Creative Writing: Taking Your Profile Interview to the Next Level

Profiles are one of the most difficult types of articles to write—at least, that’s true for me. If you find profiles easy, then consider yourself lucky.

Difficult or not, with profiles as with any other writing, research can do a lot to pull you through.

Unless you’re a veteran writer, you may think that, in order to do a profile, you simply interview the person (if you’re profiling a person), and maybe a few other people for added interest. That’s partly true, but here’s a tip: Research the basics beforehand so you can focus on the juicy stuff during the interview.

What do I mean by basics? I mean the not-so-juicy details that form the framework of the profile. These are details like where the person was born; where they went to high school, college or grad school; what jobs they’ve held; if they’ve ever served in the military; or if they’ve ever received any honors or awards. Consider them the skeleton of your story. They’re small and mundane, but necessary. With them out of the way, you can go in ready to tackle the real muscle without wasting time on the small stuff.

Here are a few ways to research a person before a profile:

1. Obtain their resume or vita. Think about it; a resume is a person’s professional life in a one-page nutshell. Much of the basic information you need—such as education and previous employment—you’ll find in this document. Some people will have their resumes posted on their websites. Others will send them to you if you call and ask.

2. Find previous articles written about the person. If other journalists have worked to dig into this person’s life, why not reap some of the rewards? You’ll often find answers to deeper questions, which can form the foundation for even more probing questions of your own. Again, check the person’s website; website often contain articles favorable to the person. However, if you’re not after a strictly feel-good piece, you’ll also want to check other sources.

3. Read what they’ve written. If the person has written articles, books, theses, etc., you can often use them to find out a lot about the person’s personality and philosophy. If the person is a prolific writer, you probably won’t have time to read everything. However, even a snippet of their writing will be better than nothing.

Use the information you gain from these sources to form detailed, probing questions…or silly questions to lighten the mood of your article. Armed with a little knowledge, you can walk into any profile interview with confidence. You’ll appear prepared and professional—a sure hit with interviewees and editors!

Creative Writing: Getting Story Ideas When Truth Is Stranger than Fiction, Part 2

Last time we talked about getting ideas from the news. As a recap, we used the Reuters news story, "“UFO buffs say official denial 'alien to us.'” We also came up with a few fiction ideas. Here are some nonfiction ideas on the same theme:

Investigative Reporting: If you care to, delve into the truth behind the report. Why was it released now, when the Freedom of Information Act was put in place 6 years ago? Could the report be slanted? Is there really a cover up? Or is the MoD on the up-and-up?

Human Interest Feature: Visit a UFO convention and interview the participants. Find out why they think the report is bogus and discover what personal experiences have led to their fascination with aliens.

Technology Feature: Interview scientists and researchers who search for extraterrestrial life and find out what new technology they use, and how that technology could someday be used to prove the existence of life in outer space.

Hopefully this process got your creative juices flowing. I challenge you to do this same exercise, either coming up with more ideas for this story, or finding another story and repeating the whole process. You’ll quickly discover that there truly is a story everywhere you look.

Creative Writing: Getting Story Ideas When Truth Is Stranger than Fiction

This blog has already covered several ways to stir up story ideas when your creativity is at an impasse. Here’s another one: use the news.

Many times the stories you read in news sources really are stranger than fiction—and they offer good inspiration for both fiction and nonfiction stories.

To prove the point, I visited CNN.com and found a news piece on their home page.

To see the entire piece, go to http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/06/29/uk.ufos.reut/index.html

The headline says, “UFO buffs say official denial 'alien to us.'”

The teaser copy reads, “SHEFFIELD, England (Reuters) -- Last month, the British Ministry of Defence made public a top secret report on UFOs, concluding that three decades of sightings had failed to produce evidence of visiting extraterrestrials.”

The story goes on to say that, despite a 500-page report released by Britain’s Ministry of Defense, UFO enthusiasts are still sure there’s a conspiracy in the works. So, how can you use this to create a new story?

Come on; this one’s easy! Here are some (to me) obvious fiction angles.

Sci-Fi: A skeptical reporter and UFO believer team up to delve deeper into the MoD’s report and end up having a close encounter of the 3rd kind, proving that years of UFO sightings are for real.

Suspense/Thriller: Same as above, but instead of discovering aliens, the pair discover a man-made secret far more sinister than any UFO cover-up—a secret that soon has them running for their lives.

Note: If you have a flair for the romantic, either of the above could also be turned into a cross-genre romance—you could even have someone fall in love with an alien…hmmm?

More next time on nonfiction ideas from this source.

Creative Writing: What I Did with a Starter Sentence

A while back, I gave an example of a starter sentence using lemonade, and promised to show how I'd used that sentence to create a story. You'll find the story at the link below.

http://members.cox.net/adisalvo/html/lemonade.html

I hope you enjoy it. I'd love feedback!