211 Expert Tips for Non-Fiction Writers
By Joe Wisinski
Copyright 2011 Joe Wisinski
Smashwords Edition
This book is also available in print at most online retailers.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
211 Expert Tips for Non-Fiction Writers
Your money-back guarantee
The title of this book promises "211 expert tips." But the term expert is, of course, a relative one. One person's "expert tip" is another's basic knowledge. So you might read this book and run across a tip that makes you say, "I've known that for years." But remember that for someone else that tip may be brand-new information. And on the other hand, you'll read a tip that's new information for you, even though it's old hat for another reader. So here's my guarantee. If you're not satisfied with this book I'll refund your money. No questions asked. All I'd need is a proof of purchase.
About the author
Joe Wisinski is a former newspaper reporter and editor. He's also worked as the executive producer of a 24-hour TV news station's web site. Wisinski, who holds a master's degree in mass communications from the University of South Florida and a bachelor's degree in education, teaches media writing and mass media and society at a Florida university. He is the author of several books, including Writing for publication: A step-by-step guide to making money by writing for newspapers and magazines.
About this book
Congratulations on buying 211 expert tips for non-fiction writers, and thank you.
211 expert tips for non-fiction writers is part college course, part one-on-one training and part motivational tool. It's designed for anyone who writes non-fiction, or wants to, from freelancers to bloggers to newswriters and more.
Contents include:
Writing essentials
What to do before you start writing
Overcoming writer's block
Developing interviewing skills
Specific methods to make writing easier
Spicing up your stories
How to edit your own writing
Pointers on grammar, punctuation and capitalization
Legal and ethical considerations
And much more
For the purpose of this book, there are two kinds of writing. The first is writing meant to be read by the end user, which includes newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. For simplicity, I call this "writing for print," even when the words don't appear as printer's ink on dead trees. The second kind of writing is meant to be spoken. This includes writing for radio, podcasts, and cable or broadcast television. Again, for simplicity I call this "writing for air" or "writing for broadcast."
I refer to all writing as stories, but don't let that term confuse you. Many think the term refers just to fiction. But story also commonly refers to non-fiction. Newspapers, web sites, and radio and TV stations all refer to their news as stories. The tips in this book can be applied to any type of non-fiction writing, including news stories (for print, the web, or on air), press releases, blogs or media criticism.
Because examples are powerful learning tools, most of the 211 tips include an illustration of the concept being taught.
Why are there 211 tips? It's because on telephones, 211 is an information and referral system. This book contains not only expert information, but also referrals to many valuable resources in the appendixes, including:
Commonly confused words
Suggested web sites for writers
580 useful words for creating outlines
Note that many of the 211 tips in this book are guidelines only; that is, they are not meant to be followed slavishly. Writing is an art, not a science, and there are exceptions to numerous rules. I violate some of the 211 tips within this book itself if it suits my purpose to do so.
Also note that this book is not necessarily meant to be read cover-to-cover like a novel. The book is divided into independent sections, and you can skip around or even pass over some sections while still learning how to improve your writing.
Legal disclaimer: I use many examples throughout this book, and many of them use common names, e.g., "Tim Smith." These are merely examples and do not refer to real people.
Table of contents
About the author
About this book
Introduction
Part I – Before you start writing
Some absolutes
Getting ready to write
Overcoming writer's block
Part II – The writing process
Interviewing
Writing your stories
Adding zest
Part III – Editing
General guidelines
Specific editing ideas
Nouns and pronouns
Verbs
Adjectives and adverbs
Prepositions and prepositional phrases
More grammar
Punctuation
Capitalization
Part IV – Advanced tips for writers
Legal and ethical matters
Writing for print or the web
Writing for radio or TV
Letting your computer help
Miscellaneous tips
Appendix I – Commonly confused words
Appendix II – Suggested web sites for writers
Appendix III - 580 useful words for creating outlines
Now, let's start learning how to write!
Part I – Before you start writing
Some absolutes
Because writing is an art, not a science, there are few times when writing teachers can use the word always. Often writers can break, or at least bend, the rules. But this section contains some rules that should never be broken because they're critical to good writing.
