{"id":11365,"date":"2024-07-16T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2024\/07\/16\/interviews-narrative-nonfiction-reconstruction\/"},"modified":"2025-02-14T17:24:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T17:24:21","slug":"interviews-narrative-nonfiction-reconstruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2024\/07\/16\/interviews-narrative-nonfiction-reconstruction\/","title":{"rendered":"A spotlight on the art of the interview"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Interviewing for narrative is like hunting for something in a pitch-black warehouse with nothing more than a flashlight. It\u2019s a good flashlight \u2014 with a head you can twist to change the shape and range of the beam. Even so, finding what you\u2019re looking for takes time and a deliberate process.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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First, you need the wide beam to scan the room. The light is diffuse, so the details are fuzzy, but  you can see enough to get your bearings. It\u2019s not strong enough to illuminate the other side of the room, so you move slowly and methodically, sweeping the beam back and forth, as if painting the room with light.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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With some combination of luck and skill, your beam passes over a shape that appears to be what you\u2019re looking for. You move closer, zeroing in, to see if it is what you think. You twist the lens of the flashlight to tighten the beam. It gets brighter, more like a laser. Now you can focus on the fine details as the rest of the room fades to black.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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When you find the thing you\u2019ve been looking for \u2014 a pivotal moment, scene, detail, dialogue, telling detail, and so forth \u2014 you know it right away. But you need at least another dozen such things, all of which fall into the category of, \u201cYou know it when you see it.\u201d The search can feel tedious and inefficient. It takes time, tenacity and patience.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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In nearly three decades of journalism, including an undergrad and a master\u2019s, I have never taken a class or workshop that focused exclusively on interviewing, and certainly not on the particular demands of interviewing for stories rather than news reports. They exist, at least in a few places, but when I needed them most, I didn\u2019t know how to find them \u2014 or how much I could have learned.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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The art of the narrative interview<\/h2>\n\n
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Introduction:\u00a0News interviews vs story interviews<\/p>\n

Phase I:\u00a0Pre-interviewing for the pitch<\/a><\/p>\n

Phase II: Interviewing for story arc<\/a><\/p>\n

Phase III: Interviewing for sequence<\/a><\/p>\n

Phase IV: Interviewing for scene<\/a><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\t\n<\/div> \n

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Now, after three narrative non-fiction books and many long-form magazine features, I\u2019ve become keenly aware that interviewing for different kinds of pieces requires different approaches, skills, relationships and rhythms.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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This becomes especially important when doing \u201creconstructed narratives\u201d \u2014 stories about past events that you can\u2019t witness in person. Vivid and credible reconstruction is fundamental to most narrative journalism, from magazine pieces to books and even when putting an immediate situation in the fuller context of time. Immersive reporting relies on observed scenes; fuller-sweep or explorations of past events are built from \u201creconstructed scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Every narrative writer has their own unique process. But after talking to a number of writers who specialize in narrative, I believe there\u2019s a general progression: From broad and open-ended to narrow and specific.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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In my own work and in the narrative nonfiction courses I teach, I\u2019ve broken the process into four primary (but multi-faceted) stages or phases:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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