The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

The Business of Writing

Diana K. Serquina

Crafting Interview Questions

For many writers, the most stressful part of their job is conducting interviews. After all, many of us like writing, not public speaking—otherwise, we’d be in television or radio, not print media. Coming up with the right questions, and then getting usable answers, can be tough. While interviewing subjects by e-mail reduces a lot of the tension for some writers, there are still challenges. Some are the same ones faced by any interviewer, and some are different.

No Magic Number
How many questions should you ask? That depends on how much information you need. If you’re conducting the interview in person, you can have a list of initial questions, and then ask any follow-up questions as they present themselves during the interview. For e-mail interviews, I usually start with about half a dozen questions or so. That’s usually enough to get what I want, but not so many that I overwhelm my interviewee.

There are some questions you should ask even if you think you know the answer. Always verify the correct spelling of the interviewee’s name, his or her title, and any other relevant details like company name. (Nothing makes a writer look sloppier to an interviewee reading the finished article than a misspelled name or title.) You can actually combine that all into one item. For example, “Please give me the spelling of your name, title, and company name exactly as you want them to appear in the article.”

It’s a good idea to check the pronunciation of names, too. Even though the name will be appearing in print, editors may want to be able to provide the pronunciation in the article if the name is unusual. Also, if the editor or a fact-checker will be calling the interviewee to double-check your material, he or she will want to pronounce the person’s name correctly.

When you’re coming up with your list of interview questions, remember the five Ws you were taught in school: who, what, when, where, why (and the one H—how). If your article is about a person, you’ll be asking different questions than if you’re writing about a company or a technology, but usually you need to address most or all of those points, regardless of your topic.

For the technology articles I wrote, I usually asked the following questions, or variations on them:

• Who developed the technology?
  
• What exactly is the technology? (I was asking for an overview of whatever it was, and would ask follow-up questions as needed.)
  
• When was the technology developed? (If it was still in the development process, this question became, “When do you expect this technology to be available on the market?”)
  
• Where will this technology be used? (In what industry, by what kind of people, etc.)
  
• Why is this technology noteworthy? (What need does it meet)?
  
• How was the technology developed? (Was it based on existing technologies, or developed “from scratch”?)

• Who are you? (My actual questions were less blunt—confirming name, title, any degrees or professional designations, etc.)
  
• What does your job involve? (I often ask for an overview of “a typical day” on the job, in addition to the more formal job description.)
  
• When did you start this career? (This involves not only how long they’ve been doing the job, but also whether it was their initial career choice or a career change.)
  
• Where did you attend school (or get other training for the job)? Where do you currently work? (company and department, as appropriate)
  
• Why did you choose this career? (In this area, I often ask what are the best and worst things about the career or job.)
  
• How do you do your job? (What skills do you use, what tools are required, what techniques are applied, etc.)

Getting Good Quotes
How do you get “quotable” answers instead of monosyllables or two-word answers? Phrase your questions so they are not yes/no questions. Make sure the interviewee will have to give you at least a full sentence in response. One way to do that is to phrase your questions as instructions rather than actual questions. Instead of asking a series of questions like, “What year was the company founded?” and “When did the company move to this location?” you can say something like, “Please give me a brief history of the company.” While the first two questions can each be answered with just a date, the third request forces a more detailed response.

Of course, there are times when you just need a few facts (like the year a company was founded). If that’s the case, feel free to ask direct questions that get you short answers with the details you need.

Be Informed—Or Admit Your Ignorance
What if you have to interview someone about a subject you know nothing about? This happened to me many times when I was writing for a magazine that often dealt with new technologies. For one article, I had to interview experts on quantum computing—something I’d never heard of, let alone had any familiarity with.

To handle that kind of situation, do some research before your interview. Read anything you can find on the subject so that you can at least figure out what questions you need to ask. If you can’t find good information, there’s one tactic that has never failed me. I just explained to the interviewee that my readers would not have any prior knowledge of the subject, and asked them to please answer my questions with those readers in mind. I also wasn’t afraid to ask basic questions—like, “What, in lay terminology, is quantum computing?”

Some writers feel that asking questions of that nature makes them look “ignorant.” In my opinion, it’s just doing your job—getting accurate information from experts, instead of guessing or trying to figure things out on your own so you’ll look more informed to your interviewee.

Good interviews don’t guarantee good articles that editors will eagerly accept—but they give you a good foundation to work from.

About the Author
Diana K. Serquina is a freelance writer living in Spokane, Washington. She has written for a variety of magazines and newspapers, and is currently a columnist for the Great Falls (Montana) Tribune. She conducts most of her interviews by e-mail.