1. Write with one goal
Whatever you write, someone has to read it. Make sure it's easy for him or her to do so. Your number one, overriding goal in writing should be clarity. If your reader, listener or viewer has to pause and wonder, "What does that mean?" you've lost him or her. By following the tips in this book you'll have gone a long way toward writing clearly.
So how do you know if your writing is clear? It's not easy to do, but try reading your story from the approach of someone who's never seen the material before. If you know absolutely nothing about the story, can you understand all of it? Or are there gaps in meaning or clarity?
2. Always, always be accurate
Accuracy matters for three reasons. 1. If you have one fact wrong, no matter how seemingly small, you lose credibility. 2. In some cases, incorrect information may land you in legal jeopardy. 3. It's an ethical issue. Good writers want to get all their facts correct merely because it's the right thing to do. So always verify every fact. Say you're writing a story about "John Smith." Unknown to you, his first name is spelled "Jon." You assume it's spelled "John" and write it that way in your print/web story or on a TV graphic. Your readers or viewers who know the correct spelling will think, "If she can't even spell Jon's first name correctly, how can I believe anything she writes (or says)." So get in the habit of checking every fact, no matter how commonplace and obvious it may seem. Your sources - and your readers - will appreciate that your insistence on correct information extends to every tiny detail.
You might wonder how to get the correct spelling of "John" without embarrassing yourself by looking like you're not intelligent enough to spell a simple name. When someone says their name is John or another equally common name, simply ask, "Standard spelling?" The source will either say "yes" or give you the correct spelling.
3. Meet deadlines. Always
Always meet deadlines. Always. If you doubt the importance of that injunction, consider the matter from the standpoint of the publication or the broadcaster. If you're writing a story for a print publication, the editor leaves space for it, which is called a "hole." The editor must fill that hole by his deadline, and if he's not filling it with your story he's filling it with something that's not his first choice. (Your story was his first choice!) In broadcasting, producers have it even worse. There's no stopping the clock, and when 6 p.m. comes the news must go on air. What's going to happen if your story isn't ready? Again, some other material must fill that time. And, again, that other material wasn't the producer's first choice.
By the way, one other thing will happen if you don't meet your deadline – you'll get a black mark by your name from both the editor and the producer.
4. Know why you're writing
There are four possible purposes or reasons for writing anything. They form an acronym: PIER
To Persuade
To Inform
To Entertain
To Remind
Think about anything you read or hear, and it will fall into one of those categories. The evening news? To inform. TV sitcoms? To entertain. A car dealership's commercial? To persuade. Of course, much writing covers two or more of those categories. A political candidate sends a flyer to persuade you to vote for her and to remind you to go to the polls. A newspaper columnist informs you about a bill the state legislature is considering and attempts to persuade you the bill is a bad one, and he does so in an entertaining way. So before you put your hand on a keyboard, decide why you're writing.
In addition to there being four possible purposes for writing, there are three parts to an effective purpose. They are:
A verb
This is one of the four verbs above—persuade, inform, entertain or remind.
A description of the audience.
You should have in mind a specific idea of who your reader, listener or viewer will be: "The editor of this magazine," or "The listeners to this radio program."
Try to get a detailed description of your reader in your mind. Let's assume you're writing a story about investing. Who is your target audience? Young adults just starting as investors? New parents thinking about buying a house or college for the kids? Middle age empty-nesters who are starting to think about retirement? Furthermore, how knowledgeable about investing is your potential audience? You'll approach your work far differently if you believe your readers are novice investors than if you believe they already have a working knowledge of the subject. If you believe they're new to investing you'll need to define, for example, "mutual fund." But if they have some understanding of the subject you'll safely assume they already know what a mutual fund is. So take a few minutes to think about who your potential readers are. What are their ages? Educational level? Knowledge of your story topic?
An action phrase
The action phrase is your story topic, or a slight variation in the wording of the topic. So, for example, your topic may be "a violent murder in town overnight." The topic also serves as the action phrase.
When you put all three parts of the purpose together you have something like this:
To inform (always one of these verbs—persuade, inform, entertain, remind) those listening to this radio broadcast (the description of your audience) about a violent murder in town overnight (the action phrase).
