In the previous article, we examined important steps to take when preparing your parents for interviews about their lives. In this final part of the article, we will conclude with the necessary items and techniques to help you gather as much rich information as possible. One of these items is the writer’s questionnaire…
2.1. The Questionnaire is an Essential Guide:
The progress made during interviews will greatly depend on who is leading the conversation; a loquacious parent can derail the interview and leave out important details if the writer does not set the pace. Ideally, the author should be given room to express themselves in answering any question; however, the writer/interviewer has the foresight to steer the conversation in the right direction towards rich content for the book. Storytelling expertise endows the writer with good judgment to dwell on crucial portions of your parents’ story, and to ignore whatever is not relevant or beneficial to the thematic message of the book. The truth is, not everything makes it into a purposeful book, and the scope of that judgment is defined by the writer somewhere between the interview stage and the writing process.
A good interviewer/writer should have the questionnaire mapped out in a chronological order, starting from the first relevant stage in the author’s life as it relates to the book’s purpose. Each stage of questioning should have at least six types of questions for each important part of the author’s life:
Example: This is a mini-questionnaire for a book whose theme is that we can always recover from a childhood trauma (dysfunctional family, parental abuse, abuse by relations, etc.), and mold ourselves into worthy models for our own children:
- Where? Where did you grow up in the state of Ohio? Where was your childhood home in so-so county? Where did you go to school?
- Who? Who were you at the age of fifteen? Who did your peers know you to be when you were away from home? Who were you when you were at home?
- What? What significant memories can you recall about your childhood home in So-so? What memories do you remember fondly about this small town? What sour memories do you have of growing up in So-so? What was your father’s personality like at home? What pushed you to run away from home? And vice versa for other important places in the story, like the author’s reputation at school.
- When? When did you decide you had had enough? When did you decide to move out?
- Why? Why were you more comfortable over at your friend’s house? Why did his home feel like a home to you?
- How? How did you cope with your father’s actions at home? How did your mother’s words make you feel? How did you cope with pretending to be someone else in school?
Besides these six types of questioning, the writer must already have foreknowledge about the author’s vision for the book: target audience, scope of use for the book, book’s theme, and even the publishing route. This guides the creation of the questionnaire. A well-crafted questionnaire will have all its questions fall into these categories:
- Questions to help the author relax: this makes information accessible.
- Questions to prompt the author remember: This should be a thought-provoking question that gives insight into a memory.
- Questions the author may have to answer later (after contemplation): For delicate subjects that cannot be approached immediately.
The right blend of questions in these categories can create productive conversations that fulfill the interview’s objective.
A few things the interviewer should avoid:
✓ Do not ask leading questions: Leading questions are questions that subtly suggest or imply a particular answer.
✓ Do not answer questions for the interviewee; Never finish sentences for the author. Let them express themselves fully, even if they must repeat facts. Patience is the keyword.
To finish this article, you can get the full experience on my Medium page. This is my bid to build my medium as I will be writing new content and stories there in the future: