The art of the news hook
Nail this practice and you’ll always have something to pitch
Practice writing news hooks and you’ll have both a way and a reason to pitch your work for the rest of your life. So today, write a list of a dozen topics you want to write about. Then, look through major news sites and find ways to connect each item on your list to something in the news.
Here’s how you do that: you mention the news story then use it to pivot to the thing you want to talk about.
Let’s take this big, big story as an example:
Say you want to write about the lack of women in leadership roles. Well, there’s a big case being heard by the Supreme Court that could challenge Roe v. Wade, so your news hook might go something like: “As the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case that could challenge Roe v. Wade, we’re reminded yet again the degree to which women are still not widely and culturally seen as trustworthy leaders, capable of making their own decisions about even their own bodies. So is it any surprise we still do not see greater numbers of women in leadership roles at the country’s largest corporations?”
You get the idea. Grab the news, mention but don’t recap, then pivot to your thing. Let’s do a dozen. Go.
