The Lead Board

SNAPSHOT LEADS: Create a picture in the reader's mind.

Abraham Lincoln wasn't the sort of man who could lose himself in a crowd. After all, he stood 6 foot 4 inches tall, and to top it off he wore a high silk hat. His height was mostly his long bony legs, and when he sat in a chair, he seemed no taller than anyone else. Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

TALKING LEADS: Maybe you want to start with a line or two of dialogue.

"Where is Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

THINKING LEADS: Start with a thought inside a character or you.

Mother taught me to be polite to dragons. Particularly polite, I mean; she taught me to be ordinarily polite to everyone. Well, it makes sense. With all the enchanted princess and disguised wizards and transformed kings and so on wandering around, you never know whom you might be talking to. But dragons are a special case. Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

MISLEADING LEADS: Set up expectations, then surprise the reader.

I would like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not terrified and screaming like the other people in the car. Prairie Home Companion by Garrison Keillor

SET-UP LEADS: Set-up the action for the whole story in a few sentences.

This is not a book about my life or yours. It does not hold the secret to success or salvation. It won't strengthen your self-esteem. I don't think it will get me on Oprah. I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional by Wendy Kaminer

THINK ABOUT HOW YOU MIGHT ADAPT THESE TO ANY FORM, GENRE OF WRITING...