How to Write a Zinger Lead
Feature stories are fun to read, and a good zinger lead will pull your reader right in, ready to listen to the story you have to tell. By practicing and learning the art of writing good leads, you will have one of the most difficult and important tasks of feature writing mastered.
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Instructions
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Give your lead a one-two punch using a zinger lead. These leads can deliver a wallop, contain a puzzle, a pun, or a twist on the ordinary.
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Study tease leads, because zinger leads are very similar. This news lead is clean and crisp, uncluttered and often uses repeated key phrases that resound nicely on the ear.
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Use a zinger lead with humorous stories, setting the reader up and then nailing her with a clever line. These are some of the reasons zinger leads are tough to write, but a lot of fun to read.
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Massage and mold your words and language into a distinct shape and pattern that plays a little game of surprise and wit, drawing your reader naturally into your real story.
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Practice one-two punch imagery and word play every day, and see how this thinking can be used when you need to writer zingers.
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Write excellent features because your good lead will never substitute for the meat of your real story.
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Keep practicing the techniques and writing of the 6 major different leads: descriptive, quote, zinger, tease, anecdotal and summation until they come to you almost naturally. These are great skill building exercises for an up-and-coming prize feature writer.
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