Learn all, tell 10 percent. Decide which of the news values best applies to the lead of the story. Write lead that emphasizes that news value. Use the right word. See story through the reader's eyes.
Transitions tell reader the writer has a sense of direction.
Story is going somewhere. Lester and Julie Smith never dreamed their 1972 Camero would save their lives. Their ordeal began during a routine drive down Interstate 75. The nut graf. Somewhere high in the story should be a graf that tells the reader why the story is important, why the reader should continue reading, why the reporter wrote the story in the first place.