Lead-in Headlines

[jakewriter82]

So I'm a desker and last week we began using subheads that lead into a feature head...for example...
"Tom Brady leads the league in touchdowns, and with his team at 9-0, he has the Patriots
"Sitting Pretty"
which is usually in bigger text and a different color or something.

Obviously that's not a real headline, just an example of the format. I think the heads can work, when their used very sparingly IMO.
Their also different beasts....
A lot of times I'd rather stick to straight "headline then subhead" format but it's not up to me which stories get the lead-in headlines and which don't.

Has anyone had experience writing a lot of these? Are there different ways of coming up with them over regular head orders?
Thanks!

They seem to take me longer to come up with ones that aren't lame, but I guess it gets easier the more ya do em.

 

[forever_town]

Obviously that's not a real headline, just an example of the format. I think the heads can work, when their used very sparingly IMO.
Their also different beasts....

I don't do them too often and I have no plans of incorporating them into my shop.

They work better than your use of the word "their," which should have been "they're."

 

[jakewriter82]

Obviously that's not a real headline, just an example of the format. I think the heads can work, when their used very sparingly IMO.
Their also different beasts....

I don't do them too often and I have no plans of incorporating them into my shop.

They work better than your use of the word "their," which should have been "they're."

Of course.
They're, they're they're they're.
Bleh!

 

[TyWebb]

I've done it, I think it was a cross country feature that started "Podunk High's Jerry Runner continues to finish
AHEAD OF THE PACK"
Packaged with a picture of him warming up in front of a big crowd of runners.

I think it can work, but it is something that can get old quick if used too much.

 

[TheMethod]

I think it's rare that one of those things isn't lame.

 

[jakewriter82]

I think it's rare that one of those things isn't lame.

I agree.
We never used em now we use at least two or three daily. I'm hoping it's just an experiment and doesn't turn into a regular deal.

 

[Songbird]

So I'm a desker and last week we began using subheads that lead into a feature head...for example...
"Tom Brady leads the league in touchdowns, and with his team at 9-0, he has the Patriots
"Sitting Pretty"
which is usually in bigger text and a different color or something.

Obviously that's not a real headline, just an example of the format. I think the heads can work, when their used very sparingly IMO.
Their also different beasts....
A lot of times I'd rather stick to straight "headline then subhead" format but it's not up to me which stories get the lead-in headlines and which don't.

Has anyone had experience writing a lot of these? Are there different ways of coming up with them over regular head orders?
Thanks!

They seem to take me longer to come up with ones that aren't lame, but I guess it gets easier the more ya do em.

At my last paper I did this, and enjoyed doing it. Sometimes I had a 4- or 5-line lede-in to the main hed, which would be 100 point or something. It's one of those eyes-of-the-beholder thing. If you don't like it don't do it. But if you like to think out of the box, by all means have fun. My thing is, don't be so rigid. Have fun with the product.

Some of my best fronts utilized the lede-in sentence or sentences to the main hammer hed.