[Journalists] questions concerning interviews

[Cheryl Wade]

			Dear Kristina,

It's rather hard to answer your question when I don't know exactly 
what kind of interview you want to do. I don't think it's necessary 
to write someone a letter and ask him/her for an interview, although 
it certainly isn't a bad thing.

The best thing to do, for starters, is just to be yourself: Tell the 
person you're a student and doing a story, or project, on whatever it 
is you're doing. When you interview the person, ask what the 
experience (about which you're writing) felt like. What was the 
scene, if that's important? What were the critical issues, 
challenges, hurdles involved in this experience? What was the best 
part, and the hardest or most difficult part? How has the experience 
changed the person? What does it mean for the future?

Most of all, just imagine you're sitting down and talking with this 
person, and you want him/her to tell the story of something. Then 
you're going to tell it back. Don't be afraid to say, simply "Tell me 
more about that." Or say "then what?" Or, "explain how that works."

Hope that helps.

Cheryl Wade