It's a cool idea. It reminds me of a writing exercise we used to do in a journalism class in high school. The teacher gave us an assortment of facts about a story, and from those facts, we'd compile ledes (opening sentences and/or paragraphs).[1] As many strong ledes as we could muster from the same pool of information.
A strong lede is compelling, informative, and brief. Those goals are tough to reconcile. You'd spend 5-10 minutes nailing the "perfect" lede. Then you'd go through it carefully, cutting out anything extraneous or sloppy. Then you'd toss it out and start again, approaching the story differently.
Despite the nature of the exercise, it never felt boring or repetitive. It was great practice, too.
[1] Don't ask me why journalists spell it "lede," when "lead" is perfectly fine. It's a quirk of the trade, sort of like the journalistic use of "graf" for "paragraph."
"Lede" is supposedly a holdover from the time when news was printed using actual metal lead type, and "lead" was accordingly shorthand for type itself. The alternate spelling avoids a potentially confusing homograph.
Hmm. Makes sense, I guess. Served a useful purpose. Thanks for the info. :) Also, shame on my high school journalism teacher for not having pointed that out.
A strong lede is compelling, informative, and brief. Those goals are tough to reconcile. You'd spend 5-10 minutes nailing the "perfect" lede. Then you'd go through it carefully, cutting out anything extraneous or sloppy. Then you'd toss it out and start again, approaching the story differently.
Despite the nature of the exercise, it never felt boring or repetitive. It was great practice, too.
[1] Don't ask me why journalists spell it "lede," when "lead" is perfectly fine. It's a quirk of the trade, sort of like the journalistic use of "graf" for "paragraph."