Story Structure
most important information comes first
What is the inverted pyramid?
Provides answers to the most important three or four of the five W’s and H
What is summary/straight news lead?
a headline in which every word except “a, of, the, to, (etc.)” is capitalized
What is upstyle?
What the subject is doing
What is predicate?
stories that can run any time
What is evergreen?
Facts are dispersed throughout the story — supported by quotes — to maintain reader interest.
What is LQTQ format?
Uses an attention grabbing statistic to grab the reader’s attention
What is statistic lead?
headline in which only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized
What is downstyle?
The subject of the sentence performs the action
What is active voice?
Stories that explore and explain people, things, organizations or pop culture having an impact on your community’s culture
What is trend stories?
Combines elements from the inverted pyramid and narrative-style writing
What is hourglass structure?
Describes the physical location where a story takes place
What is scene-setting lead?
secondary headline that appears directly below the main headline to provide a concise summary of the story's key details
What is deck?
The action is happening to the subject
What is passive voice?
Stories designed to show the value or uniqueness of the subject
What is human interest stories?
A chronological retelling including detail, dialogue and additional background info.
What is narrative?
Uses the second person (you) voice to directly address the reader
What is direct address lead?
like labels for stories in print
What is kickers?
Verbs ending in -ed
What is past participles?
Stories that provide additional analysis of a current topic in the news
What is background stories?
Important info that doesn’t make the cut in the lead. Helps set up the first quote.
What is nut graf?
Starts your story off with a quick anecdote to draw readers in
What is anecdotal lead?
modifying headlines online to try to increase web traffic coming from organic searches to your site and/or a specific article
What is search engine optimization?
is, was, has, will be, has been, are, am, being, etc.
What is to-be verbs?
Stories that explain an issue or subject from a variety of perspectives and angles to present readers with an in-depth understanding
What is in-depth stories?