12 Writing About People

The Interview

1.Get people talking.Using people’s own words to discribe their own experience which is idiosyncratic.使用說話者的腔調去講述事情。

2.Take heart.

“Human element”/ Alive but not drab.

The author uses several examples to convince his idea.

E.g.1.A story about people.“the curators of the library”

E.g.2.Human details. Sotheby’s, the London auction firm.“the old lady’s chest”

E.g.3. pepperyhuman element

3.Interview people.Choose the interesting people. Someone who touches some corner of the reader's life.

4.Be prepare.(Make a list of questions. You can change it according to the interviewer’s answers.)

5.Pruning and splicing and editingthe transcribed answers.

6.Practical. Write things down or use the recorder properly.

7.Taking notes.

8.Distill the essence. Brevity and fair play.

9.多使用直接引語。Break the quotation naturally. "He pointed out," "he explained," "he replied," "he added",“He said”.

10.Try to achieve a balance between what the subject is saying in his words and what you are writing in your words.