Without the explanatory text your purpose for writing would be:
To inform those listening to this radio broadcast about a violent murder in town overnight.
Notice how crystal clear your purpose is. You now know exactly why you are writing.
Whatever your reason for writing, here is a critical point - make sure your purpose for writing is consistent with the information you're conveying. If you're writing to inform your newspaper's readers about a tragic accident, don't fall into the trap of trying to be entertaining. That's inappropriate under the circumstances.
Note that you don't need to formally express your purpose for writing anywhere; it's just for your own use. But having a clear-cut purpose in mind will help you with the next tip, which is . . .
5. Stick with your topic
Once you decide on your purpose for writing, you must not deviate from it. Every sentence you write must relate to your purpose. Otherwise, your story will be poorly organized, disjointed, and difficult to understand. Look at this example:
The purpose for writing is to inform those listening to this radio broadcast about damage caused by a strong thunderstorm.
"A strong thunderstorm damaged homes and businesses in the Erie area Sunday evening. Numerous trees and power lines came down, with some fallen trees blocking roads. Earlier in the day, a two-car accident sent three people to the hospital with serious injuries. This is the second time this year that a storm caused significant damage in the area."
You can easily see which sentence is irrelevent to the topic, making this an obvious example, but you get the idea. Keep extraneous material out of your story.
6. KISS
You're familiar with the KISS acronym—Keep It Short and Simple. That's great advice for writers. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs. Word length, sentence length and paragraph length varies depending on the medium, but for print or the Web words should average about five letters, sentences about 15 words and paragraphs two to three sentences. If you're writing for radio or TV (whether news or commercials) sentences and paragraphs should be even shorter. Don't write, "A two-car accident on Enterprise Road late Tuesday evening sent three people to the hospital, including a five-year-old boy who is in critical condition with a skull fracture and his 34-year-old pregnant mother, who is in serious condition with a broken leg." That's 47 words, and you're going to lose your reader. Instead, end the first sentence after "hospital." That's 16 words. Then divide the rest of the information into two sentences, which will average about 15 words each. Tip: Use your word processor's grammar check feature to find word, sentence and paragraph length.
7. Strive for perfection, knowing you won't reach it
One thought that should never enter a writer's mind is, "That's good enough." Our work, by its nature, can never be good enough. It can always be improved. There's always more research that could be done, always another source to be interviewed, always more editing that could be carried out. But the other side of the coin is that our writing will never be perfect. So go that extra mile to improve your writing, but know that perfection is out of reach. For some personalities, this principle can be difficult to swallow. Some people expect perfection; they want to feel something is "done" and cannot be improved. But it doesn't work that way with writing.
8. Use correct formatting for the medium
Good writing is the same, whether it's for print, the web, radio or television - it's clear, concise and accurate. Yet the formatting is different depending on your medium. The ultimate goal in proper formatting is to make your story easy to read, whether the reader sees it in print, on the web, is reading from a teleprompter (for TV) or is holding the script in his hand (for radio.) So learn how to properly format your writing depending on what medium you're writing for. There is more about this concept in the "Advanced tips" section.
Getting ready to write
Experienced writers know that good writing starts long before they sit in front of a keyboard or even interview a source. So here are numerous tips for preparing yourself to be a writer.
9. Read, read, read
All good writers read voraciously. To improve your writing, read. Read the newspaper. Read magazines. Read the backs of cereal boxes. Turn on the closed caption on your TV and read the captions. Just read everything you can. And when you're done, read some more. Even reading outside the genre that you intend to write in will teach you new words and ways of expressing yourself.
10. Develop broad knowledge
Non-fiction writers need a broad knowledge of the world. You should know at least a little, and preferably a lot, about history, politics, geography, religion, current affairs and any other discipline you can name. Knowing about the world will save you a lot of time, help you connect with your sources, and help you avoid embarrassing mistakes. Here are a couple of examples. Let's say you're interviewing a musician who says, "Buddy Holly had a huge influence on my early career." What if you have no idea who Buddy Holly is? You're either going to give your source a blank look or have to ask him to tell you a little about Holly. Either way, you're casting doubt in his mind about your qualifications to interview him. And your story won't be quite as good as it could have been if you had a bit of knowledge about Holly. Now here's a real life example from my local newspaper. This happened in the late 1990's. A columnist wrote something along the line of, " As we approach the 125th anniversary of the founding of our country . . ." The reality, of course, was that we were approaching the 225th anniversary. What an absurd mistake! I'll grant that the error may have been a mere typo, but still, someone with good general knowledge about U.S. history would have caught the mistake in the writing or editing process. So be a generalist – know at least a little about a lot.
