Good interview questions II

In addition to questions tailored to the subject, always include a broad invitation to address issues not covered by my questions, such as:

Is there anything important we haven't covered? Have you had any experiences or developed any opinions that you haven't already told me about, but which you think are important?

Getting ideas for articles I

Museums are always stimulating places; every time I visit one, I come away with ideas for articles. In this newish museum, I discovered that Taiwan's first public bus service was launched in January 1913. Guess what subject I'll be pitching to editors shortly, as they begin to make plans for the end of this year and the beginning of next year?

It's said that anniversaries make for lazy journalists. It's true, in a way - but editors and readers seem to like anniversaries, so make a point of what happened in history 100 or even 500 years ago.

Grammar Girl offers lots of good advice

Wondering whether you should write affect or effect? Confused about capitalization? Unsure of the difference between palette, pallet and palate? A very useful website is Grammar Girl.

In case you're wondering, I'm not being paid for this plug!

Interviewees who ask to preview your article

An interviewee wants to see the article before publication. What should I do?

If the media outlet you're writing for has a specific policy about this, it's almost certainly that the article text should not be shown to anyone prior to publication.

On many occasions, however, I've emailed those parts of an interview I plan to use to the interviewee for his/her approval before sending the finished article to the editor. I do this to protect myself; I don't want to misquote someone, and I don't want to misrepresent a person's opinions when paraphrasing him/her. Also, many of the people I interview aren't native speakers of English, and they appreciate my offer to send them the quotes I want to use ahead of submission. I'm not the kind of investigative journalist who's trying to catch out bigots, criminals or corrupt politicians. (If you are that type of journalist, you should of course being giving your target an opportunity to respond to any allegations.)

I never send the entire article unless the interview subject has made it an explicit condition for agreeing to the interview. And if that's the case, I always warn them that the editor has the right to make changes up until the moment of printing.

If you're a balanced writer, you've nothing to fear from this process. I've never had an interview subject request more than very minor changes, nor have I ever had an editor reject a finished piece that has been reviewed by a source before submission.

Good interview questions I

Last year I interviewed two collectors who are quite well known here in Taiwan. One, a Dutch businessman, collects old European maps and books featuring Taiwan. The other, a Taiwanese engineering professor, collects ancient Chinese locks. I asked identical questions:

What prompted you to begin collecting?

Tell me about your first purchase.

What are the criteria for your collection? Why did you choose these things? Has your focus evolved over time?

Which item in your collection do you prize most? Why?

Which item in your collection was especially difficult to obtain?

What does your collection lack?

Do you regard other collectors as competitors or comrades?

Are you still collecting? If you've stopped, why?

Has your collection or any part of it gone on public display?

What do you plan to do with your collection in the future?

Interviewing for research purposes

As I keep saying, you should be on the constant look-out for stories, and using any spare moments to research fresh angles. It's a good idea to contact public relations executives in large organizations, even if you don't have a firm story idea or a commission. After all, such people are paid to influence media coverage, and almost all are more than happy to point journalists in what - for them and their masters - is the right direction.

This is how I approach PR people:

Dear Ms. Wilson,

My name is John Jones. I am a contributing writer for WESTERN WIDGETS, a monthly magazine that follows trends in the widget industry in Canada's West.

Alan Roberts, the magazine's editor (tel: 123-456-789; dondavis@westernwidgetsmag.com) has asked me to suggest ideas for articles, and as your company is an industry leader, I am hoping you can share with me your expectations and predictions for 2012.

I can be reached at this email address, or by telephone (98-654-321).

Yours sincerely,

John Jones