Learning to Interview

My friends Zinsser and Graham give tips this week about writing about people, using interview techniques, and how to illustrate with anecdotes. I am struggling a bit with this whole interview process. The tips in the book are helpful, but I think until I dive into it, it won’t make sense or be complete. I found Zinnser’s basic advice “Get people talking” helpful. I’ve got to ask the right questions that will in turn give me answers that are interesting not just to the speaker, but to my audience as well. I haven’t done any literary journalism up to this point, so once again I’ll be treading new waters. I think the main point zinsser’s trying to get across is even a topic that sounds incredibly boring can be turned into something special. By pushing ourselves as writiers out into the real world, we can choose a sjbuject who has a job that is important, interesting or unusal will interest the average reader. “Graham tells us that anecdotes are brief factual stories that illustrate some aspect of the article’s thesis. They allow you to put people ionto your article even if you are primarily writing about things or concepts. I would love to be able to incorporate both Zinsser’s and Graham’s tips to come up with an interesting interview.

“I can’t wait to have my own choices to make, my own decisions. I will not ever go to another AA meeting because I have been forced to go. It is degrading to get a signature to prove I’ve been here. I will never again ask to use a bathroom. I’m a 49 year old professional woman who took a couple wrong turns. ” These words echoed in my head as I drove a homeless woman to a local AA meeting. “ I know I screwed up, but I’m tired of being surrounded by people with no ambition and not teeth. That’s not me. I had a good job, making six figures, a husband, a house full of antiques, a car and pets.” “I just want my life back” I picked Mary up from the local women’s shelter, and as always, she was pulled together looking more like she was going out to dinner, rather than into a hall at a local center. We drive, using the 10-minute distance to the meeting as a time to catch up on the week’s events. How did Mary survive being out on the streets every day this week, like every other week, from 8 to 4, as they are not allowed to stay at the Shelter during the day? Mary talks quietly, voice often quivering, but always with conviction. “I just can’t do this anymore. I have had enough of all this. I’ve learned every lesson I’m supposed to learn and now I want my life back. Even though Mary is homeless, divorced, and jobless, has no car and had to give up her cats to the local humane society, she holds optimism about a job prospect. “This is not just about getting the job,” she said, head down, eyes watering, “it’s about getting my life back.”