Mark Motz, a local sports journalist from Cincinnati,
brought this to the attention of the Mason High School Chronicle staff.
The statement was an answer to the question of "How do you creatively begin a sports article?"
Motz said he's not an expert at anything, except asking
questions. Yet he was pouring out ideas to the Chronicle staff today. He
suggested connecting your information to lyrics of a well-known song, history,
literature, or biblical references.
For Motz, it’s a different catchy technique that grabs the reader immediately.
And according to Chronicle staff Advisor, Dale Conner,
when he reads Motz’s articles, either the lead intrigues him to continue or the
lead itself is all that needs to be read because honestly that part is all that
needs to be said.
Even now, Motz said, after years of being in the field of
journalism field, most of his time invested in writing the lead, for in today’s
society people have such a short attention span.
“It may take me an hour or two to write an article,” Motz
said, “half the time is spent on the lead, even if it is two words.”
They may not read the full article, but if the lead is
strong, and as Conner like to say “Sharp as a knife” that’s your key to keeping
the readers’ interest.
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