Course 192 · Lesson 01

The Art of the Opening: Writing the Lede

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The Lede — Your Story's Front Door

192.1 Lesson 01 of 08 3 quiz questions 1 assignment

Every piece of writing has a front door. The lede — sometimes spelled "lead" — is that door. It is the opening sentence, or the first paragraph or two, that either brings a reader inside or leaves them standing on the step. The word comes from the old newspaper tradition of typesetting, where "lede" distinguished the opening copy from the metal lead used in the printing press. Writers have been thinking about it ever since.

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