The Trick to Writing Fun, Engaging Article Intros

[caption id="attachment_114306" align="aligncenter" width="936"] Diamonds: Kim Alaniz[/caption]

Writing article introductions is seriously hard.

The truth is, most of us start with the middle section of our story in our mind. We want to explain how to do ‘x’ and or why we think ‘y’ is a good idea. Writing this part is generally easy, because we know exactly what we want to achieve.

Writing the conclusion isn’t too difficult once we’ve written the middle. We sum up what we’ve just written and perhaps add a personal insight or reflection. (* Footnote on writing conclusions below).

[caption id="attachment_114304" align="alignright" width="240"] First lines are hard — Photo: Alastair Thompson[/caption]

Intros are difficult in articles for the same reason that opening lines are difficult at parties, bars and park benches. We all know how to have a conversation, but finding a way to start a conversation with a stranger feels like a really high-stakes game. That’s probably explains why chat-up technique books sell tens of millions every year.

So, I guess I’m here to give you some clever chat-up lines for your readers.

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by Alex Walker via SitePoint