Welcome to Codes of Creativity! Made in partnership with Lenovo and Intel, this series spotlights six members of the Dazed community. Ranging from different parts of the company, each essay gives insight into their work days, creative practices and top tips to make it in their field.

Laura Pitcher, senior writer at Dazed US, on ideating, pitching, researching and interviewing for feature stories, and breaking into the New York editorial scene.

For many writers, becoming a full-time writer has always been their dream. They’ll share stories about scribbling novels in notebooks as a child and being laser-focused on achieving their journalism degree as a young adult. I, however, spent much of my teenage years feeling purposeless. I had no “dream job” and was simply going with the flow – I decided to study design in college because a teacher suggested it and applied for magazine internships because I loved reading. It wasn’t until I wrote my first article that everything seemed to click in one place; I realised I was halfway through embarking on the wrong degree. So, I furiously read articles, started pitching and eventually switched to journalism.

While I also love profiles, writing features has been the mainstay of my career so far. It’s brought together many skills and interests I once had no idea you could make a living from – like spotting trends, documenting cultural shifts, researching obscure topics, speaking with different people, crafting arguments, and (of course) pulling everything together into a narrative-style write-up.

Ahead, I walk through the lessons I’ve learned over the past six years, covering beauty, wellness, fashion, culture and lifestyle. These are my own personal Codes of Creativity.

FIND AN IDEA THAT STICKS

From fashion’s foot fetish to if anyone has time to be a good friend, I write across a broad (and sometimes strange) range of topics. This means one of the first questions people usually ask is how I develop ideas for my articles. The short answer is this: be a perpetually curious person. The long answer involves paying attention to everything and everyone around you, asking people questions, and jotting down things you find interesting throughout your day. I keep track of new ideas by writing a quick word or sentence in my Notes app as soon as it comes to mind and consistently saving interesting videos on social media. As a general rule, if an idea makes you feel excited (or at least intrigued), it’s worth writing down and revisiting.

Once you (hopefully) have a running list of ideas that interest you, it’s time to cast a more critical lens to ensure you’re bringing something new to the conversation. First, Google the topic and read all the other recent articles. If it hasn’t been covered before, you have a fresh idea (which is always good). If it’s an ongoing conversation, it’s worth asking yourself if you believe your angle is new and interesting. Once a week, I sort through the ideas in my Notes app and move them into an ongoing list on Google Docs. Then, I categorise them into: now, later or never. After deleting the ones I don’t feel passionate about, I build out the ones I believe are ready to pitch now and save a few to sit with for a later day. Sometimes, you have the fragments of an idea but not the hook, which can take time and reflection.

PITCHING AND GETTING REJECTED (THEN PITCHING AGAIN)

Those interested in writing should get comfortable sending cold pitches. It also (unfortunately) pays to get comfortable with rejection (or sometimes even no response). Before approaching an editor with a pitch, familiarise yourself with the publication and its coverage. Have they covered similar (or the same) idea before? Is there a series or segment that your idea would fit in? This attention to detail will set your pitch apart from the hundreds of others they receive daily.

When it comes to sending the actual email, I like to keep it short and sweet. I set the subject line with “pitch” and the headline for my idea (to grab their attention). I include a brief bio with clips and a proposed headline in the email copy before summarising my story idea in only a few sentences, backing the idea with examples I’ve already compiled. Then, I detail my action plan for writing the story, including any recent studies or a list of experts I would interview. Make it clear why you’re the right person to write the feature and why people would be interested in reading this story right now – timeliness is key. Feel free to follow up after around a week. Don’t take it personally if you get no response or a rejection; you can always refine the idea, take it to another publication, and send the original editor new ideas when you have them. The important thing is that you’re actively building relationships with editors, which takes years.

GET STUCK IN RESEARCH AND INTERVIEWS

As a journalist, building long-standing relationships with experts and sources is important. You’ll hopefully already have some interviewees who can share their experience to start with: perhaps it’s the person you had the initial conversation with or a creator whose video you saved. Still, you can always use the keywords from the story to scour across social media platforms for other people with relevant stories.

As for experts, you’ll want to dive deep into research papers and previous articles (from trusted sources) on your topic. It’s worth getting hyper-focused with it: any fashion historian or trend expert may be able to help you with a fashion trend story, but one with a background in that particular topic can give you more detailed answers. Before your interviews, make sure you actually read their papers or listen to their previous conversations on the topic – that way, you can build off their knowledge and ask specific questions about their work.

FIND YOUR OWN FEATURE WRITING TIME (AND PROCESS)

Every feature writer has a different process for writing their articles, and yours will be unique to you. To discover and develop your own creative process, reflect on when you feel like you’re in the writing flow. Is it in the mornings or later in the day? Do you find it easier to write an article all at once or to build paragraphs over a few days? Figuring this out takes trial and error. From there, and to the best of your ability, carve out time in your schedule for your optimal writing time. If you write your best work in the mornings (like me), shift your to-do list around to spend the early part of your day writing and the later part of your day sending emails or scheduling interviews. I usually put all my devices on DND during this focused time to finish the article in one sitting. However, you could also chip away at the piece by slotting chunks of uninterrupted writing time in your calendar over multiple days.

The process of writing a feature takes hours. Personally, I’ve found laying out all my research and (transcribed) interviews into one Google Doc works for me. I arrange the material I’ve gathered in the order of my proposed thesis and fill any research gaps before I start writing. I write my features top-to-bottom and in one go, starting with the introduction and pulling my findings into an argument before I reach my conclusion paragraph. Some articles flow out of me, and others get stuck. If it feels forced, I take a break (and perhaps go on a walk or make tea) and return to writing when it feels smoother and more enjoyable. Once I’m done, I copy-edit the article before sending it to my editor.

YOU CAN STILL MAKE IT OUTSIDE A BIG CITY

Attempting to break into the editorial scene can feel intimidating, especially when you’re not from cities like New York or London and didn’t study there. Legacy publications are notoriously tough to crack, and it often feels like there’s a club where everyone knows each other except you (nepotism and classism in the industry are very real). However, after moving across the world from New Zealand to New York (where I didn’t know one person), I’ve found there is still a pathway into the industry by remaining persistent, patient and authentic. In other words, go out and about to events in a city that interests you, have genuine conversations with people without the obviously ulterior networking motive, keep a running list of good ideas that are unique to you, read (even more than you already do), refine your writing craft, graciously take all edits as learning opportunities, and – most importantly – get involved and invested in the writing community around you.