Things to Remember When Pitching Stories

As a new writer, it can be intimidating to know what to include and what not to include in a pitch. It takes a ton of disparate research and time and energy to even form the idea into a story, and then to reduce it to a few sentences seems like an impossible task. 

Also, there’s no guarantee your pitch will be accepted. That can make the process feel even more arduous, and even worse – worthless. "It has more of a strain because you're [regularly] expected to come up with ideas, and it's not just ideas, but good ideas and different ideas," said occupational psychologist Angela Carter to the International Journalists’ Network (IJN). Keeping your wits about you while constantly being creative and having that creativity rejected is a task.

How can one better manage it?

DON’T FOCUS ON COMPETITION

Carter coined the term “draining concepts” in her conversation with IJN, which she says “need to be put in a box.” “Deal with them when you have to, deal with them immediately so you don't have to worry about them, but they're things that will drain your energies.” One such concept is the thought of who else is writing the story you’re writing. As lyricist Stephen Sondheim once said, “Stop worrying if your vision is new. Let others make that decision, they usually do.”

WORK AT YOUR OWN PACE

This work has to come from you, and as such, you cannot force yourself to do it. Getting stuck is pretty common, and nobody wants one small moment to turn into full-blown writers’ block. Get out and do something else; one of your hobbies, see your friends, anything that will get your mind free and give it some space. "When you actually free your mind, you'll be surprised about what it can remember or generate," said Carter.

YOUR OWN ANGLE IS YOUR BEST STARTING POINT

Nobody has your voice, therefore, nobody will necessarily ever be able to write from the same angle as you. Also the angle your first instinct gives you will most likely produce the most engaging result, as it has your full interest and attention. If your personal angle develops from there, great! But developing an angle for the benefit of an editor that you don’t know (or even one you do) is not necessarily a long-term winning strategy. An editor can always request a different angle if they want one, and trying to anticipate what they’re going to want is impossible.

FIND OUT HOW TO RECEIVE AND PROCESS FEEDBACK

Rejection is a major part of pitching, and most likely your first try will not be accepted. If the editor gives feedback about your piece, it’s important to know how to read that feedback and to glean from it what is useful for your own development, and what might only be useful in relation to that writer. Any of this information is valuable. But not all feedback is valuable. Learning how to discern which is valuable and which is not is important.

The most obvious and final step? Not to give up even when it feels insurmountable. Eventually, all of this will get easier and become second nature. The late Dr. Maya Angelou once said, “...Rejection is something with which I am all too familiar…for every accomplishment there were twenty rejections. [..] An editor considered my writing too fanciful, or too plain, too abstract or too concrete. I could go on for hours. In the end, though, only one attitude enabled me to move ahead. That attitude said, ‘Rejection can simply mean redirection.’”