When to Cut Your First Sentence

I realized in hindsight that I didn’t have to include the word “podcast” in my podcast title.

Sometimes people adapting to a new format use their first moments to announce that they are adapting to a new format. I heard this yesterday as I listened to someone use his podcast introduction to basically say, “I’m recording a podcast.”

Earlier in the pandemic, I clicked to view a video of a gentleman who began his video by announcing that he was recording a video.

You can also figure out someone is new to web technology (or hasn’t updated website content in a few years) when you land on a page that says “This is our website.”

Our first sentences in any writing project are often about how we are trying to figure out what we want to say – or how we’re adapting to a new way of sharing this message.

So, yes, go ahead and work that out for yourself in your rough draft. But be willing to delete those first few sentences before you record, post or send. People can figure out on their own which format you’re using. Focus in on your message.

 

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash