How to write The “False” Lead of your article?

Writers don’t lie to their readers. But occasionally, an ingenious writer can leave out one element of a lead-to suggest a different place, time, idea, or possibility.

Here is the title: “I’m not just a jock.” It appeared in The Houston Post on September 14, 1993.

Here are writer Bonnie Gangelhoff’s first two paragraphs: First the pale pink nails polish. Then the gold stud earrings and the monogrammed purse. Is this any way for a football player to dress?

Well, you think, some players wear ear studs. Joe Namath used to wear pantyhose under his Jet uniform. Pale pink nail polish? Could be. Monogrammed purse? Errrr, maybe. Here is Gangelhoff’s third paragraph: It is if she’s a girl. (p. Dl)

Gangelhoff omitted Erin Shilk’s sex momentarily, in an attempt to convince the reader that she was talking about someone else; someone male. Here are Gangelhoff’s next few paragraphs:

Meet Erin Shilk, 5-foot-3 and 108 pounds: lover of the Aggies, boys, soccer, country & western music, cooking and chemistry. She’s a girl blazing a trail for the ’90s.

Two weeks ago, amid a media blitz, Shilk, 15, kicked her way into the history books of the Cypress Falls sophomore football team. The barefoot place-kicker made two extra points and became the only area girl to play high school football. Then, last Thursday, Shilk kicked another two extra points against Sharps town High School. Her team won, 14-6.

Shilk is one of five girls in Texas taking advantage of a University Interscholastic League rule passed last year, which for the first time allows girls to participate in the sport.

She’s grabbed headlines for her football abilities, but happily consented to an interview off the playing field because she wants people to know, “I’m not just a jock.” (p. Dl)

This is a variation of the delayed climax lead, discussed earlier. How can the false lead be used? Like Gangelhoff’s article, the sex of a subject can be omitted.

The writer could omit the age of an athlete, to convince the reader that a golfer, for instance, is a national tournament-caliber player. The actual player could be a teenager (or younger) or the player could be a senior citizen, shooting well under his or her age.

As in the Michael Murphy story about Texas Christian University pitcher Ronny Carroll, the writer can let the reader assume the pitcher has both arms. Murphy tells the reader at the end of the lead that Carroll has only his left arm.

The writer could omit the time (date) when the action occurs to convince the reader that the sports event took place years ago, or the writer could omit the time to convince the readers that a decades-old boxing match took place this year, for instance.

The writer could omit the time and details to convince readers that a gladiator was dressing for the Roman arena. In fact, the story could be about a pro football player today (although football players as gladiators or football as war is something of a cliche).

There is a great deal of current interest in re-enactments of Civil War battles, with 1990s “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots” (p. 41) in blue and grey, to quote Kuklick (1989) “The Crisis Papers” (Thomas Paine: Political Writings). Clearly, this is an ideal story assignment for use of a false lead.

Should your readers be thinking of the original Battle of Gettysburg, or a re-enactment of that battle? Leave out the date and let them believe, momentarily, that the re-enactment is the original battle.