"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." - Walt Disney

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Background

Background information can be valuable in any interview. If there is any information that you were not able to uncover in your research beforehand, there are always common background questions you can use during the interview.

Common research facts or questions covering background include:

1)      Circumstances of birth – When were you born? Where? Was it in a hospital, home, or some other conditions?
2)      Dates and places lived
3)      Education
4)      Honors
5)      Family Situation
6)      Residence
7)      Highlights of childhood
8)      Military Service
9)      Religious affiliations/activities
10)  Accomplishments
11)  Present status – job/school/care taker
12)  How do others work with this person
13)  Frustrations/Rewards of the job/activity
14)  Is this person happy/depressed? How so?
15)  Anecdotes about job/school/activity
16)  Dreams
17)  Is this what they want to do forever?
18)  Ambitions
19)  Philosophy about job/life
20)  Look around the office/home/environment they inhabit – what’s there that is uniquely them?

These are just of few examples of background research or questions that you might want to consider to help you have a more successful interview, and eventually, a more enjoyable story.

For the letter “C” I will be discussing and sharing a very memorable interview.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

These questions would be great for plotting/outlining a novel too!
I'm definitely bookmarking this for the next WIP...or the now WIP once I'm done and start preliminary edits - there's probably a lot more my characters could tell me.

Thanks, Sylvia!

Random Musings said...

Good advice and some great questions to ask
Debbie

Yolanda Renée said...

All good info, and I agree with the first comment. Would work for characters too.

Did I fix the Parallels problem?
Again, my apologies!

Karen Baldwin said...

Much to consider which is great because many times my mind goes blank as to what to ask or talk about with people, even though I'm not interviewing them.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's a lot of things I wouldn't have considered.

Elizabeth said...

Great questions! I agree with the first comment that these would be great for book characters.

Anonymous said...

Delighted to find your blog in these opening days of the #Challenge. It was meant to be. Another blog I'm writing has me interviewing folks before writing posts. This is going to help me. Thank you. I shall FOLLOW you and enjoy learning from you. If you have time and an interest in hotels and inns, come join me when you can.

i b arora said...

great tips