Most of what’s been published for me is nonfiction. So, I tend to do a lot of observing and listening to subjects, surroundings and events. In telling stories, I tend to want to grab as much information as I’m able and then distill what’s not needed later.
For example, I may interview a subject for 30 to 40 minutes, but may only use one or two quotes from that interview. That’s about right if I’m looking for good quotes with substance. I’m told with photographers, that ratio of use is about the same: shoot 100 photos but use one, maybe two.
What usually comes from the interview is a level of detail about the subject and his surroundings. If I interview someone in his office, I look around for trophies, degrees, keepsakes, documents or other items that might conjure a question or illicit a descriptive later.
I also interview a lot of people related to the subject. The subject’s boss, his mother and father (if pertinent), other relatives, and friends. Former bosses. Former friends. Foes. You get this idea.
In short, I hoard information. When I don’t need it anymore, I either file it away for next time or toss it. The stuff I’ve filed away is in the form of Internet browser bookmarks, keepsakes collected, and other material (and electronic forms) of information that grab me or play into whatever I’m writing.
Here’s my hoarding checklist:
- I ask a lot of questions and write things down
- I interview subject-matter experts. I once interviewed the lead scientist of the 1980s era Strategic Defense initiative because I wanted information on how particle beams worked. I found his AOL e-mail address in a Yahoo search, thought up some questions and fired them at him. He answered within a day and was gracious about follow-up information, too. All before Wikipedia, mind you (1997-ish)
- I Google, Bing and Yahoo things. I do all three because each returns different results and new things may turn up
- I visit the library to check legacy and current information
- Anything else to gain knowledge on a topic or set of topics
I also verify the information. I do this a number of ways, but the best (and sometimes most simple) is to cross check the information with two or three other sources. When doing so, ensure those sources are credible. Ask yourself who you are relying upon for verification of that information. If you trust it, and it’s verified, go with it.
In applying what I’ve learned in the nonfiction world to fiction, little changes. In examining a character, I use my mind’s eye to create that space. Where does he live? Where does he work? Where did he go to school? Did he shave? Does he slur his speech? In doing so, I try to create a set of notes that I keep.
It also doesn’t hurt that I come from an acting background, and it’s one where character study was emphasized. So, I can ask myself a lot of questions along the way that can add up to a lot of detail. And in the end, for characters, locations and scenarios, what I want is to have a pile of information and only pluck from it what is necessary. I really liked how this nonfiction story about a jet fighter squadron that hunts radar sites turned out in that regard.
Ultimately, in fiction and nonfiction, what’s used comes down to two things: what’s my intent and who is my audience? I focus everything on those two things. The details usually work themselves out in the planning, plotting and story telling, as they should. However, if you know going in what your goals are with the work, then achieving them becomes much less challenging than starting them.
So, are you a hoarder and how do you decide what is useful and what is not? I’m curious how you collect and use information in your work. Comment here.
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Waaaaaaay back in college when I took journalism classes I used this approach, but I don’t like interviewing people. Now I lean towards wanting to cram every detail in there, but I try to be good and I don’t.
i like interviewing people. Rather than interviewing, I try to make it a conversation. Something we both gain something from and in the process, I gain the information I need. It’s taken a long time to get my interview and dissection process down, but I like it. It’s almost detective-like. ;)
Jason – I’ve used that same kind of ‘saved’ information a different way also. I’ll be gathering quotes for article one on a specific topic and I always throw in a few more general ones, or one or two from another story idea.
I’ve written a couple of pieces from those when deadline hit hard and there was no time to find a new topic. I already had a stash of answers ready for a feature on a key message or theme that is evergreen. Things like work-life balance or why serve/work in this industry are always good ones.
Now I have to figure out how to organize my stash how about you? Can I send you some research org Q’s for my next blog article? I promise to link to this one to point to the value of that stash….?
My key to organization is disorganization. :) Or something like that? I’ll look for your questions.
A lot of what I see or read every day has potential to end up in a story or humor piece so I squirrel it away for later. Right now I’m tossing around ideas from 18th century madwomen in literature (were they crazy or just inconvenient for their husbands?) to stinkbugs.
I’m addicted to information, now I need a better way to organize it without giving myself a twitch.
*is shocked she’s never been here before*
Yep, I’m a hoarder. I was nodding my head when you brought fiction into the equation, because this way you’ve described is how I am. In (I think) every of life, writers absorb and feel, storing experience back, later filtering into what we do and don’t need for craft. It makes the writing (whether fic or non-fic) more relatable, all the more richer.
I don’t do any non-fic that isn’t narrative or essay, though, so I have little experience with interviews.
Janna, thanks for clicking over and peeking.
I’m always surprised at how much people shun the face to face contact of an interview (or even an email interview). I’m always more surprised by how willing people are to help writers get their facts straight and, for fiction, help them create new facts. Whatever gets you to the end of manuscript happy. :)
Yep, I’m a hoarder. No two ways about it. Notes written all over the place, pieces of conversations overheard, thoughts that jump into my brain and just won’t leave.