Interview as Story

Photo by Claire via FlickrIf you love, like I do, creating a narrative arc when conducting an interview or writing a profile piece, you'll appreciate this article by Andrea Pitzer on the Nieman Storyboard.

I think my favorite takeaway as a profile writer was this bit by Lisa Mullins, chief anchor and senior producer for Public Radio International’s “The World,” which pretty much sums up what I love about narrative interviews. 

"One of the reasons I really cherish the practice of interviewing as narrative is, frankly, ego. A lot of what we do is to convince people that they will be interested, entertained and edified by whatever we’re presenting. But it’s not a given. I don’t take that interest for granted.

So my goal is to give them what I know is going to attract any listener: a really interesting story, especially around an issue they didn’t know they could be interested in. By working with this rubric of storytelling and narrative, no matter what you’re doing, you’re going to get a much better interview for yourself, you’re going to have a more cooperative interviewee, and you’re going to get the listener paying attention. It’s not like they’re being spoon-fed; they’re just being informed and entertained in the most natural way of all, and that’s through storytelling."

That's my goal, too, when doing interviews: to give readers a really interesting story about a subject they didn't necessarily care about before. I want to take them on the same journey I travel as I resarch and write the piece, a journey where I discover and become impassioned about someone or something I didn't know before I started. I come to care about the subject, sometimes even fall in love with the subject. When my piece is done, I want my readers to fall in love with the subject, too.