11. Write what you know
One of the oldest writing adages is write what you know, simply meaning that new writers in particular should write about topics they're at least somewhat familiar with. Obviously, at some point you'll have to branch out to topics that are new to you. But write what you know is good advice until you gain some experience.
12. Know the five traditional news values
This tip refers to the qualities that make compelling news stories. Those qualities are Human interest, Importance, Timeliness, Proximity, Consequence. You may have noticed the easy-to-remember acronym: HITPC, as in HITing an ornery PC (personal computer). This list of news values is my personal one; many news people would disagree with one or more items on my list and have their own. That's fine. The point is that there are just a few qualities that make for compelling news stories and any news stories you write should fulfill at least one of the above values.
13. Develop good story judgment
The billion dollar question for writers is, "What makes a good story idea?" It's an important question, because good story ideas get approved by editors and get watched, listened to or read. Poor story ideas go nowhere. So, how do you develop good judgment as to what people want to read, listen to or watch? In a sense, that's a trick question. Countless books have been written and millions of man hours have been spent in discussion trying to answer this question. The question has never been resolved; there's no one, simple answer. But you can develop your story judgment by reading, listening to and watching what others have written. That is, if those story ideas have reached the light of day, they must be good ones, at least in theory. With the Internet, we have a fairly reliable way of finding out what stories are good ones: Many web sites list their most popular or most read stories, and obviously, those are the ones people are interested in reading.
Now, one caveat. If you do some research into what people are reading online, you may come away a bit disillusioned. That is because online readers gravitate to sensationalistic stories. I remember a time when the stock market was going through wide gyrations; up 300 points one day, down 600 the next, etc. That's a big deal because stock market performance is a good indicator of the financial health of the country. It affects all of us. I was working as the executive producer of a news web site at the time, and we always checked each morning to see what the most popular stories of the previous day were. One day when the market had dropped drastically, the most popular stories on our site had nothing to do with stocks or finances in general. The top story was "Man dangles ex-girlfriend off bridge." So although it's important to develop good story judgment, remember 1) There's no firm answer as to what makes a good story and 2) You may be disheartened about what people actually want to read or watch.
14. Practice writing well
When you think about "writing" you may think in formal terms - writing stories, commercials, etc. But you probably do a surprising amount of other writing, such as emails and social media posts. Whatever you write, be sure to do it well. Don't get lazy when writing less formal items. Continue observing rules of grammar, punctuation and syntax. Then you won't fall into poor writing habits that could creep into your more formal writing.
15. Know how to develop an angle
The angle of your story, sometimes called a slant, is a viable part of your general subject. A word of explanation here: There is a difference between a subject and a topic. A subject is much broader than a topic. Dogs, for example, are a subject. Breeds of dogs would be a topic. But breeds of dogs would still be much too broad to write about, so you still have to narrow that topic down. How do you get an effective topic? You do so by taking any subject and dividing it up into its parts. Refine it, narrow it, qualify it. Break the subject down into its characteristics, components, elements, factors, or qualities. What you're looking for is the ideas that are integral to a subject—what the subject consists of. The idea is to think of, from your general knowledge, all the broad facts you know about the subject. Write down what you think or feel about the subject, questions that occur to you, images that come to mind, statements you've heard people make. That it what I did to narrow down the topic of dogs to breeds of dogs. But to make our topic workable, that is, to develop an angle, we have to narrow that topic down further. So if we take the topic of breeds of dogs and narrow it, we might come of with beagles. But that's still too broad. So refine it some more. If you're writing a story for a magazine devoted to dogs, perhaps breeding beagles would work. If necessary, you can narrow that topic down still further to, perhaps, breeding beagles on a budget. Of course, if you're writing news, your topic has to have a current angle. For much more about creating angles out of any subject or topic, see Writing for publication: A step-by-step guide to making money by writing for newspapers and magazines.
