Interviewing people is a great way to build a book that feels human and fleshed out. We writers are conduits for the stories of others. We share in our writing the human condition, whether through compelling themes in fiction or real lived experiences in nonfiction. Both are art forms, and both often require gathering more than one’s viewpoint and experience to tell the story.
Sometimes we simply don’t have enough experience to truly understand the perspectives we wish to represent within our stories — so we turn to others. Interviewing experts, witnesses, and avatars for character-building is its own art form, one many writers find daunting. You don’t have to be a journalist to learn the skill.
In this workshop, I’ll share what I’ve learned about interviewing as both an anthropologist and author of an award-winning interview-based book. You’ll learn:
how to find people
how to structure your interview process
the ethics involved, and
what to do once you have a pile of interviews to work with