“Out on the Wire” is a graphic novel that describes the story behind the audio story. Through Jessica Abel’s book, I understand that no story is born for no reason. Every story is born for a reason; in other words, every story has its own story behind.
To propose a story is simple, but determining a good story to produce may take a long story-pitch meeting to discuss. Audio producers have to discuss the news in more complicated things, like whether the story is valuable to report? I think a good story cannot always follow the same template. (like a sequence of actions where someone says” this happened, then this happened, then this happened,” and then there’s a moment of reflection about what that sequence means, and then on to the next sequence of actions) We should continue to expand the structure of the story, and cannot maintain an old story-telling system forever.
Some questions also need to be considered, for example, has anyone reported the same story? If so, can we find another angle to add? Besides, the producers will also conduct meetings for the entire program’s effects, like to discuss whether each story’s timing is accurate (too long or too short may affect a story’s final outcome). Does the story need more things to set off, such as additional information or additional background music?… The book let me think about one sentence: “One minute on the stage and ten years of practice off the stage.” That is to say, the story we heard may only be a few minutes, but the entire story from the first draft to the final version, even to each sentence’s wording, may have been carefully considered by the people behind the scenes. When we narrate a story or choose a story idea, we should also measure the story’s value more than just a sudden thought, and to think about how to maximize the story’s value through technology, content, words, and others.
Shiyun Li (Sharon) 