brief
account of the course of the fire--perhaps in this way:

| Flames were first discovered in the |
|basement of the Incandescent building and|
|before the fire department arrived had |
|spread through the lower floors and into |
|the adjoining three-story building. The |
|absence of elevator shafts and air-shafts|
|enabled the firemen to extinguish the |
|blaze before it reached the upper floors.|

This tells the main course of the fire, but there are some interesting
details to add: first, the origin of the fire; next, the discovery; then
more about how the fire spread; and lastly, how the fire was
extinguished. Our story by paragraphs would read as follows:

1st Paragraph--The lead.

2d Paragraph--Death of MacBane and injury of Bond.

3d Paragraph--Mrs. Jones's injury and Hilda's rescue.

4th Paragraph--Buildings, occupants, brief course of fire.

5th Paragraph--Detailed account of origin of the fire.

6th Paragraph--How the fire was discovered.

7th Paragraph--More about the spread and course of the fire.

8th Paragraph--How the fire was extinguished.

9th Paragraph--Loss, insurance, extent of damage.

Thus, while telling the story almost in its logical order, we have
picked out the high spots of interest and crowded them to the beginning.
Our readers will get the facts just about as fast as they wish to read
them and in the order in which they wish them. Our story may be run in
nine paragraphs or even more; or the editor may slash off anything after
the fourth paragraph without taking away any of the essential facts of
the fire. This method of telling would fulfill all the requirements of
an ideal news story. A similar outline of the facts that any story must
present will often help a reporter to tell his story as it should be
told. After listing the details he may number them in their order of
importance and check them off as he has told them.

* * * * *

This idea of throwing the emphasis and interest to the beginning applies
to the individual paragraphs and sentences of the story, as well. Each
paragraph must begin strongly and display its most interesting content
in the first line. The emphatic part of each sentence should be the
beginning. A glance at any newspaper column shows why this is necessary.