Great advice and I’ll go one further and say ALL my best interviews were the ones I didn’t write any questions for, just showed up and talked. Which I’m not sure I recommend doing BUT forcing yourself to speak and react in the moment in an unplanned conversation always yields the best results.
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Alex Stedman
This is one hill I will happily die on: the biggest mistake most early-career journalists make is sticking to the list of questions. Have questions! Do your research! But you’re having a conversation. Listen. Follow up. React. No one has ever had a memorable interview based on a list of questions.
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in many of my favorite interviews people have apologized for rambling and i have to tell them no, please ramble, i’m here to listen to you