Monday, January 31, 2011

Basic Ledes . . . Look At Streamlining

Try to make sure that your ledes are smooth and clear in sequence, and that related information flows cleanly. I thought this lede was a bit choppy:

A woman is charged for accepting $12,000 in aid from an adoption agency after claiming a false pregnancy, with intent of fraud.

Read that one out loud. Not so smooth, right?

I think sequencing could have helped here by putting like information together; in this case, the woman and what got her in trouble. Taking the same info but putting it in a new order resulted in this:

A woman claiming a false pregnancy with intent of fraud was charged for accepting $12,000 in aid from an adoption agency.

What do you think? A bit better? More logical? Rolls off the tongue a bit easier? Easier to read?

No comments: