Lure and Connect
An intriguing title and blurb can pull readers into a story they'd otherwise skip. Here's how Rebecca Dube of The Globe and Mail begins "Senior High," her series on a Toronto retirement home named the Terraces of Baycrest:
Fast Times at Senior High
The cliques, the gossip, the hot guy with a car: A retirement home is Grade 10 all over again, but here the new kids are pushing 90.
At several key points, Dube uses her high-school analogy to connect with readers. Here she describes how "freshman" Jean Goldstein made new friends:
… Armed with her trusty day planner, she studied the weekly schedule of events at the Terraces and attended every single program. When people asked smart questions at lectures, she would walk up and introduce herself. It took about three months for her to start feeling less new and more comfortable.
If the retirement home really were high school, Mrs. Goldstein would be the overachiever who manages to be president of the honours club, softball captain and homecoming queen. In addition to taking part in the drama group, she helps teach children to read at a local elementary school, discusses literature in a book club and current events at a weekly meeting called "Schmooze the News," exercises in the pool, plays Scrabble and represents her floor on the residents' council.
She still volunteers at Baycrest hospital, but otherwise she tries not to do anything she's done before. "Oh no," she says. "There's no growth to that."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/seniorhigh