ABSTRACT
Almost no other aspect of the feature writing process is as crucial for a story's ultimate success as the choreographing of interviews that are penetrating, engaging, and revelatory. Begin by establishing a comfort level that gently downshifts an interviewee from on-guard mode to relaxed mode. "Interviewing is the modest, immediate science of gaining trust, then gaining information", says John Brady in The Craft of Interviewing. The choice of interview setting, far less desirable than their home and workplace is a neutral place such as a restaurant. The ideal interview should consist of only two people: you and the subject. Failure to do homework is one of the three biggest reasons why interviews fail. Press conferences part of daily life for many young reporters on city hall and other government beats tend to make writers rusty at probing. During the interview, though, your goal is to keep coaxing material, to get the interviewee to open up.
