The workshops in this series have ended. If you would like to be notified about future editing workshops at The Open Notebook when they become available, please email TON executive director and editor-in-chief Siri Carpenter: siricarpenter@theopennotebook.com.
As an editor, how do you decide whether to assign or reject a pitch from a freelancer? How do you work with writers to shape story ideas and to support their reporting? How do you identify what’s missing in a draft and figure out what revisions will make a story sing? How do you communicate your edits effectively and build collaborative relationships with writers? How do you edit with diversity, equity, and inclusion in mind? How do you handle difficult conversations with writers when tricky situations arise?
Science editors have few formal opportunities to learn these skills. To help fill this critical gap, The Open Notebook is offering a series of virtual, interactive workshops that will give emerging and established editors the skills and confidence to work with writers on selecting and sharpening story ideas, planning and carrying out reporting, anticipating and troubleshooting problems in the reporting and writing process, and crafting accurate and compelling stories.
These workshops are for editors at any career stage, staff or freelance, who want to improve their skills in key technical areas of editing and to sharpen their coaching skills.
Note: Workshops in this series will mostly focus on editing the work of journalists and other professional science writers. Much of the focus will be on editing print features, though many principles covered are also relevant to news and other story formats such as op-eds, essays, or audio/multimedia/graphics, as well as to editing the work of academics and experts.
Format
Each workshop in the series is 90 minutes long. The program for each workshop will include planned presentations, interactive discussions, and opportunity for discussing or workshopping real-life editing challenges and solutions. Participants are welcome to take part with cameras on or off. Workshops will be recorded and made available to registered participants for three months following each workshop.
Registration Fees
The registration fee is $120 per workshop.
Note about discounted rates: Our goal at The Open Notebook is to support the advancement of science journalists around the world. In particular, we want to ensure that the resources we provide are accessible to those who have experienced higher-than-average barriers to entry in our field. Discounted registration is available on a first-come, first-served basis to individuals who are members of communities that have historically been underrepresented in science journalism or whose economic circumstances would make the full cost of the workshops a financial strain. To use this discount, add the promo code TON_70DISCOUNT for a 70 percent discount. (The promo code box is above the workshops listing on the sign-up page.)
Workshop Descriptions
The workshops can be experienced either individually or as a series.
This workshop will focus on how to develop the skills and mindset of an editor and make inroads into this career path. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Recognize the unique challenges of editing science stories
- Identify key skills needed for editing science stories
- Find editing opportunities
- Position yourself for success as an editor
This workshop will focus on the first steps in the editorial process: selecting what stories to commission, identifying the right form and scope for a story, and working with writers to plan reporting. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Analyze story ideas/pitches and evaluate writers’ skills
- Work with writers to sharpen story ideas and develop reporting plans
- Write clear pitching guidelines and assignment letters to maximize the chances of good results
- Anticipate and troubleshoot problems that may arise during the reporting and writing process
This workshop will focus on how to tackle the actual story-editing process well, from your first read-through to your final tweak. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Focus your attention to read story drafts as an editor
- Prioritize the steps in your editing process
- Identify the most common issues that plague stories for your publication and why they tend to arise
- Use a “forensic editing” approach in order to recognize and disentangle common conceptual, structural, and style problems in drafts
- Recognize when you are done editing
This workshop will focus on nurturing successful partnerships with writers. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Communicate edits well
- Work with reporters in a way that is honest, constructive, clear, confident, and empowering
- Find the right balance between “coaching” and “rewriting”
- Mentor early-career writers
- Support writers experiencing hardship or important life transitions
This workshop will focus on the role that editors play in supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in science journalism. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Diversify your network of writers
- Work with writers whose first language is not your publication’s language
- Encourage and empower writers to include diverse voices in their stories
- Work with sensitivity readers
- Identify strategies for addressing common problematic issues that can emerge in science reporting and writing
This workshop will take a deeper dive into story structure. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Help writers create powerful ledes and nut grafs that provide structural support
- Recognize and address weak or missing transitions
- Weave narrative and exposition together to pull readers through stories
This workshop will focus on how to manage sticky situations that can arise during the editing process. In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Reject pitches honestly and humanely
- Respond to work that misses the mark
- Handle potential conflicts of interest
- Deal with plagiarism and other misconduct
- Handle negative feedback, harassment, or abuse
- Respond to unexpected challenges