By John Hatcher

We all need writing tips. But what's the best one?

For a recent workshop at the New York Press Association convention, I decided to try to find out.

At the risk of putting a slightly grand polish on things, I launched a search for the Greatest Writing Tip the World Has Ever Seen.

I started by going to the experts. I posted a message on NewsCoach, a listserv hosted by The Poynter Institute that gave me access to the finest newsroom trainers and educators from across the world. Give me your favorite writing tip, I beseeched. Share with me that one gem that has served you when all others failed.

And they responded.

I collected nearly 50 e-mail messages and boiled them down into 23 tips on writing. (If you don't have Flash installed on your computer -- or if you'd like to print the tips all at once -- you can view them on a single page here.)

The great lede test

Recommended by: Kathy Norton, Poughkeepsie Journal Read the lede for an article. Now ask, does this sentence make you want to read the next sentence and the rest of the story? Assignment: Go through a series of articles, reading only the lede. After you read the lede, vote as a group on whether you are enticed to read the rest of the story. Talk about what it does (or doesn't do) that draws you into the story.

Some were simple pieces of advice. "Read," said Lynn Kalber of The Palm Beach Post. "… it's surprising how many reporters don't."

Others offered more practical career advice. "The best tip I ever heard was 'Go to law school,'" wrote John Burr of The Florida Times-Union. "I think this had as much to do with this person's assessment of my talent as it did with the state of the newspaper business."

As I pored over the list a problem emerged. I realized that I alone could not choose the Greatest Writing Tip the World Has Ever Seen. I needed help.

The mood in the convention conference room was electric. The journalists' instincts told them something momentous was about to happen.

"Together," I shouted, holding my hands out in a sweeping gesture like Moses or John Madden, "we are going to choose the Greatest Writing Tip the World Has Ever Seen."

Silence. Perhaps it was fear, but some people actually ran out of the room. Others whispered to their neighbors and giggled with nervous laughter.

I'll admit it now. I was scared. But there was no looking back.

We broke up into small groups, with each receiving a stack of newspapers and a sheet of paper containing just one of the writing tips. Each group was charged with testing out their writing tip on a story they chose at random from their pile of newspapers. They'd discuss whether it was useful to them and then they'd switch and try out another tip.

And so on.

We pressed on like this for more than an hour.

I ran around the room exchanging writing tips as the groups feverishly tried to test out as many of the techniques as they could.

Where the great idea was born

Here is what Kathy Norton, public editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal, had to say when she was told her writing tip had been chosen as the Greatest Writing Tip the World has Ever Seen. Wow, you mean I might actually know what I'm talking about? I've been using that for a long time, and I think I came up with it when I was preparing to do a workshop on ledes for the National Writers Workshop in Wilmington a number of years ago. It was a combination of different exercises I'd seen, but the bottom line was this: My first job was as an intern and later a paid writer for The Associated Press. One of the demands of the job was that you switched back and forth between writing for the "print" wire, and writing for the "broadcast'' wire that went out to TV and radio stations. The broadcast editor trained us to read the copy out loud to make sure it would sound good on the air. That helped my writing for the "print'' wire tremendously. It was tighter and smoother (like a good facelift for your writing!) In my days of training other writers, I've realized how valuable that skill is and that most people don't have that experience of having to read their copy out loud. So whenever I can I try to incorporate it into training, and it works perfectly for a ledes workshop. Either that, or I stole the whole idea from somebody and can't remember. I thank my parents for this honor, but mostly I thank myself because they didn't want me to be reporter. They wanted me to make better money.

With about 20 minutes left, we stopped and nominated the six finalists: Finding the Focus, Finding the Nutgraf, The Great Lede Test, Jargon Hunt, Quote Alert and Details, Details.

The final vote brought about a clear winner, which you can read here (see "The great lede test" - above), and learn the background of that tip (see "Where the great idea was born" - right). But first, I hope you'll go leave us feedback and tell us your favorite, selected either from our list or from your own experience.

Before the session ended, I asked the participants how many of them tried new writing techniques on a regular basis. Several said they were too busy to be experimenting with new things on deadline that might throw them off their schedule.

But they also agreed that in the last hour they had discovered at least one new way of looking at their writing that might help the next time they're staring down a 30-minute deadline and a story that's going nowhere fast.

Which made me wonder.

Could it be that the Greatest Writing Tip the World Has Ever Seen is not one specific idea? Could it be that the best piece of advice I can give to any journalist is to keep striving to find new ways to write because, in that search, they'll keep expanding their skills and keep growing as wordsmiths?

A friend once told me that the greatest teachers are those who never stop learning. Maybe this same message works for journalists.

John Hatcher is the director of education for the Center for Community Journalism and a Sunday columnist for the Daily Messenger in Canandaigua, N.Y. Contact him at jhatcher@oswego.edu or by calling (315) 312-5640.