site,” said developer Ramie Dare.
ith available
flat land
getting scarcer
and more
expensive,
some residential developers
reckon there’s gold in them thar
hills.
“These parcels are hard to
develop and tend to have more
environmental and geological
issues, especially on the West
Coast,” notes Randy Jackson,
president and principal in
charge of design for The
Planning Center in Costa Mesa,
Calif. “So many hillside sites
have been passed over until
their value has gotten so high
that someone goes after them.”
Even if a hillside property sells
for less than available flat land,
development costs can whittle
away profitability.
“You have to address the hassle
factor,” Jackson explains.
“You’ve got to make sure the
challenges and the costs are
worth it. Can you get the higher
densities and clustering of
product to create view people
will pay a premium to see?”
For smart developers, the
answer is yes — if they follow a
few essential steps.
Nut = graf/s
that give the
reader a
reason to keep
going.
Lede = ﬁrst few
grafs that set
up the story
and might
deliver some of
the news.

GOLDEN GRADE: Developers of Carter Terrace hoped to create ﬂat terraces for the affordable senior housing
community, but to make the deal pencil, they had to “follow the slope”. “We had to grapple with maximizing an
accessible path of travel for people with disabilities on a sloping site,” said developer Ramie Dare.
Slug
ith available
flat land
getting scarcer
and more
expensive,
some residential developers
reckon there’s gold in them thar
hills.
“These parcels are hard to
develop and tend to have more
environmental and geological
issues, especially on the West
Coast,” notes Randy Jackson,
president and principal in
charge of design for The
Planning Center in Costa Mesa,
Calif. “So many hillside sites
have been passed over until
their value has gotten so high
that someone goes after them.”
Even if a hillside property sells
for less than available flat land,
development costs can whittle
away profitability.
“You have to address the hassle
factor,” Jackson explains.
“You’ve got to make sure the
challenges and the costs are
densities and clustering of
product to create view people
will pay a premium to see?”
For smart developers, the
answer is yes — if they follow a
few essential steps.
Story
News
So?

Slug
ith available flat land
getting scarcer and more
expensive, some residential
developers reckon there’s gold in them
thar hills.
Story
Hillside development often involves a
profitable, but rugged path.

News
So?
Even if a hillside property sells for less
than available flat land, development
costs can whittle away profitability.”
For smart developers, the answer is yes
— if they follow a few essential steps.
“You have to address the hassle factor,”
Jackson explains. “You’ve got to make
sure the challenges and the costs are
densities and clustering of product to
create view people will pay a premium
to see?”

Our Nut Graf
This approach makes it easier
to write all kinds of
effective ledes and nut grafs.

25 Ways to Start
The Basics
1. Main idea or thesis
2. Crucial or compelling detail or data
3. A challenge to the audience
4. A question or series of questions
5. An opinion or complaint
6. A story or anecdote
7. A list

25 Ways to Start
The Question Lede
Nut Graf

25 Ways to Start
The Story Lede
Nut Graf

25 Ways to Start
More Creative Openings
8. A sound
9. Repetition
10. Extremely strong feelings
11. An exclamation or startling statement
12. A surprise or revelation
13. A quote (but not a literary one)
14. An outlandish statement

25 Ways to Start
More Creative Openings
15. A direct statement or challenge to
the reader
16. A fast action sequence
17. A description of the setting
18. A scary, exciting or intense moment

25 Ways to Start
A Sound

25 Ways to Start
An Intense Moment/
Unsettling Description
Nut Graf

25 Ways to Start
Literary Ledes
19. A simile or metaphor
20. A fantasy or fairy tale scenario
21. A famous quotation or saying
22. Foreshadowing
23. Unusual imagery
24. The past in present tense
25. Dialog

25 Ways to Start
Simile/Metaphor

Writing Strategies
The Idea-Details™ Strategy
IDEA: The most important
thing readers should know.
DETAILS: The examples,
explanations and evidence
that support your main[One complete sentence,
which might even be
the opening to your piece.]
[A bullet list to ﬂesh out
later]
EXAMPLE: a familiar model
EXPLANATION: a deﬁnition
or process
EVIDENCE: a data point,
fact or tangible
measurement

IDEA: The most important
DETAILS: The examples,
explanations and evidence
that support your mainWriting college essays is
stressful.
20 million people apply to
college each year (US DoE)
Hard to summarize your
life or an important
moment in 650 words on
CommonApp
“I couldn’t relate to any
of the prompts” (Adela M.)
Future depends on ability
to get into a good school
Writing Strategies
The Idea-Details™ Strategy

TELL: The most important
SHOW: Descriptions of how
something sounds, feels,
smells, looks, etc. May also
include emotions.
[One complete sentence,
which might even be
the opening to your piece.]
[A bullet list to ﬂesh out
later]
Writing Strategies
The Tell-Show™ Strategy

TELL: The most important
SHOW: Description using
sounds, feels, smells,
looks, etc. May also include
emotions.
Writing college essays is
stressful.
Tears well up
Face gets hot
Afraid of messing up
Hands shake
Pulse quickens
Hard to breathe
Confused by the prompt
Taunted by the cursor
Writing Strategies
The Tell-Show™ Strategy

Our Nut Graf
Use these strategies to
create stronger starts to
your stories.

? ? ?
Questions?
Observations?
Insights?
? ? ?

Presentation Slides:
http://www.slideshare.net/
Margot_Lester

Ledes & Nut Grafs
New Tools
with
Margot Lester & Steve Peha
tw: @word_factory | @stevepeha
insta: @beabetterwriter
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Ledes & Nut Grafs: New Tools for Better Beginnings

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