The Art of the Interview: Part I

I have to do a lot of phone interviews in my work, and if you’re going to be any kind of writer (even a novelist), you probably will, too. So I thought I’d share some of my interviewing tips with you -- in two parts, 1) Preparation and 2) the Interview itself. Here’s Part I:

Re: Prep Work

Be prepared. I cannot stress this enough. Have your questions in front of you and your tape recorder handy, even if you're just calling to schedule the interview. I learned this the hard way when I finally reached a busy designer to arrange a time to talk, and he said, "I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow, but I have a half hour right now I could give you…"

Don't worry about being a pest. You will probably have to call a few times before you actually reach the person to schedule the interview, but that’s just part of the job. Contrary to your feelings, you won't be perceived as a stalker. In fact, most people will appreciate your tenacity.

Ask for backup. When you do reach the person, ask if there’s any online or previously published background info s/he could send you ahead of time.

Do your homework. Carefully go through your background material making notes on questions to ask, good points to make, etc.

Listen to yourself on tape before you call the person. I have a little note posted on my phone that says "Yore, Fore, Shoor," because when I first heard myself as I was transcribing an interview tape, I noticed how AWFUL my diction sounded! The words "Yer, fer, shur" jumped out and screamed in my ear. Seeing my note reminds me to speak clearly and distinctly

Listen to Terry Gross (“Fresh Air”) on NPR. I used to think Terry Gross was a terrible interviewer because she never reacted to things people would say. I remember once when she was interviewing Paul McCartney, he sang a little bit of a really beautiful song. Instead of reacting to the song, Terry went right into her next question. Well, now I understand it: she only has so much time and needs to get a lot of questions in. (Side note: I just finished her book, “All I Did Was Ask,” and it was great!)

Re: Your Questions

Never ask a question that can be answered with a "yes" or a "no." This one is so basic I almost hate to include it, but it's so important, I have to. Example: "Why do you think humor is so important to having good mental attitude?" vs. "Do you think humor is important to having good mental attitude?"

Use superlatives/extremes. When asking questions, go for extremes, using terms like most, best, worst, hardest, least favorite: "What's the most rewarding aspect of your job?" Or "What is the best piece of advice you ever received?" This gets them thinking in the right direction.

Ask for their opinion on things, such as, "What do you think is the reason for such and such?" or "From your perspective, what's the most important feature of this new program?"

Include some out of the ordinary questions, something they may never have been asked before such as, “How do you think this ever became a law in the first place?”

E-mail the questions ahead of time. And give them the option of e-mailing back the answers. You may get most of what you need that way, depending how well they do, or at least it will give you a good start.

Write down the scheduled interview time in your calendar, and don’t be a minute late when you call them.

Next week: The interview itself.