16. But don't make your topic too narrow
To continue with our example, don't, for example, narrow your topic down to How to breed a beagle with a basset. There's probably not enough information available to write a story on that topic and not enough people would be interested in that narrow of a topic to ensure wide interest. It's an exercise in frustration to begin to write a story and discover you don't have enough information.
17. Write in your head
When I worked as a newspaper editor, I wrote a once-a-week column of about 700 words. This responsibility took hardly any of my time, not because I type fast or didn't work hard at these columns, but because I did most of the work in my head. I thought about the column for several days, and by the time I sat down to write, I knew 75 percent or more of what I wanted to say. So actually writing the column was easy. Do the same and you'll cut down on a lot of time in front of the computer. Simply think about your stories when you're engaged in activities that don't require 100 percent of your attention, such as listening to music or working in the yard. Take notes if you can. Then when you go to write you'll find much of your work is done and it's a matter of simply typing what you'd been thinking about.
18. Learn how to learn about writing
It's been said that the only way to learn to write is to write. I don't subscribe to that. By all means, actually engaging in the art of writing is a great way to learn to write. But you also can learn to write by reading good writing and, even better, analyzing writing. So the next time you're reading a news story or watching a TV commercial, do so with a critical eye. Does the story or the commercial "work?" What makes it effective, or not effective? What can be imitated? What could be improved?
19. Write about sex, money and health
It's been said that people are primarily interested in three topics: sex, money and diet. I like to expand on that a bit and assume that readers want to know about sex, money and health. Do you think this rule limits the number of topics you can write about? Actually, in limiting yourself to these three subjects you're not limiting yourself at all! Consider, as an example, the number of magazines devoted to these three subjects, not to mention magazines devoted to other subjects that still write about these ideas. And then think about the number of books written about sex, money and health. So write about dating, mating or keeping the fires alive. All of these are about the broad topic of sex. Or write about investing advice for teenagers, making money in small company stocks or real estate investing. All of those topics are about money. Finally, write about hiking, biking or a vegetarian diet. Those topics are all about health. The possibilities are endless.
20. Study the organization you're writing for
I've worked for newspapers, radio stations, a TV news station and a news web site, and I've received hundreds of story ideas or proposals. Yet I never cease to wonder at those who submit ideas that are clearly unsuitable for the organization they're targeting. Every publication, web site or broadcaster has clear ideas about the kind of material they're looking for, even if those ideas aren't in writing. And if you send an organization unsuitable material, or propose story ideas clearly outside their area of interest, not only will your idea never make print or air, you'll brand yourself an amateur and increase the difficulty of getting future ideas past the gatekeepers. To determine what an organization is looking for, get their writer's guidelines. As the name implies, writer's guidelines explain a publication's purpose, describe its readers, and tell you what kind of stories they're looking for. The writer's guidelines will also usually tell you what the publication pays. Most print publications list their writer's guidelines on the Internet. If you're targeting story ideas for radio or television, writer's guidelines may not exist. In that case you'll have to spend some time listening or watching so you get a good idea of the broadcaster's interests. But don't, for example, propose a "consumer interest" story to a broadcaster that never does those kind of stories.
21. Always be ready to write down story ideas
Most writers consistently struggle to develop story ideas. This task can be especially hard when you're on a deadline and you have to develop an idea, and do so right now. But often a good idea will occur at an inopportune time, such as when you're driving, exercising, or in a class or meeting. And you know what will happen to that great idea if you don't write it down ASAP. So always have a pen and paper or a smart phone with you to jot that idea down on the spot. You may be pleasantly surprised at how many story ideas you actually get.
By the way, if you're driving, please don't jot down your idea until you get a chance to pull over.
22. Look for the story behind the story
No matter if you're writing for print, the web or broadcast, the search for content never ends. So here's a tip with potential to vastly increase the number of story ideas you develop. Whenever you write a news story, look for a possible story behind the news. For example, I read a story this morning in my hometown newspaper about the theft of copper coils from air conditioning units at a business. The story answered the usual questions - the who, what, when and where. But an enterprising reporter might also go beyond those questions and ask why and how. Why are thieves looking to steal copper coils? Is it the price of copper? Maybe from the thieves' standpoint it's an easy job with little chance of getting caught? Also, how many similar cases have there been? Just by asking a few more questions you might dig up enough information for another story.
