lead on, 8th grade writers! 2010

8/8/2019 Lead on, 8th Grade Writers! 2010

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Lead On, 8th Grade

Writers!How to hook your reader from the git-go


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Leads are not introductions Writing is not like life. You dont have to

start in the morning to get to the afternoon.

You can jump to the good part.I woke up swiftly. My senses were blurred,

except for my hearing. All I could hear was

the sound of footsteps stepping on the creakyboard in the hallway.


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Charlottes Web Here is the lead:

Wheres Papa going with that ax? saidFern to her mother as they were settingthe table for breakfast.


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Why didnt E.B. White start

Charlottes Web like this?

Nice day today, Ma, said Fern to her motheras they were setting the table for breakfast.


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E.B. Whites first and second draft

opening passages: A barn can have a horse in it and a barn can

have a cow in it, and a barn can have hens

scratching in the chaff and swallows flyin inand out through the door but if a barn hasntgot a pig in it, it is hardly worth talking about

Charlotte was a big gray spider who lived in

the doorway of a barn. She was about the sizeof a gumdrop and she had eight legs andplenty of tricks up her sleeve.


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Why do you think E.B. White chose

this lead over the other two? Good leads make you want to read on.

Good leads raise questions in the readers mind:

I was an untruthful little boy.

The world for us ended on a Tuesday afternoon inMay.


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Open the book you are reading.

Look at the first line. We will be going

around the room and reading the lead from

your book. Listen for your favorite!


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Strategies for Good Beginnings

Start with an interesting description:

Ashes filled the air when I was around the

camp fire. Crackle, crackle it went. Start with a sound:

Boom! The trunk slammed. Bang! The car

doors slammed as we got out of the van. Start with the past in the present:

It is April 10, 1910. The Titanic is going to

travel all the way from England to America.


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contd. Start with an exclamation:

Yeah! Were going to Disneyland

tomorrow! Yeah! I yelled about as loud as Icould.

Start with a thought:

Im in big trouble now, I thought to myself. Start with a surprise:

Wow! I was doing my back hand-spring and I

landed it!


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contd. Start with a question well talk more about

this one later.

Start with a sound. Start with repetition. Startwith a simile:

Screech, screech, screech! The first time we

tried to play the recorders it sounded like alion running his claws down a chalkboard.


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MORE strategies! Start with a hint of something interesting to come:

It all started on an average day. I didnt think

anything unusual was going to happen, but boy was Iwrong!

Start with an interesting conversation:

Were moving.

Thats what she told me. I couldnt believe it! I hadjust made the basketball team and was making more

friends. What!? I exclaimed.


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Even MORE!! Start be revealing something unusual:

Company halt! yelled the drill master. My

mom stopped and went into position. Her dogtags clinked as she moved.

Start with an unsettling description:

A flash of lightning illuminates the harshemptiness of the night. In an orphanage

children cry mournfully. They are starving.


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Yep heres some more! Start by showing how someone feels:

I sat in my desk, sweat dripping down my face. I shut my

eyes tight, then opened them. I looked at my watch, 11:27.

Three minutes! Three minutes until I heard a sound, a soundthat would set me free for three months of total nothingness.

Start with fast action:

I raced inside, slamming the front door behind me. I plopped

my backpack on the floor and dashed for the kitchen. Ourcat, asleep in the hallway, quickly awoke and scurried out of

harms way. I knew I only had a few precious seconds before

my brother, coming in through the back door, beat me to the

kitchen and napped the last of moms brownies.


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Ears Did you ever notice how ears are shaped like

question marks? Thats because when you

really listen, you hear questions.


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Turn questions into leads. It was a hot summer night and I was home by myself. I heard

a noise on the stairs. I was really scared. Then my parentscame home and everything was okay.

What were you scared of? It was the most scared I had everbeen.

Where were you? At the end of a long dirt road, surroundedby woods, I was alone in my room when I heard the sound.

What did you do? Cautiously, I crept down the hall wielding

my sisters baseball bat, prepared to defend myself againstthe unknown terror.


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Examples of great leads I was six years old when my mother taught me the

art of invisible strength. Rules of the Game

You are not the kind of guy who would be a t a placelike this at this time of the morning. Bright LightsBigCity

You must not tell anyone, my mother said, what Iam about to tell you. The Woman Warrior

The name my family calls me is Morning Girl,because I wade up early always with something onmy mind. The Morning Girl


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More examples The main difference between school and prison is

that prisons release you early for good behavior.School lasts about thirteen years no matter how good

you are . Messenger Austin Cooper is dead and its all my fault. Price of

Admission

By the end of this week, said my father, as ifspeaking of a change in weather, there is apossibility I shall be sent to prison. The TraitorsGate.

First thing I did was, I stole a body. Repossessed


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Assignment Rewrite the Lead worksheet you may

work with a partner or you may work alone.

You may not work with MORE than oneperson. It is expected that BOTH individuals

will discuss possibilities for leads, and that

one person will not do all the work.

lead on, 8th grade writers! 2010

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