I was on the phone with Scott Turow when his fire alarm went off.
This took place a handful of years ago, after I’d called the bestselling novelist of such legal thrillers as Presumed Innocent to feature him in a Writer’s Digest Interview. The first few minutes of the conversation had felt a bit stilted and formal, and I was beginning to worry the piece would come off as such, when the alarm blared. Turow apologized, sounding somewhat flustered, and off the cuff, I quipped: “It would be tragic if I had to end this Q&A with, ‘… and that was the last anyone heard of Scott Turow.’”
The comment caught him so off guard that he laughed for a good 10 seconds, and it had the effect of cracking open the rest of our conversation, which felt more organic and genuine. In that moment, we’d built some rapport, perhaps accidentally, but that story serves to illustrate the nuanced art of interviewing.
The basics of conducting an interview are valuable for writers of any discipline, from journalists and nonfiction
