Feature Lead vs. Summary Lead

A summary lead is intended to give the reader everything they should expect in the story all in the first sentence. You must tell them the five W's: who, what, when where and why. The 'how' is also very important in the lead. You must be concise and not use any unnecessary words. Using the inverted pyramid is affective and helps to illustrate your main point more clearly.

A feature lead has a different intent then the typical summary lead. It is used to give your reader a sort of creative outline of what the story is going to be about, without giving them all the explicit details. There is also a wide range of different feature leads. There is the anecdotal lead, where the writer gives the basic point of the story and then uses a anecdote to support it. Another form is called the narrative lead, where you issue a more lengthy lead including a story or quotes. Descriptive leads are good if you wish to focus your story on a specific topic, such as a person or place. Question leads are affective only when they are used to completely catch the reader off guard. Even though there are a variety of feature leads it is best to experiment with each until you find the one that works the best with your story.

1) As President Obama's nominee to the high court began her rounds on Capitol Hill yesterday, her task was to be seen but not heard. In the entirety of her public appearance with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sotomayor's only words were "thank you" -- and those were mouthed, not spoken aloud. She increased her word output 50 percent during her appearance later with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), saying to him: "Thank you, sir."

2) Ten movies in 14 years may not seem like a lot, until you realize that it took five years and an army of computer animators, designers, sound- and visual-effects artists, voice actors and software engineers to create 98 minutes of "Up."