Writing Eye-Catching Headlines

No one's going to read the story if the headline doesn't pull them in.

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around, does it still make a sound?  Conversely, if a great story exists in a sea of 10-point type and the headline is dry and boring, will the reader even bother with the story?

Headline writing is such an important part of the journalism process that some newspapers hire creative folks for the sole purpose of crafting killer headlines.

1. A headline is the title or caption of a newspaper article, usually set in large type.

2. The importance of a headline is to A) grab the reader's attention to get them interested in the article it was written for, and B) to relay a small bit of information to the reader so that they know what the article is about.

3. In order to write a headline, you must know what the article is about. A play on words is sometimes helpful when trying to write an interesting headline as well as taking a quote from the article and making it the headline.

**Headlines require the active voice, present tense, and enough info to give a reader an impression of the entire story. It should be a short, direct sentence without extra adverbs or adjectives.**

    Don’t be cute, unless cute is called for: Don't yield to the temptation to write cute headlines or to use faddish or commercial slogans unless doing so fits especially well with the content and tone of the story. 

    Don’t “Micks nix pix!” Huh? (Mickey Rourke and Mick Jagger turn down roles in same movie): Avoid headlinese, which simply is the use of words that you normally don’t use in writing and conversation in similar contexts. Try to stay as “normal” as possible.  

        No “a” or “and” or “the”? Avoid the use of the articles “a,” “an” and “the,” unless they are needed for clarity. (Otherwise, their use generally is considered padding.) 

    Watch out for ambiguity and the double entendre: Be especially careful to read for hidden meanings.