Interview Tips Writers Should Know
Whether you’re a newer writer or a seasoned pro, you’re bound to have to interview someone at some point of your career.
This could be for a wide variety of projects, from doing character or plot development on a novel, doing something for your own website, or even for a publication you may be writing for.
Regardless of your skill level, the status of your interviewee, or where the interview is going, let’s get write on in to some tips to help you crush your next interview.
But First… Who The Heck Am I?
Before we get too into the nitty gritty, let me tell you a little about myself and my writing career.
I first started freelancing during a gap year in New Zealand in 2015. I wrote about super random things like surrendering the title of your car as a pawn for a loan (yes it’s legal), how to remove mold from an air conditioning system, and ways to shave your beard.
It wasn’t the most exciting thing, but when I came back stateside, I wound up landing a role as the main blogger at the Monterey Bay Food Tours.
This immediately had me interviewing local restaurant owners, which was something I thought was awesome. At the time, one of the more exciting interviews I got to do was with the owners of the Paluca Trattoria, which became famous for being “the coffee shop” featured in HBO’s Big Little Lies.
I wrote for the Food Tours up until COVID shut things down, which was when I started my YouTube channel and focused more effort on my own content.
When I ended up moving down to San Diego in 2021, I started writing for a local gay magazine called RAGE. They had me interviewing locals for parties like Pride and the Red Dress Party at first, then moved me into RuPaul’s Drag Race queens like Alaska Thunderfuck and Alyssa Edwards.
This led to a press trip to Puerto Vallarta, where I met the now-Editor-in-Chief of HIV Plus and The Advocate. I started writing for Out Magazine and Pride.com, and now I basically interview people all of the time.
So, enough about me — let’s talk about five tips for you to take into your next interview.
1. Do Your Research
I have a bit of an issue with being a “yes man” sometimes — meaning I’ll basically say yes to any interview, regardless if I know the subject or not. Hey, the light bill doesn’t pay itself, and sometimes a writer just has to do what he has to do.
That said, whether I know who the subject is really doesn’t matter. I could be a super fan or I could be totally blind to their career, but either way, it’s important to do some research on the person you’re interviewing to help you prepare for your questions.
This is for a variety of reasons, one being to simply fact-check the questions you have in mind. You can also research other interviews they’ve had, whether via text or video, just to get an idea of the type of things other people are asking. It’s also important to know about their career, at least a little bit, so you don’t look like a total idiot when it comes to conducting the interview.
I’ll also admit… I’ve been on Zoom interviews where I completely forgot this step, because I’ve completely forgotten about the interview. I’ll talk more about that next, but essentially, I started with, “Tell me a little more about you and this project you’re working on” and looked them up while they talked.
Oops.
2. Be On Time
In continuation with what I just mentioned, make sure you’re actually on time for your interview.
My boyfriend and I frequently argue over this little thing called a calendar. He’s great for putting down every last thing he’s doing in it to have a full and complete schedule. I, on the other hand, am not.
While it doesn’t happen to me often, there has been a time or two where I’ve completely forgotten I’ve had an interview. Sometimes it even happens when I put it in my calendar, but my boyfriend still wins the argument any time that becomes the reason why I miss something.
Don’t do this.
Don’t leave your person waiting, ever. It’s likely your subject will be late, and maybe often, but as the person conducting the interview, make sure you’re always on time. Actually, don’t even be on time —
Be early.
3. Show Genuine Interest
This can be hard, because truth is, you might not care at all about who this person is or what they’re up to.
That doesn’t matter.
If you’ve never interviewed people, here’s a little tip: It’s way better to have too much to sort through than nothing at all.
If you’re not even showing any interest in what they’re doing, they may only give you one- or two-word answers. Honestly, even if you are showing genuine interest, they still might not be very talkative. It is always so much better to have more quotes and content than you need to sort out what you don’t want than it is to have nothing at all and have to scramble to meet your word count for the piece.
They’ve shown up for the interview, so you show up for them. Plain and simple.
4. Use a Transcriber
This, to me, is a life changer.
It’s not as much about recording your conversation as it is about transcribing it live and in real-time so when the interview is over, you basically have a skeleton transcript of how everything went.
I, personally, use Otter.ai.
There’s a Zoom integration that I love, because it starts to record automatically when the Zoom interview starts and then transcribes the conversation as it happens. There’s also a regular “record” button, as well as an app, so it’s convenient any time I need to ask someone some questions and get a quote or two.
When I first started doing interviews, I hand-transcribed every conversation I had.
Now, I don’t care as much about how long people talk, because it’s all already transcribed for me.
Seriously.
Life.
Changer.
5. Remember They’re Just People, Too
Okay, I admit — this little point here is actually more for celebrities than anything else.
But it really can go for anybody.
Again, the first time I interviewed a restaurant owner or a wine maker, I was just as nervous as interviewing someone like Jonathan van Ness or Ben Platt.
Granted, let’s be real: Of course there are going to be some names that come through your inbox that catch your attention more than others. Whether you’re a “yes writer” like me or you’re more selective about your projects, there are plenty of varying levels of interest when it comes to the people you interview.
Regardless of who they are or their celebrity status, just remember, at the end of the day, they’re people just like you and me. They have to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, and take care of their hygiene just like the rest of us. While it is admittedly cool to be able to talk to people of a certain stature every so often, if you’re interviewing them, it is vital to remember they’re just people, too.
Off to Interview!
Every interview is going to be different, as is every subject on the other end of your questions.
Interviewing really is one of my favorite things about being a writer. It helps me understand how people work and the overall world in general, and I feel grateful every time I hop on a call to get one done.
If you haven’t interviewed anyone yet, but you’re going to — hang in there! It’s just like getting a tattoo — once you do one, the other ones become an addiction.
