When you’ve got a good story, tell it

Washington Post reporter Steve Hendrix found an unconventional group to tell the tale of the recession: courier bikers. His story about the decline in messengers because of the economy, technology and 9/11 begins with this image-laden lede:

Getting a meticulously prepared legal brief to a courthouse or federal agency on time used to require a bit of comic-book valor. Just before deadline, exhausted lawyers handed off the document to a character in the tight Lycra of a superhero, the shoulder bag of a Pony Express rider and the bulging thighs of an athlete. One of Washington's legions of bicycle messengers would then dart through perilous traffic and any weather to deliver the goods in the nick of time.

The story sings with quotes such as "This last week, I set a personal best for futility: I sat out here for seven hours and made $25," [said Andy Zalan, a longtime bike messenger and head of the D.C. Bicycle Couriers Association]. Steve also paints pictures with phrases such as “six men who looked as if they'd been taxidermied by Brooks Brothers.”

Today’s Tip: Especially when you’ve got an offbeat story, tell it in a colorful way. Use imagery and great quotes to bring it alive.

Steve’s story offers humor while looking at an industry – not known to fit the norm – in trouble.