How to Talk to Humans

Approach the species with care! But remember, they’re only human!

Photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash

My toughest interview ever was with a dog named Biff, whom I had decided to profile for the New Yorker. I persuaded his owners that I needed time alone with the dog so I could really get a feel for his personality, so they left us for an hour or two. It only took me a minute to realize the futility of my task, since, obviously, dogs don’t talk.

But most of the time your research will pair you up in conversation with human beings. Then your real troubles begin. How do you engage a perfect stranger in a meaningful and authentic way, in, say, an hour or less? How do you steer them into providing you with pithy, revealing, interesting quotes? How do not feel like a complete jerk, sitting there with your pen and notebook?

Mastering the art of the interview is critical if you hope to write nonfiction, and undoubtedly useful with fiction, too. Whether you’re interviewing someone who is primary to your story (whom you probably will quote) or interviewing someone for background information, you need to do it well, or you’re going to have a lot of difficulty writing a strong piece. Obviously, each interviewer and interviewee is different, but I think certain rules apply to everyone.

1. You’ve heard this a million times before, but it bears repeating: Do not ask questions that elicit one-word answers. Make your questions more like prompts than quizzes. “Tell me about…” is a good way to begin just about any question (especially versus something more like “Is it true…?” which can be dismissed with a yes or no).
2. Listen to the answer. This might seem excruciatingly obvious, but I’ve been interviewed by people who I could tell were not listening to my answer, and it really distracted me (and pissed me off). I’m not sure if it was their body language or what exactly made me realize they weren’t listening, but I could tell that they were not tuned in, and it shut me down completely. Sometimes I could sense that they were looking ahead to their next question, which I can understand — we all fret a little about getting caught without having the next question ready—but it’s a really dumb thing to do if you want someone to feel heard. If you ask a question, listen to the answer, and then respond to the…