This post is part of an occasional series that examines various nuts and bolts of writing. Since it initally appeared here in 2010, it’s become one of the most widely read posts I’ve ever done.
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Speaking of nuts, we’ll kick things off looking at a little nut with a big impact. I’m of course talking about the nut graph. 
The nut graph is so important, you’d think writers would lavish as much attention on it as they do a story’s lead, opening quote or conclusion. And yet, nut graphs remain tough nuts to crack, pun definitely intended. A story without a nut graph is like a walk in the woods without a path: you know you’re going someplace, you’re just not sure where. The nut graph supplies that direction. It tells readers, ‘This is what this story is about, this is why you should care, this is why you should keep reading.” Writers’ overall deficiency in this area hit home recently as I’ve been doing more editing work and reading first drafts of stories that lack anything approximating a nut graph. It’s not just me. A few weeks ago, an editor friend said she’d spent an entire day imagining herself the nut-graph queen – tiara and all – dispensing nut graphs with a tap of the wand and a click of the keyboard to every story that had entered her email inbox.
Definition of a Nut Graph
The nut graph – a term near and dear to the hearts of cranky old newspaper editors worldwide, and a lot of young ones too – is actually a misnomer. It could be an entire paragraph. Or it could be a simple sentence. Especially in short pieces – like blog posts – a nut graph could be a simple declarative sentence spelling out what the writer intends to do in the next 300 or 400 words. Here’s an example. The big buzz this week is about new smartphones introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show, so here’s the 23-word lead of a 266-word Mashable story on a new Motorola phone. In this case, the lead also serves as the story’s nut graph:
Motorola has a new Android smartphone out, and judging by the looks of it, it’s going to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it devices.
After the lead, the story goes on to describe what the phone looks like and what features potential users might like or dislike. Sometimes, lack of a nut graph signifies a bigger problem. If a writer has trouble figuring out what to say in a nut graph it could be because they haven’t figured out what the story they’re writing is about. A nice trick for solving that an editor once taught me: find someone unfamiliar with the piece you’re working on. Then explain to them, as concisely as you can, what the story is about and why they – or any other potential reader – should care. If you can summarize the piece in a sentence or two, you (a) have a good grasp of the idea and (b) should be able to turn what you just verbalized into a nut graph.
Where to Insert a Nut Graph
Writers also have trouble deciding where to put a nut graph in a story. In short stories, the lede and the nut graph could be one in the same. In a good old-fashioned inverted-pyramid news piece, the nut graph should follow the opening who, what, where, when and how information and serve as the story’s “why.” In longer news, news features or feature stories, the nut graph could follow the lede by some distance, but not be buried so deep the reader gives up before figuring out what the heck he or she is reading about. The exact placement depends on the length of the story. In a feature of 1,000 or 1,500 words, the nut graph could follow the lead by five or six paragraphs or even less. But a 10,000-word New Yorker epic might lead with a 1,000-word introduction before the getting around explaining what the story is really about. It’s fashionable to poo-poo the need to even have a nut graph in a story. Call me old-school, but I don’t buy it. With so much other information competing for a reader’s attention, it’s up to a writer to make it as easy as possible to figure out what’s happening and why they should care. In this way, it’s different from fiction, where the author can have fun confusing the hell out of the reader before slowly revealing what the story’s about. Nut graph essentials: weave a reasonably concise explanation of why the story matters into the fabric of a piece up high enough to hook the reader into hanging in there through the rest of the piece. What writing basics would you like to know more about? Share your request so I can include it in my Back to Basics series.
Very interesting. First time I’ve heard the term nut graph.
What’s the difference between a nut graph, a teaser and a lede?
Dave: I realize I probably should have explained the term a bit better – it’s well known in newspaper circles but apparently not so well known elsewhere. A nut graph is a paragraph that explains what a story is about, the “why” of “Why am I reading this?” or “Why should I care about this subject?” In the case of a news story, it’s the paragraph that puts the events related in the present story into the broader context of what’s already happened.
As I said in the post, in short stories, sometimes the nut graph is the same as the lead. In longer stories, the nut graph would follow the lead.
A “teaser” could be several things. It could be a sentence or two description of what the story’s about that comes after the headline and before the story – in which case it could also be referred to as the deck. A teaser could also be a sentence or two about a story that’s included on the front page of a website that you’d click on to go to the entire story. Or it could refer to the story’s lead, which “teases” you into continuing to read.
Michelle
Michelle, thanks.
I’m rolling this around in my head to work out a taxonomy.
A nut graph may be similar to an inciting incident in storytelling: a sentence or three propelling the reader into the story or article.
“…it’s up to a writer to make it as easy as possible to figure out what’s happening and why [readers] should care.”
Honest writing, strong characters, and a well-planned narrative can make all this happen without whapping the reader’s head with the wet noodle of a nut graph. Take a look at anything written by John McPhee and Joseph Mitchell.
Bravo! A good lesson for any writer.
I might add, though, that with the requirements of writing for the web–keywords mentioned high in the story to get exposure on search engines–nut graphs are a challenge. For print, the nut graph could come around graph three. But for the web, I’d vote to make it the lead, structured so the key words come as early as possible.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on how to create a structure for your writing, how to organize disorderly thoughts and how to shape your writing into coherent, stylish prose. It’s a topic that is rarely dealt with, but I think it is one of the secrets to effective writing, and an area I would like to work on in my own writing.
Olivia:
Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that organization is something writers struggle with, no matter how long they’ve been at it. And it’s important whether you’re writing a 500-word piece or a 5,000-word one. One suggestion is to use an outline, to give yourself a structure upon which you can build a story. But I think it starts even before that, when you’re developing the concept for the story. If you queried a publication and they said yes, did you talk to the editor about the specifics of what they want to see in the piece? Did you take notes on that conversation? Both are musts in my book, as you can refer back to them if you’re in the middle of reporting or research and start feeling lost or that the subject is changing. I’m also a huge proponent of checking in with the editor I’m working with if things come up that I have questions about – especially if new information would change the angle of the story.
I’ll stop there because I think this would make a great blog post. Look for this either this week or next.
Michelle
I’ve never even heard of this, but I loved the concept.
I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t use it with everything I write, but I think a lot of pieces could use the help.
Thanks for your initial thoughts Michelle. I’ll keep checking back over the next few weeks in case you do decide to write a post on the subject.
Michelle: You’re nuts. 😉
This is great, but I’m wondering: how does this apply to the world of web writing? Many web writers eschew the nut graf because it doubles as an RSS excerpt or an article summary. Because web readers are so fickle and hurried, some folks think that a truly good nut graf eliminates the need to read the article—which reduces page hits, which drives down ad revenue, yadda yadda.
What do you think?
Working on an article right now that needed a nut graph, but was at a loss to make it happen. And then I found you! 🙂 Thanks for an informative post.
I need help writing a nutgraph! I interviewed a student and now I am suppose to write a feature story..idk how to write the nutgraph ..
Hopefully this helped.
MVR
Love this! Thank you! I’m exploring querying my first article to a publication and their guidelines said I may have to give them a nut paragraph – and I’ve never heard of this before! You’ve definitely clarified for me, and now I’m looking forward to browsing the rest of your site!
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Interesting. Hooking the reader is what it’s all about, I guess. And that example with Motorola you used was perfect. You want to keep on reading. Exactly how to write a lead like that, that’s the art.
I think the term nut-graf or nutgraph may originate from telling the story “in a nutshell” in the first paragraph, before going into details. (The old who, what, when, where why “5W’s”)
Nutgraph means “nutshell paragraph,” which might help explaining what it is. 🙂