6 Efficient Interview Techniques for Freelance Writers

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Credit: Yuri Arcurs on Photodune

The art of interviewing is just that—an art. Writers can spend an ungodly amount of time conducting interviews, which in turn costs them money. Here are some tips you can implement to make the process smoother, faster, and even more enjoyable.

1. Do Your Homework

Before you even head out the door for the interview you should be prepared—especially if you are interviewing someone who is in the public eye. Don’t waste your time fishing for answers you could easily find somewhere else. Being prepared is one of the most important interview techniques.

Perhaps the person has a bio online or has been featured in other articles. Find out, and read everything you can find. Do they work for a company that has a media relations person? Ask them to send over any information they have on the person. You then want to create a list of questions that fit your story. If you ask yes or no questions you’re going to get yes or no answers—craft your questions in a way that elicits a thoughtful response.

Don’t waste your time fishing for answers you could easily find somewhere else.

If I am looking for specific facts and figures, I’ll send my subject these questions ahead of time so they, too, can be prepared. It’s tough being in an interview and having the person say, over and over again, “I don’t know the numbers off the top of my head, I’ll have to send them to you later.” If they’re a busy person, they might not get you the statistics you need in a timely manner. Ask your subject if they can have this information ready for you on the day of your interview.

2. Be Personable

This interview technique might sound obvious, but it’s not. The friendlier you are the more you will naturally put your interviewee at ease. Interviewing isn’t just nerve wracking for you, the freelancer—it can also be nerve wracking for your subject. A lot of people I write about aren’t used to being interviewed, so they’re nervous. It’s your job to put them at ease. Smile, be relaxed, comment on your surroundings, look them in the eye when they talk, all of these things will help make them comfortable and, in turn, give a better interview. If you have time, ask them some questions about them—I have found that given the opportunity, people like to talk about themselves.

3. Keep Them on Target

Like I said above, given the opportunity, people will talk about themselves. And sometimes they talk and talk and talk….It can be hard to interrupt a person once they get on a roll, but keeping the interview on topic is your responsibility—especially if you are short on time. Always be polite. I often find myself steering my subject back to the question by saying “If I could just interrupt for a moment, you said something earlier that I didn’t quite understand…” and then get back to your list of questions.

4. Who’s Interviewing Who?

Sometimes your interviewee has an agenda of their own that they like to push. If you ask a question and they don’t answer it, ask it again in a different way. Easier to reword the question and push the interviewee while you’re there than have to go back and get the answer your editor wants after the fact, especially if it’s something the person doesn’t necessarily want to talk about.

5. Off the Record? Forget About it

If someone wants to tell me stuff “off the record” I ask them not to. I can’t use it in my story anyway and it just takes up time. An important interview technique is to stick to the stuff they can be quoted on.

6. Take Notes

Taking notes is a good interview technique. I bring my laptop along to take notes with on interviews. I type faster than I can write and I can maintain eye contact with my subject while typing. Some people prefer to record their interviews, but there is nothing I hate more than transcribing! If you have the means to record and have it transcribed for you—either through a person or software—go for it. I just get nervous that something is going to break. Even when I do record, I usually take notes too. There is nothing more embarrassing (and time consuming) than having to re-interview someone.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Yuri Arcurs.