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.

Günseli Yalcinkaya, Contributing Editor at Dazed, and a freelance writer and editor based in London.

Ever since I applied for my first magazine internship nearly ten years ago, I’ve always known that I wanted to be a writer. Fresh out of my second year studying philosophy at Bristol University, and with growing pressures to pursue a ‘respectable’ profession such as law, I made the slightly unhinged decision to pay a visit to the local pub run by Crack Magazine and ask for a job. Miraculously, they said yes, and before I knew it, I was spending the summer writing music bios for some of the UK’s leading music festivals.

It was halfway through summer break when my gut instinct told me to take a year out of my degree to pursue things further, which led me to spend two months interning for Dazed while crashing at a friend’s place in east London with their yoga teacher mum. To make a very long story short, it took many years of grinding before I landed my first full-time role at the publication as a Digital Assistant, eventually working my way up to Features Editor, and making the decision to go freelance this year.

As a Contributing Editor at Dazed, I run a column titled Logged On, which is a spin-off of a podcast series that I ran exploring the ins and outs of internet culture, from why everything is suddenly so mid to how cuteness became the defining aesthetic of the internet age. Each month, I contribute a new feature inspired by what’s hot in online discourse, while heading up the monthly Dazed music mix, and passing on any information nuggets that feel particularly relevant to the editorial team’s overall direction. I do this while balancing other freelance positions, which includes a content director role at a Web3 fashion platform, as well as cultural consultancy and curatorial and research direction for several artistic institutions geared around emerging tech and culture.

Establishing yourself in the creative industries is not easy by any means. Some people might fall upwards, yes, but for many of us, it takes years of hard work and rejection, before making it out on the other end. That said, success is a sliding scale, so what constitutes ‘making it’ at the beginning of your career, might mean something very different a few years on. It’s good to take things step by step, be patient with yourself and understand that imposter syndrome isn’t grounded in anything real! In the meantime, I’ve compiled a list of the best practical advice I would give to aspiring creatives – from pitching ideas to finding your niche, and beyond.

HOW TO PITCH

The first thing that most editors will tell you when pitching an idea is to make sure there’s a relevant hook. Ask yourself, why is this idea relevant now? What proof do I have to back up my claims? Keep your word count concise and make every word count. An editor’s inbox is usually swarming with emails, so communicating your idea as clearly as possible, in a concise couple of paragraphs, will give you the strongest chance at scoring a commission. If you don’t hear back at first, follow up – but within reason. No one likes a manic chaser, and it will likely scare people off.

I would also make sure to cater your writing for each individual publication. Familiarise yourself with their tone of voice and audience. For example, if you’re looking to publish fiction, get in touch with an editor at a literary journal, or if you’re into music, dig into the sorts of musical styles and scenes covered in your publication of choice. Creating a career out of your writing takes time, just as with most creative endeavours, so the best thing you can do is to be consistent and keep the quality of your writing up – bigger jobs will soon come.

FIND YOUR NICHE

One thing that I always make sure to tell aspiring creatives is the importance of finding your own scene. Go to events in your local area and scope out like-minded people. The best ideas come from engaging with the culture around you whatever that may be. If for whatever reason you can’t access IRL locations, the internet is home to an infinity of niche online communities, and collaboration is just a DM away. Personally speaking, without the internet, and speaking to people around the world interested in the same things as me, I would’ve never developed my interests to the extent they have, nor would I be part of a worldwide community of experimental music and theory-cels that I cherish and whose passion inspires me.

DON’T TAKE REJECTION TO HEART

Rejection sucks, that’s a fact. But the more you learn to brush it off, the more you’ll be open to the other opportunities around you. Think of it as part of the process, and understand that even if one editor/publication/event rejects you, it might not actually be about you – maybe it’s the budgets, or perhaps they already had someone in mind for the role in-house. There’s also plenty more fish in the sea. Just remember to breathe and regroup your thoughts, try not to get too bummed out, and direct that energy into a new direction. Maybe that’s reaching out to companies you admire for a coffee, attending talks run by people in the industry, or starting your own collective with a group of friends. It takes just one person to believe in you, and sometimes you have to believe in yourself before others do.