How to Conduct Better Interviews: 5 Tips for Deeper Q&As

Why acting confused isn’t just for the hardware or bookstore, interviewing vs interrogating and why it’s good to share personal baggage

Mariam Chagelishvili

Writer Roadmaps: “How To” Guides For Launching A Writing Career (Part 8 of 8) 

I know, I know. We got into writing to pursue our craft. To share our big feelings and deep insights. We’re makin’ ART over here! Our priority should be wrestling our manuscripts into submission, of course, but as our Writer Roadmaps have revealed, we should also be building an audience, making connections, and finding (or creating) ways to get paid.

And to help us do all that by conducting better interviews, we’ll be hearing again from Lesson 7 guest instructor—author of a story collection and two novels, profiler of singer-songwriter Angel Olsen, writer Yiyun Li, filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, actors Rachel Weisz and Michelle Yeoh, and others—Alexandra Kleeman.

And I’ll pop in with some commentary too. (That’s that me in italics)

We’ll touch on:

• Why owl behavior is solid interview protocol 

• Why acting confused isn’t just for the hardware or bookstore (…IYKYK)

• How an interview is not an interrogation

• When it’s good to share personal baggage