Check out Liz Rosenberg, a great author I interviewed for WOW! Women on Writing March issue
Don’t be scared if you aren’t a woman! I also interview guys for WOW. They give great advice too. You can check out some of my recent stuff at WOW :
Interview with Bonnie Hearn Hill
Interview with Linda Joy Myers
And coming up is an interview with Miles Nelson(a guy!)
I recently talking with a writing friend about interviews. When I started out I was amazed that these important people would agree to allow me to interview them(OK, we’re not talking the President but…keep in mind I was a newbie writer with three kids playing dolls in the background while I tried to sound professional on phone interviews). Everyone was important to me! So I was thrilled to find out I wasn’t the only writer with the “Really? Yes? You’ll Let Me Interview You?” complex. So for anyone else out there with this complex I thought I’d tell you that most of the people you interview are secretly feeling the same things you are.
1. You are doing me a big favor — As a writer, you feel like whoever you’re interviewing is doing you this humungous favor but you’re also doing them a favor(maybe not humungous but still a favor). You are giving them a little free publicity.
2. I am so nervous — Does conducting an interview make you nervous? Afraid you’ll say something stupid? Forget something important? Be exposed as someone pretending to be a writer? The person you’re interviewing is afraid they’ll make themselves look foolish, get some fact wrong, or be exposed as someone pretending to be an “expert”.
3. What if I do something weird? — Oh the possibilities are endless. Say bye-bye instead of goodbye(comes from spending too much time with preschoolers). Think I pushed the record button when I actually pushed the delete button. Start laughing at the wrong place. We’re all worrying about our weirdness breaking through. I had a woman confess to me after being interviewed about her book that the only thing she could remember was blinking–constantly.
Interviews become more fun and effective when you learn to approach them as two friends getting together for a chat. Sure, you still have the job of getting the information and quotes out of them to create an interesting article. But it becomes a lot easier when you aren’t listening to your self say “OMG” in your head through the entire interview. Actually, I don’t say “OMG”–it’s usually something a little stronger. I’ll leave it to your imagination.