On Craft…
This one is a little heady. I want to spend some time talking about how to best establish a rapport and execute the dance of an interview, through the lens of a talk given by one of my favorite photographers: Alec Soth. There’s this understanding Soth has about the way a photographer interacts within the space of their subject. The same can be said for the way an interviewer interacts within the space of their subject. It’s this strange dance with little time for real preparation. Done well, it can be exhilarating.
As an interviewer, you control the space of the story being told. Regardless of what happens during the physical interview, once it’s time to get writing, you’re leading. This part of the dance is not so difficult—aside from the abject difficulties of writing successfully. Closeness, tension, intimacy, it’s all in your hands. You bring to life your subject and humanize them, hopefully, to the best of your ability. However, before we even get to that part of the task, you have to enter your subject’s space. Think of how odd the interview is: Two strangers trying to unwrap each other in 30 minutes or less. You’re imposing upon your subject, and your subject is constantly trying to discover if they are or aren’t “safe.” That’s the first part of the dance.
Everyone has a conceptualization of the “right” way to interview. Some will tell you, if we’re still using our dance idea, that it’s your job to lead the entire time. Others might say you want your subject to lead and you be an observant follower. I land somewhere in the middle. For me, the best interviews are a negotiation of space. I advance, then the subject takes a step, then I follow, then I make the next move for us, and so on. The best interviews are, then, about compromise and pursuit. Remember what you’re after as you jump on the Zoom, but also… Remember this is a person. How can you extract their person-ness from this conversation?
The next part of the dance comes as you’re writing. I know I said you’re leading when you’re writing, but I lied. Sorry. You’re only partly leading, because now you have to negotiate space with the prospective reader. The way you drip information into your piece, the flow, the rhythm of each sentence, is part of the dance you’re doing with the reader. If you’re looking for a specific emotional impact, you may want to let the reader lead for a time, and that means crafting a story with peaks and valleys for assumptions and revelations.
Writing is a triumph of space and time. One moment, you’re totally in-your-face, battering down a subject with questions about their feelings, and the next, you’re taking a step back and being an active listener. There’s no single right way to negotiate the space of an interview. However, you can adopt the right mindset going in. You can prepare yourself to be in and out of control at the same time, and be comfortable in that flux. The more you see yourself as fluid in the space of the interview, the better your piece will be. Meet your subject where they’re at, then push, then pull, then push, then stand, then pull, and so on. And not necessarily in that order. Your instincts should kick in by the time the call connects, and from there it’s all goodie.