23. Know the difference between news and features
A feature story focuses on the unusual aspects of a person or situation. Features differ from news stories in several ways. This table highlights some of the differences:
Generally, features should be fun to read—they should be about positive aspects of people's lives. Some features are about somber situations, such as how a young mother is coping with a serious disease.
Features are usually harder to write than news stories and thus require more writing skills. If you're a beginning writer, learn to write news first, and then move into features as your skill improves.
Overcoming writer's block
Writer's block, which is when you want to write, or have to write, yet the words won't come, is a frustration for many writers. Here are some tips for overcoming that malady.
24. Just write
What do you do when you sit down at the computer and the words just won't come? Write something. Even if you think that what you're writing isn't quite where you want to go, get the words down. You'll find that as you begin to write your mind focuses and soon you'll be flowing right along.
25. Develop a writing habit
When I go to bed at night, I invariably follow the same practice—I put a flashlight under my pillow (so I don't disturb my wife) and read one of my favorite books. When I do this, my body knows it's time to go to sleep, and I rarely suffer from insomnia. You should develop the same kind of habit when it's time to write. For example, get a cup of coffee, sit down in front of your computer, and turn on some classical music. Every time you do this, you'll be telling your mind "It's time to write." Develop a writing habit and you'll rarely suffer from writer's block.
26. Set daily, weekly, or monthly goals
Everyone who's ever written anything more than a check knows that writing is hard work. Therefore, it's easy to procrastinate, make excuses or otherwise fail to get much writing done. But goals are useful in inspiring you to get on that keyboard. There are a couple of ways to set writing goals:
Write a certain amount of time each day
Not a bad way to go, but it's easy to get distracted ("I have to check my email.") and thus fill the time without getting a lot of work done.
Write a certain number of words each day
Or write a certain number of pages, or blog posts, or whatever suits your needs.
Instead of daily goals, you may want to set weekly or monthly goals. ("I'll finish Section II by the end of the month.") It doesn't matter what your timetable is, or what your goal is. Just having a goal provides a self-incentive to reach it. Think about this: Say that you set a goal to write a mere 100 words a day. That's a measly six sentences, on average. Every week you will have written 700 words—about the length of the average story. At the end of a year you will have written 50 stories (assuming a two-week vacation), or about 35,000 words - about the same length as this book. All because you wrote just 100 words a day.
27. Try free writing
Another tip for overcoming writer's block is free writing. Write down a word or a concept on paper and circle it. Then draw a line from that circle and draw another circle. Write a word or concept that relates to the first circle in the second. Repeat the process numerous times (including drawing lines from the secondary circles) and you'll get lots of ideas to write about. Here's a simplified example of what free writing looks like:
Then once you have the information above you can simply start expanding those mini-phrases into sentences and you're off and running - or, better yet, writing!
28. Leave a sentence unfinished before a break
Reportedly Ernest Hemingway used this trick to help overcome writer's block - he left a sentence unfinished at the end of the day. That way he'd be able to more easily slip back into his story the next day. The same tip works no matter how long you must be away from the keyboard. Try it and you might . . .
Part II – The writing process
Here is where we get to the nitty-gritty of writing, starting with gathering information from your sources and ending with an interesting story that's just waiting to be edited.
Interviewing
The thought of going out to talk to people makes many new writers shake like a leaf in a hurricane. But, as a word of encouragement, 99.9 percent of the people I've interviewed have been cooperative. One reason people are willing to talk with me is because of how I approach them for an interview. I'll share that approach with you in this section, so don't let the thought of talking to strangers intimidate you. Most of these tips apply whether you are meeting the interviewee in person or interviewing him or her on the phone. Many of the tips also apply to email interviews.
