The feature lead is the equivalent of a product owner on the technical side of things. That means that the Feature Lead will be responsible for taking care of all the technical issues that involves the development and especially the delivery of a new feature end-to-end.

Because of the kind of article that follows, feature leads have flexibility in that they can be more creative whereas hard news leads stick to a basic layout of including all pertinent information concerning the 5 W’s: who, what, where, when and why. Feature leads, on the other hand, do not always contain all the W’s.

The writing style is different. Traditional news articles tend to paraphrase information rather than state it verbatim, while feature articles use many quotes and emotional cues, focusing more on showing the reader what’s going on instead of telling.

Different Types of Leads

• Summary Lead. A summary lead is the most common and traditional lead in journalism.
• Single-Item Lead. This lead focuses on just one or two elements of a summary lead.
• Delayed Identification Lead.
• Creative Lead.
• Short Sentence Lead.
• Analogy Lead.

Descriptive leads begin the article by describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They focus on setting the scene for the piece and use language that taps into the five senses in order to paint a picture for the reader. This type of lead can be used for both traditional news and feature stories.

A few basic types of feature leads:

• Anecdotal: a specific story that illustrates the main point.
• Narrative: like an anecdotal lead, this lead is also a story.
• Descriptive: a lead that focuses on sensory details to describe a specific place, person or thing.

How to write a lead sentence or paragraph: Top 10 do’s

1. Determine your hook. Look at the 5 Ws and 1 H.
2. Be clear and succinct. Simple language is best.
3. Write in the active voice.
4. Address the reader as “you.”
5. Put attribution second.
6. Go short and punchy.
7. If you’re stuck, find a relevant stat.
8. Or, start with a story.

Every news story begins with an introduction which is called “Lead” reminding you that this could be a single word, phrase, a brief sentence, an entire paragraph, or a series of paragraphs. The main function of the lead is not only to introduce the news story but to give the questions of the reader.

The best lead for the feature story is a natural extension of the story – nothing forced or contrived without consideration to the tone or subject of the story. More bluntly stated, the best lead is the lead that is relevant, grabs the reader’s attention and fits the mood of the story.

Different Kinds of Leads

1. Thought: gives insight into what the character is thinking about.
2. Action: Place the character in the middle of the action.
3. Dialogue/Exclamation: A character is talking about something that will pique the reader’s interest.
4. Description: Use 5-sense description paint a picture for your reader.

25 to 30 words

Conclusion. Create a satisfactory ending so that the reader understands that the story has reached a conclusion. Don’t spoil a good feature by letting it tail off, or make it bottom-heavy by cramming in information that should have been woven in higher up.

The only requirement for the lead of a feature story is that it creates tension. The inverted-pyramid style is inappropriate for feature stories.

A lead paragraph (sometimes shortened to lead; in the United States sometimes spelled lede) is the opening paragraph of an article, essay, book chapter, or other written work that summarizes its main ideas.

The spelling lede is an alteration of lead, a word which, on its own, makes sense; after all, isn’t the main information in a story found in the lead (first) paragraph? And sure enough, for many years lead was the preferred spelling for the introductory section of a news story.

And, in addition to, furthermore, moreover, besides, than, too, also, both-and, another, equally important, first, second, etc., again, further, last, finally, not only-but also, as well as, in the second place, next, likewise, similarly, in fact, as a result, consequently, in the same way, for example, for instance.

The first paragraph will introduce your topic. The introduction is the most important paragraph because it provides direction for the entire essay. You can usually use the essay writing prompt or question to form this sentence. Develop a thesis statement, or what you want to say about the main idea.