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Science Writing Foo
Jan. 16th, 2003 03:36 pmPossible techniques I know of to get story leads:
-attend a convention/conference
-annoy all the geeks I know for leads on interesting stuff their company is doing
-attend colloquia at local universities (find out when they ARE)
-search the web
One of the problems I'm running into is that magazines and newspapers have certain types of articles that are covered by staff writers and editors and reporters, and other types that are covered by freelance reporters. I don't know which are the latter.
And let me tell you, there is a big difference between the various types of articles. BIG difference. Between magazines too. It all kind of makes my head hurt.
I think in part, I need to get a grasp on what kinds of stories I am looking for before I'll recognize them. It was straightforward when I was looking for TR stories. They wanted technologies in a very specific stage of development that were nifty, innovative, and possible to explain in ~150 words. Finding leads was hard, but not impossible.
I guess my next step is to stop fearing this just because it isn't easy, and hit the libraries. Read magazines I want to write for until I get a sense of what they want in freelance articles. Slow slow process. ick. But I can do this.
-attend a convention/conference
-annoy all the geeks I know for leads on interesting stuff their company is doing
-attend colloquia at local universities (find out when they ARE)
-search the web
One of the problems I'm running into is that magazines and newspapers have certain types of articles that are covered by staff writers and editors and reporters, and other types that are covered by freelance reporters. I don't know which are the latter.
And let me tell you, there is a big difference between the various types of articles. BIG difference. Between magazines too. It all kind of makes my head hurt.
I think in part, I need to get a grasp on what kinds of stories I am looking for before I'll recognize them. It was straightforward when I was looking for TR stories. They wanted technologies in a very specific stage of development that were nifty, innovative, and possible to explain in ~150 words. Finding leads was hard, but not impossible.
I guess my next step is to stop fearing this just because it isn't easy, and hit the libraries. Read magazines I want to write for until I get a sense of what they want in freelance articles. Slow slow process. ick. But I can do this.