29. Know how to get sources to cooperate
Human nature being what it is, it can sometimes be difficult to get potential sources to cooperate. If your topic is a controversial one, you might get a source's cooperation by telling her you already talked to the person on the other side of the issue and you want to get her side. (That's assuming you have talked to the other side; don't lie.) But the method I've found most effective is to simply tell the source, "I think you can help me." Or "I think you can help us," if you're speaking on behalf of the organization you're writing for. Most people want to help others, and the potential interviewee might appreciate the fact that they might be able to help you. Be sure to be sincere if you're telling someone, "I think you can help me." If you're just saying that because you want an interview, the source will see through your duplicity and become even more reluctant to be interviewed.
30. Schedule the interview for a suitable time
I'm not speaking of a suitable time from the source's standpoint; I mean you should schedule the interview for a time when you'll be able to type your notes immediately afterwards. If you can type your notes while they're fresh in your mind you'll find you'll remember some information that you didn't have the opportunity to write down. Also, you may find that in your haste to write down as much said as possible your note taking may have gotten a little sloppy. You'll be able to interpret what you jotted down more easily if you don't wait for hours to type your notes.
31. Learn all you can about the interviewee in advance
Obviously, you should run an online search on your source's name. But also talk to people who know him or her. And you should read everything you can about the subject matter at hand. When you're interviewing someone you want to avoid asking questions you could have discovered through research. For example, if you are interviewing a National Football League player, you shouldn't need to ask, "What was your first year in the NFL?" You should know that from your research. During the interview you're looking for opinions, thoughts and feelings, not facts that you could have learned earlier. Of course, there's nothing wrong with picking up more facts about your interviewee during the interview, but find out all you can in advance.
32. Dress up one level
How should you dress for an interview? There's a simple rule to ensure you'll always be dressed appropriately, but not ostentatiously. Dress up one level. What this means is that you should dress just a little nicer than you expect your interviewee to be dressed. So, for example, if you think your interviewee will be wearing shorts, sneakers and a polo shirt, wear slacks, dress shoes and a polo shirt. Dressing a little better than your interviewee will give you respect without intimidating him or her.
33. Be a skeptic
One habit all writers need to develop is a healthy skepticism about anything they read or hear. One of my axioms is, "If someone tells me the sky is blue, I walk outside to check." That's a bit extreme, but you get the idea. Always verify information you hear or read. Just be careful about how you confirm information. For example, a writer may hear that city commissioners passed a certain ordinance. So he runs an online search to try to verify that information. Sure enough, two local TV stations are reporting that the ordinance passed. And if two competing news outlets are reporting the same information, it must be true, right? But how does the writer know that one station didn't merely report what they heard on the other station and that maybe the first station was wrong? (That happens a lot in TV news.) So independently verity any information you hear.
34. Look for precise information
The more detailed your content is, the better, so try to nail down the most precise information you can from sources. Say you're profiling a 100-year-old man who is still active and healthy and restores old cars as a hobby. He says the first car he ever restored was a 1936 Buick, and you dutifully make note of that fact. Don't stop there. Ask what the model was, what color it was, etc. Which is more interesting to read or hear? "Jones said his first restoration project was a 1936 Buick," or "Jones said his first restoration project was a 1936 Buick Century sedan with running boards and whitewall tires"? The additional information allows the reader or listener to paint a picture in his or her mind.
35. Work with primary sources
Whenever possible, use primary sources, not secondary sources. What's the difference between the two? A primary source is the person closest to the story you're writing about. Secondary sources are more distant. Say you're writing about a single-vehicle accident. Which of these people would be a primary source?
A witness to the crash
The vehicle's driver
An investigating police officer
The answer would be the vehicle's driver.
You can easily see why you want to work with primary sources. Think back to the children's game where one child whispers a statement into another child's ear, who whispers to another, etc. around a circle. By the time the phrase gets back to the original child it bears little resemblance to the initial statement. It's not always possible to work with primary sources, but striving to do so will increase the accuracy of your stories and make them more interesting as well.
36. Talk to the top dog
Try to get an interview with the "top dog" in any organization. Talk to the president, not the vice president. Interview the owner of the company, not her secretary. Of course, sometimes the top dog isn't available and you'll need to use an underling as your source. Usually that's fine. But what you should do is start at the top and work your way down if necessary.
