Speaking to Media: Lindsey King

Next up in our Speaking to Media series, meet Lindsey King, a multidisciplinary journalist whose work has been featured in Toronto Life, Maclean’s, Canada’s 100 Best and more. With a background in creative writing and publishing, Lindsey is a versatile, voice-driven storyteller known for her curiosity, her ability to move seamlessly across arts and culture, food, design, and real estate. 

What initially drew you to a career in journalism?

I fell into journalism via creative writing and editing. I had a short-lived fiction and poetry-writing practice, then I worked for a major publisher before a former colleague told me I should get into magazine writing. Journalism wasn’t a career path I considered initially because I thought it was exclusively for politically savvy interlocutors and true prose experts — something I could never be. 

But after that big nudge and a few early assignments — rife with painful and ongoing trial by fire lessons — I think I’ve fallen for two facets of journalism. For one, it has a really beautiful capacity to represent people. If a memoir subject, for example, feels like I captured what they’ve been trying to say but couldn’t or if a subject who went through a painful experience feels like their voice was heard, I get a rush of energy and pride. The second facet for me is the actual writerly craft. It’s endlessly satisfying to write in many voices that reflect the content of the article. I get assigned a lot of silly and light-hearted stories at Toronto Life because (I think?) they know I like to joke around and get bouncy with the text. But if I’m reviewing dance, I try to use lots of somatic language and up the sonics of the sentences. And for more serious pieces, I puff up my chest and try on a litigious tone. It’s fun to wear words like a costume. 

Your portfolio spans arts and culture, food and drink, architecture, design, and real estate. How do you balance covering such diverse topics?

I hope from the outside it looks like I’m balancing them! I’m very curious and that helps locate the right information for a story, but it really helps if I’m not versed in a topic. The Canadian economy/market has come up in a few articles I’ve worked on recently and if you look at how I handle my banking, you’ll quickly see I know next to nothing about how money works. But it’s been good for me as a writer to metaphorically read the instruction manual for a board game on behalf of the readers. No one likes reading the instructions. They just want to get into the fun. 

But that sort of gets away from the original question. The sections are interconnected. Working on one story will often give me a hot lead for a different piece so maybe they balance each other naturally. Eventually, though, I think I’d like to be in an open relationship with Arts and Culture as my primary partner and the other sections will be my side pieces. 

What does your editorial process look like — from pitch to published piece?

I feel like my answer is boring, haha. I’ll pitch something and then if the editor is gently interested, they might have follow-up questions. Most often, that’s “how can we better tie this to Toronto/Canada?” — something I’ve learned is that the perceived reader wants to know what’s happening directly next to them — and then I’ll interview the subject if needed and that will include a lot of nervous laughter from me but I tend to leave interviews maxxed out on adrenaline. 

Then I get the draft going EARLY in the morning. No food, just straight to the desk in my pyjamas. That’s when my brain works. I’m a head-scratching edit-as-I-go type, which I don’t recommend; I envy those who can blast through a first draft then edit later. Then I send it to my editor with a smiley face in the email, which subliminally means “please don’t be mad at me if this doesn’t live up to the brilliance you were imagining,” and then depending on the publication and if it’s for web or print, I’ll get a few rounds of edits. A big structural chop n’ screw style edit is the hardest edit for me to work through and usually makes me lose interest in what I’ve written. But a stylistic tightening edit that bumps up the good that’s happening is the best. 

How do you define a strong editorial “fit” between a brand story and your publication’s focus?

I think it has to speak to the publication’s strapline in some way and make sense for the type of coverage it tends to do. Almost all magazines I write for don’t cover private events that are inaccessible to the public, so I almost never pitch coverage for things like galas. 

What kinds of story angles or formats are most useful to you — product news, profiles, thought leadership, trend pieces, or something else?

They’re all good but maybe some are easier sells depending on the seasons. There’s more space for product news around the holidays. September always feels like a moment to renew professionally, so a good time for thought leadership. 

What advice would you give PR professionals who want their pitches to stand out in your inbox?

Honestly, a pitch that doesn’t obviously use ChatGPT is a huge treat. 

And then, the more grounded the information, the better. It’s my job to see how the story could work at different publications and add in the fun language, but I need to know what the thing that’s being pitched is at a granular, easy-to-read level. Sometimes I think the PR pro becomes overinvested in how I could write about it and eschews some of the key of what’s actually happening. That said, I just looked through my inbox for examples and most PR stories I’ve in turned pitched have super headlines. Usually, if they start with “Canada’s first…” you’ve got me. I am obligated by law to open that email. 

What inspires you creatively outside of work?

My brilliant friends — especially those that aren’t writers. I have three best friends. Just ignore the illogical use of the superlative there. One is a downright gentle producer and former religious scholar with an obsession with sound design, another is an unreasonably charismatic documentary filmmaker with whom I’ve concocted many bizarre business ideas with, and the last, who works in art collection for a millionaire, will reliably make me laugh until I’m crying. They are so admirably complex. And they make the world make sense to me. If I’ve ever written anything smart or had a good idea, I’m sure I could trace the root to them. 

What guidance would you offer to someone looking to break into this industry?

Make an unfussy portfolio. My first writing samples included Substack recipes and links to Instagram captions — but it was something! Reply to emails within an hour. Embed the advice and feedback from editors deeply into your brain and never forget it. And, if you’re able, say yes to everything. Small and low-paying work has often led me to bigger assignments or given me a weird glimpse of a corner of the world I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. 

– 

Want more of our Speaking to Media series? Check out our interview with Kelly Boutsalis, a Mohawk Freelance Journalist.