Do Your Background Work for Interviews

"Study to show yourself approved" (2 Tim. 2:15) is not just for pastors. It's a really good idea, too, for writers. (I know, the context of the verse is Bible study but I'm taking some creative license here.)

This is especially important for interviews. It takes more than just asking a few questions to conduct a decent interview. You have to be familiar enough with your topic to ask intelligent follow-up questions and not miss opportunities that a good follow-up question would bring.

Many moons ago a writer had been assigned a phone interview with a Christian football player. I had no idea he knew zip about football. That is until I happened to overhear him ask this question fairly deep into his interview: "So, what does a linebacker do?"

Ouch.

You've got to know basic background for any interview. In this case, the player's promo identified him as an All-Pro linebacker. You don't waste your interviewee's time with questions like that. Look it up before the interview.