Christie Fewkes - Week 10

This week sure went by awfully fast – before I knew it, Friday was here and I felt like I was ridiculously far behind in this class.  Once I started reading through the material, though, it was interesting and even fun.  What I learned most of all this week was that it was fun because the articles and leads were all intentionally written to grab my interest and help me enjoy it.

The one lead I really enjoyed was from Patrick Neal Harris’ autobiography, “Choose Your Own Autobiography”, published in 2014.

“My very first job was working in a bookstore. It was there that I discovered the Choose Your Own Adventure books. I’d spend hours lost in those novels – I loved the idea that I could write my own story, or at least try to figure out which path was the winning one. When it came to writing my memoir, I couldn’t think of a better way to depict my twisty-turny life, so I decided to adapt the Choose Your Own Adventure concept (albeit as a relative parody). If you’re familiar with the series, then welcome; make yourself at home. If not, by all means rush to your nearest bookshoperie, seek out Choose Your Own Adventure books, and enjoy. They are awesome”

Not only is this a great anecdotal lead that begins a story, it is typical of his own quirky and humorous personality that we as an audience have grown fond of through his acting career. It gives the reader a familiarity and sets an expectation that the rest of the book will be as comedic as the characters he portrays. He also references a very popular set of books that his target audience will have probably read, which I believe is another clever tease to keep us reading.

I think the most important lesson for me this week is that if you want people to keep reading your articles, your leads had better be good enough to pique their interest. Also, choosing the right type of lead is so very crucial to your story. Make sure that it sets the right tone for the type of message you want to convey.