37. Also talk to the average dog
You want to find out how your story affects the average person. Consider a story about a proposed new county ordinance that would ban fireworks in your county. Of course you'd want to interview the commissioner who proposed the ordinance. You'd also want to track down the owner or manager (the "top dog" referred to earlier) of a store that sells fireworks. But also talk to an average resident or two. Find out what the ordinance would mean to them.
38. Get both sides
Remember there are two sides to every story. Be sure to talk to someone on both sides. For example, let's again take the story about a proposed new county ordinance that would ban fireworks in your county. Try to find someone who favors as well as someone who opposes the proposed ordinance. Most of the time, this injunction is necessary only because you need to be fair to everyone. But sometimes it's a legal issue. Failing to speak to someone on both sides of the story could conceivably land you in legal hot water, perhaps accused of libel. And always, you want to talk to someone on both sides because if you don't you'll lose credibility with your audience. On occasion there are three or more sides to a story; the same principle applies.
39. Be on time
Remember the interviewee is doing you a favor. Respect his time. My philosophy is to call the source if I'm going to be more than five minutes late, for whatever reason. Good interviews can be tough enough to conduct; you don't need a source steamed at you before you even arrive because you're not on time and didn't have the courtesy to call.
40. Begin the interview with small talk
Imagine for a moment that you're a source, instead of a writer. How would you like it if someone walked into your office and immediately said, "So why are you proposing this ordinance that would ban fireworks in the county?" That's just too abrupt. Instead, take a moment to put the source at ease. Introduce yourself, even though theoretically the source probably already knows who you are because you had set up the interview with her. Make a light comment or two about the weather or an item in the office. Express appreciation to her for taking time to talk to you. Then work your way into the interview itself. Don't spend a lot of time - no more than a minute or two - on small talk, but just a little back-and-forth between you and your source will make a nice transition between meeting the person and conducting the interview.
41. Start off easy questions, go to more difficult ones, end with easy ones
Many questions get asked and answered during a typical interview, and naturally some are more difficult (from the source's standpoint) than others. For example, if you're interviewing the county commissioner about the proposed fireworks ordinance, a relatively easy question is, "Why are you proposing this ordinance?" A more difficult question might be, "What are you going to do if your fellow commissioners vote down the proposal?" So what you'll want to do is start with some relatively easy questions and gradually move into the more difficult ones. Sources don't like to be asked the tough questions right away; they want to get comfortable with you first. But don't end your interview with the most difficult questions. Instead, ease the interview to a close with some relatively easy questions. You'll want to do this so the source will feel good about you and be willing to answer more questions if you need to contact him again (more about that later). To further illustrate, questions should look like this graph, with the higher line meaning more difficult questions.
42. Start with the six journalistic questions
Even if you don't know a lot about your interviewee or the topic, you can always start by asking the six journalistic questions - who, what, when, where, why and how. If an interview opportunity unexpectedly arises and you don't have time to do any background research or formulate questions, just ask the six questions and you'll be surprised at how much information you'll get. For example, say you're sitting at your news desk and the phone rings with a viewer reporting an auto accident. Ask who was involved (two adult women and a teenage boy), what happened (one of the vehicles crossed over the center line and hit the other head on), when the accident occurred (about 4:45 p.m. today), where (on Route 8 about a half mile north of Waterford), why the accident occurred (police believe the driver who was by herself reached for a cell phone) and how badly the occupants were hurt (both women were treated for minor injuries and released, but the teen boy is in serious condition at your local hospital). Now, here's the point: just seconds ago you knew nothing about this accident; now you have enough information for a basic story. Of course, there's a lot more information that could be discovered about this accident, and that leads to the next point . . .
43. Let one answer lead you to another question
As your source answers one question, his or her answer often leads logically to another question. To use the example above, your who question gave you the information that one car contained a woman and teenage boy. That should immediately lead you to ask how old they were and what their relationship was (we can't assume they're mother and son). Also, the answer to your how question told you the teen was in serious condition. Now you can ask exactly what his injuries are. An important point: although asking the six journalistic questions and then letting the answers lead you to more questions is a useful technique, it's not a substitute for doing good research before conducting interviews. However, as I mentioned earlier, there are times when an interview opportunity springs itself on you unexpectedly, and that's when to use the six questions to start gathering information.