Beginnings and Endings

The lead:  This is the bright dangling spinner that attracts the reader to take the hook.  But besides being an attention getter it sets the mood and the theme.

How to find the lead?  Lets go back to that bushel basket of material you dumped out and sorted.  Now pull out the BIG one, as long as it plays up your theme.  If it doesn’t, forget it.  Look for the next big one that does.  The narrative hook must be more than merely interesting itself; it should bear a definite relationship to the main point of the article.  It should suggest the scope, or the nature of the article as a whole.

A good beginning consists of two parts, an attention catcher and a transition to the body of the article.  The one and two of the basic outline.

Here are the different types of leads you can use:

            Quotation:  “I don’t know what I would do without Lee,” the mother of three children said, “But sometimes I wonder what I’m doing with her.”  Transition—At some point, most parents ask themselves the same question.

            Question:  How would you like to trim 20 to 30 percent from your vacation budget and have exactly the same vacation?  Transition—It can be done.

            Striking statement:  Things are bad in Washington, D.C.  It is a city plagued with crime, the rate doubled between 1966 and 1969.  But things are getting better.  Homicide, forcible rape, robbery and burglary have all decreased.  Transition—The man leading Washington out of its chaos is 43-year-old Jerry V. Wilson.

            Statistical:  According to a new analysis, the Census Bureau found that within 20 years of marriage 28 percent of men who married before the age of 22 had been divorced, compared with only 13 percent among men who married when they were older.  Transition—This fact seems to bear out…..

            Summary:  To undergo one worldwide revolution of rising demands would be challenge enough for a generation.  Our time must deal with two.  The first is a sharp and insistent upsurge of the desire for material goods:  food, houses, cars, clothing.  The second pertains to the dignity, status and power of individuals; much of it can be summed up in a word:  participation.  Transition—People want more “say”.

            Anecdotal:  Dropping in on a mission hospital in the African bush a few years ago, I stopped to look over the shoulder of a doctor as he bandaged the snake bitten foot of a little boy.  Sensing my presence, the doctor turned and to my amazement I recognized a physician friend from the States.

            “What in heaven’s name are you doing here?”  I blurted out.

            “Thanks for the implied sponsorship,” he replied ginning.

            “But seriously, I’m just on vacation.”

            Transition—since then, in travels to many of the world’s remote areas I’ve met others who, like my friend are taking vacations for humanity in places where doctors are scare.

            Descriptive:  Like a silent sentinel over the Cascade Range, a color covering of blue and green and tones of gray clad in the white cap of cold and age, a garment which belies its fiery parentage.  Transition—Thus stands the mighty Mt. Rainer.

            Direct address:  When reading, keep your mind open and a pencil handy.  Transition—This is one way to add new words to your vocabulary.

            Endings:

            You stop at the end!

            Don’t smile.  Many otherwise good writers don’t know when or how to stop.  A good conclusion should consist of nothing more than the last solid bit of information.  You might add a single, pointed question, or a brief, understated suggestion, or a brightly worded summary—not of what you’ve been saying but of what the reader might deduce from what you’ve been saying.

            However, when you stop it should leave the reader with a feeling.  A newspaper story just stops, while a good magazine article will end with a feeling.  Compare them and you will see the difference.

There are different types of endings:

            The full circle:  You refer back to the beginning, giving the feeling of completeness: 

            Example:

            A story about “The Horse is Here to Stay” started with prediction of extinction of the horse when the auto made its appearance.  It concluded with, “Although the automobile once threatened the horse with the same fate as the dodo, our four-legged friend is still very much alive and kicking.”

            End with a quote:  You can end with a quote which sums up the theme of the article.

            Example:

            Such is a story in Reader’s Digest titled “Despair in Russia,” about the total repression and degradation for Soviet intellectuals:  It ended thus:  “The situation,” said an anthropology assistant, “Can be summed up in a single sentence.  ‘We are serfs, ruled body and soul.’”

            End with a “ha”:  That’s the ace in the hole you saved which serves as a humorous finale so that you exit laughing.

            Example:

            A story on the financial plight of a harassed husband could be likened to a report made at a corporate board meeting.  “This month’s financial report is being brought to you in livening color—red.”

            Or save one of your best anecdotes to end the story with if it has a good punch tie in to the rest of the story.  Endings are many and varied, yet basically are only two:

1.      Tell ‘em what you told ‘em.

2.      Leave reader with a feeling.