4 Tips for Editing Lead-Ins
By Katy
Kauffman
So how can
we best edit our lead-ins so they fully shine? Use these four tips for creating
stellar lead-ins and the transitions that immediately follow them.
1. Create a crisp first line.
Some of the
best first lines are short. If you start your writing with a long one, see if
you can create two sentences out of it or preface it with a shorter sentence.
Then look at
your word choice. Does the first line have vivid nouns and verbs? Replace any
“limp” words with vibrant ones.
2. Streamline a story’s details, and
start in the right place.
I once had
the tendency to include too many details in a story. If you use a story as your
lead-in, read it again and strikethrough any sentences that aren’t necessary to
making your point. Ask yourself whether each paragraph is needed and whether
each sentence is needed in a paragraph. If you can delete a sentence and the
story still makes sense, you may need to let that sentence go.
But don’t
sacrifice personality for “tidy.” If a sentence adds humor, warmth, or insight
about the people or event mentioned in the story, leave it in to add some
interest. Such a sentence also reflects the author’s personality, and readers
love to see that.
Also take a
look at where you started the story. Is it in the middle of the action? Does
the story start with a problem to grab the reader’s attention or with striking
dialogue? Be sure to begin a story in such a way that the reader wants to read
the next line and the next and the next to see what happens.
3. Make sure you’re using key words from
your lead-in in the transition to your spiritual point.
Smooth
writing makes for smooth reading. Highlight the connection between your lead-in
and main point by using the right words.
I once wrote
about finding soap bubbles on the shore (or what looked like them), and used
words from my story in the transition to my spiritual point. It went something
like this:
“The ocean was edged with soap bubbles, or what looked
like them, as if God were cleansing the waters. White foam stood at attention
along the beach, a reminder of what ‘clean’ looks like. I played tag with the
waves for a little bit, and then stepped into a foamy mound. My toes didn’t
feel it as much as my heart did. Clean. A sense of being made new, washed, set
right. ‘Clean’ is a refreshing word, and it is a reality usually achieved
through hard work and care. It takes hard work to keep a house clean. How much
more our hearts.
Just as it seems impossible to keep an entire ocean
clean, it can seem impossible to keep our hearts pure all the time. Yet Jesus
adds ‘pure in heart’ as a condition for happiness and blessing.”1
Pick words
from your story or slant (the metaphor or focus you use for your piece of
writing) to include in your transition. I enjoy discovering these transitions
in others’ writing. That connection between the lead-in and the spiritual point
is when the lead-in shines the brightest.
4. Underline sentences that have punch,
zip, and wow.
Even now as
I edit a compilation, I keep two colored pens handy. One color is for
underlining sentences that have punch and zip—the author made a point and made
it well. The wording was spot on. The second color is for the wow lines. How
did the author talk about Scripture or the way life works with God? Wow
sentences fill in a missing piece of our understanding or explain something
beautifully.
For
lead-ins, punch, zip, and wow appear when the story has striking or vivid
wording. When you get a glimpse into the heart of the main character or the
matter at hand. When the story illustrates a spiritual principle just right. All
three elements keep the reader engaged and wanting to learn more. Underlining
these sentences in our lead-ins and transitions helps us to see if we have
taken enough time to word sentences just right, infused enough insight into it,
and created a beginning that is worth reading.
Which one of
these tips do you like the best? Tell us in the comments.
(Photos courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and steafpong.)
TWEETABLE
1
Katy Kauffman, Heart Renovation: A Construction Guide to Godly
Character (Buford,
Georgia: Lighthouse Bible Studies, 2018), 303.
Katy, can I say I like them all? You give too many great points to contemplate to choose only one. As always, I love your punch, zip, and wow explanations.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Barbara. Katy's posts are always fun and full of great information. :)
DeleteThank you, Barbara! And Andrea!
DeleteBarbara, I am so glad you liked the points so that's it hard to choose. Talking about punch, zip, and wow has a special place in my heart. Thank you for sharing that kind of writing!
Katy, this is excellent. I like all the points. Thank you for sharing with us,
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked Katy's post. Thanks for sharing. :)
DeleteThank you, Melissa! Happy writing this week.
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