Response to William Zinsser's "Writing About People: The Interview

      After reading,  I found this chapter to be very useful in helping a writer go about the process of an interview. I think that the approach he advises is very helpful and the precautions he gives are insightful. My favorite piece of advice was, "Take heart. You'll find the solution if you look for the human element" (101). I found this to ring very true especially for my first interview. I think the fact that some of my questions got a more detailed about literacy made the professor I interviewed more personally with specific details in his life. I also found this tip to be important in the process, "Choose as your subject someone whose job is so important, or so interesting, or so unusual that the average reader would want to read about that person" (104). As Zinsser then goes on to say, it doesn't need to be the CEO of some fancy company but someone that people can find interesting or relate to in some way. People also especially enjoy hearing the specifics of peoples' lives. The only thing I found to be a little boring was when he went into detail about quotes and how to to them the right way. Lastly, I agreed with his opinion, "What's wrong, I believe,  is to fabricate quotes or to surmise what someone might have said. Writing is a public trust" (115). I don't think the writer should completely change what someone says in an interview. Maybe a few small spelling mistakes can be corrected but language is most interesting, I find, when it's raw and how someone truly speaks.