Make Copy Shine By Editing 2023

ACTIVITY

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Look at past yearbooks and identify dull sentence starters to avoid in the future. Create your own list and post in the classroom. Here are some to start with: DULL WORD SEARCH

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EDITING LEADS

Nothing is better than when you read the first sentence of a story and you feel hooked. There is a feeling of peace knowing that the writer has done their job in conveying a clear message that you won’t have to work to understand and an excitement that makes you antsy to get to the next sentence. “It started with the bass and the drum. Then the music changed to a darker, electronic sounding synthesizer and right when the song seemed to slow down… it dropped.” That’s a good lead. This story was about the trend of Dubstep music, and it creates interest while leaving the reader wanting to know more. You can usually tell when leads are working well. The question is how do you identify when a lead is weak, and then how do you fix it? Before tearing into the lead, consider these questions and determine if the writer has addressed them. • Is there a scene, fact, event or emotion that stands out in the story? • Is there a way to highlight this in the lead and then work the story from there? • What is the tone of the story? • What is the angle?

Yearbook Suite | Make Copy Shine By Editing 9