Over the Transom | 12.20.24

Pitch to publish, Traveling Workshop reboot, and some holiday listening

Dec 20, 2024

Happy Friday! We hope you’re settling in to the end of the year and getting some rest. Let us know how you’re liking the new format and what else you’d like to see in the new Transom newsletter.

Ok, let’s get to Edition #2.

Announcements:

Transom Traveling Workshop in Catalina, California, March 23-30, 2025

We are thrilled to announce the reboot of our Transom Traveling Workshop on audio storytelling — a week of intensive training for beginners in beautiful Catalina, CA March 23-30, 2025. Training by David Weinberg with support from teaching assistant Ariella Markowitz. Applications open now. Scholarships available!

Ask an expert!

Last week, we heard from Transom Tools Editor Jeff Towne about the pros and cons of the Tascam X8. This week, Sound School host Rob Rosenthal is here to answer a question about next steps after pitching.

If you’ve got a burning question you would like Jeff or Rob to answer, submit it below!

Submit a question

Q: Hi Rob! I've been an audio producer for about five years, but I don't have much experience working on my own stories from pitch to publish. I spent the last few weeks researching and working up a pitch, and it got approved. Yay! What now? What would your very first next step be if you were me?
- L
A: Congratulations on getting your pitch approved! I hope it wasn't too nerve-wracking while you waited for a response! :)
As for what's next.... If this was me, I would make a list of all the people I think I need to interview for the story. I'd create a spreadsheet that includes contact info and columns for when and how I reached out, how they responded, etc.
I would jot down the big themes I want to unearth in the story. For instance, currently, I'm an editor on a story set in Uganda where the main character is queer and was forced by their family to go to "conversion therapy." Some of the big themes we'll want to tackle include: LGBTQ people and the law in Uganda, colonialism, religion and queeness, etc. Yes, the majority of the story will focus on the main character, but we're going to want to provide context.
I'd craft a focus sentence: "someone does something because, but...." This is a useful tool for making sure your reporting and, eventually, your writing stays on track.
I'd chart out the scenes for my story. This is a rough-draft outline of how I think the story might be told.
By the way, I'd write the focus sentence and scenes in pencil and by that I mean they're meant to change over the course of the reporting. You may end up amending them.
Then, I'd meet with my editor. Tell them what my vision for the story is. Find out their vision for the story. And, agree on a plan for moving forward together.
For more info, read "Before the First Question" at Transom. Good luck! And get good tape!!

What’s new on Transom…

Finding Their Voice by Evan Ratliff

“Shell Game,” Evan Ratliff’s series exploring generative AI in audio, blew us away — provoking questions about what it means to sound (and be) human. In his manifesto, Evan explores these implications & holds up the mirror: who are we as storytellers, anyway?

Read it here

More to explore on Transom.org:

This month’s
All Hear
Newsletter from Transom columnist Talia Augustidis features more than 130 upcoming opportunities in audio, including a Spotify Studios Union-sponsored scholarship for the semester-long Salt Institute for Documentary Studies Graduate Certificate Program at MECA&D.

Read it here

Transom and Blue Mountain Center are welcoming audio storytellers and documentarians to apply for a month-long residency in the Adirondacks! If accepted, there is no cost for the residency – room and board is provided by the Center.

Apply here

On the latest Sound School, host Rob Rosenthal dissects Daniel Alarcón’s writing in the first episode of "The Good Whale" from Serial and the NYT.
Read it here

And Transom columnist Alice Wilder posts her final issue of the Starting Out Newsletter. In it, she gathers together the best of the Starting Out resources over the years. Join us in celebrating all Alice has accomplished in this farewell edition!
Read it here

From the archives…

Of a Piece by Michelle Orange

The holidays are full of family traditions. But how do you reimagine these traditions, or build new ones, after a divorce? In this piece from 2002, Michelle Orange spends time with her father meditating on puzzles, commitment, and the Sistine Chapel. As a bonus, she also writes about the process of converting this story from print to audio.

“The things she took with her that I felt a little more keenly were traditions. Things we did at Christmas, that we no longer did. Not consciously — they just didn’t happen. I felt a mantle fall on my shoulders to create new ones, and I gave few a shot. But the puzzle was one that stuck.”

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