The Poynter Institute's Tom Huang starts with a confession before listing six questions a writer should ask and answer before making a story pitch to an editor: "Back when I was a cub reporter, I used to pitch story ideas by proclaiming that I wanted to write about “the homeless,” or “drug gangs,” or “teen mothers.” While these were interesting and important topics, that’s all they were — topics. They didn’t have enough shape or specificity to be ideas."
