Tips for Good Headlines

1. Tell the story

• Make your headline say something. Avoid the "clears hurdle" phenomena on governmental stories. How? Here are some tips.
• Identify the nut graph of the story. Be careful not to put a first-day head on a second-day story. Always ask yourself "What is this story really about?" You can never go wrong. But . . .
• If you're having trouble distilling what about the story is news, the story is probably failing in its focus. Consult the writer. Ask her what she thinks the headline should say, or what is the most important point.
• Think inverted pyramid style. Get the most important element first, the least important head element last (most times, attribution will go at the end). If the lead needs attribution, chances are the headline will, too.

2. Sell the story

On a compelling story, say something to your readers. Tell them why they should be interested. Make the headline work with the graphics and art. Look at the photographs before you write the headline. Consider them with the story.

3. Match the tone of the story

If you cried reading the story, then you want a touching head. If you were laughing, write a funny head. Although you want to match the tone of the story, don't steal the exact words. Write a better headline than the lead.

4. Aim for complete thoughts

Avoid bad breaks, such as prepositions and conjunctions at the ends of lines. In extremely tight counts, bad breaks sometimes are unavoidable, but almost anything is better than a bad break at the end of the first line. Avoid breaking proper names at all costs. Don't use pronouns as a subject. They're vague.

5. Be original

Headlines that play on the hot movie title of the day may work, but probably only once. In-stead, rely on your own excellent command of the English language. If you do employ word play on an idiom or common phrase, be sure the meter is exactly the same. The headline will ring falsely otherwise.

• Avoid headlinese. Mull, eye, rap, hit, slam, vie, assail, seen and bid are headline weaklings. Alter your approach to get away from them.
• If you feel yourself using a form of get for the verb, try to force yourself to find a more descriptive, energetic verb. You'll be surprised at how much information the verb can convey.
• As you read the story jot down key words that come to mind.
• If you use a pun, be honest with yourself. Will it make the reader smile, or groan?
• Avoid trite or overused expressions. Get those clichés out of your system by writing them down. Then define and delete them.
• Don't go for the obvious. On fire-related stories, for example, stay away from verbs like spark and snuf; on storm stories, verbs like spawn, dump, blow, churn. In stories, hurricanes always seem to churn; tornadoes are always spawned. And nothing should be taxing around April 15. Look for a fresh approach.

6. Be accurate

Check the headline against the story, then check it again. Make sure it says only what you intend.

• If you're using a name from the story, put it on a save string. Do not trust yourself to type it in correctly. Same goes for numbers.
• Spellcheck AFTER you write the display type. In particular, check the proper names.