The Inverted Pyramid

Here’s a tip from the newsroom: the inverted pyramid style of writing. It will help you to get your message across faster. It was developed by journalists for reasons that are completely irrelevant today… or are they?

The inverted pyramid principle says you should put your most important point at the top of the article, followed by your next most important point, and so on, in diminishing order of importance.

Newspapers still use this principle today, but where did it come from? Many historians say that the inverted pyramid was invented by 19th century wartime reporters, who sent their stories by telegraph. They wanted the most crucial information to get through first, just in case the transmission was interrupted.

But, you say, we don’t send many telegrams today. Ah, but more than ever, we do send messages that can easily be interrupted! Distraction, impatience, confusion, even boredom; all these can keep your reader from finishing those precious words that you’ve written. Busy people expect writers to get to the meat quickly, or they’ll find something else to read.

The next time you write something, decide what your most important point is. If they don’t hear anything else you say, what do you want them to hear? Then, say that first.

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Michael on June 2, 2007 | Filed Under Writing Basics

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8 Responses to “The Inverted Pyramid”

AL on June 2nd, 2007 5:33 pm

Awesome tip! Couldn’t agree more.

Here is a sample.
Daniel on June 2nd, 2007 6:32 pm

Al, good plugin. I agree that some blogs might fail to explain what they are about in the first few seconds a visitor gets there.

On those cases the plugin works well. What I try to do with my blogs it to choose a name-domain name combination that pretty much says it all. Like “Daily Writing Tips.”
m!ss-p!nky on June 9th, 2007 9:04 pm

wonderful ^&^
Felix Jizmundo on June 19th, 2007 7:36 am

Another important thing: we should remember that space is premium in newspapers. The idea of the inverted pyramid is excellent for editors who can easily cut the less important details of your story without touching the important ones which you have already placed in the lead paragraph, i.e., to save more space for other important stories/articles.
Megha on June 25th, 2007 9:10 am

Thanks so much for posting this tip. I think for a long-winded writer like me, this tip will come in very handy.
xing on June 27th, 2007 2:19 pm

this has been one of the most and widely recommended for safe and effective writing technique in news writing and the like. moreover, this inverted pyramid style of writing helps determine the effectiveness and significance of the data to be presented in a certain article…