Feature Writing Profiles: Beyond the Basics

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Feature Writing Profiles Beyond the Basics

• Gene Mustain, Director,
• Reporting Writing Programme

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Profiles Beyond the Basics

• Adapted from Creative Interviewing The Writers
  Guide to Gathering Information by Asking
  Questions by Ken Metzler, University of Oregon,
  Allyn and Bacon.

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Profiles Beyond the Basics

• In a profile, a writer wants more than the basic
  facts of a persons life.
• A writer wants to understand the persons
  essential character.
• A writer wants to find ways to illustrate that
  persons character.

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Profiles Beyond the Basics

• Understanding character is not easy.
• A person may be uncomfortable talking about such
  issues as what he or she really believes or
  feels.
• The person may demonstrate contradictory actions
  and thoughts.

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Profiles Beyond the Basics

• Still, the writer tries, by portraying character
  in a way similar to the way an actor plays a
  role. An actor looks at a character he might
  portray and asks
• Who am I, and why am I here?
• Where did I come from, and how did I get here?
• Where am I going?
• A writer seeks the material that illustrates the
  answers to those questions.

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Profiles Beyond the Basics

• All interviews proceed differently, and depend in
  large part on the communication established
  between the writer and the person being profiled.
• It takes time to establish good communication
  writers invest the time.

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Profiles Beyond the Basics

• A few general ideas
• --Talk to others about the person.
• --Search the public record, if any.
• --Observe the person in a context linked to the
  setting and/or theme of your story.
• --But also meet with the person at a separate
  time and place.

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Profiles Beyond the Basics

• The questions writers ask vary greatly according
  to the person being profiled.
• But writers are looking for important moments and
  issues in peoples lives.
• When people talk about important issues and
  moments, they tell stories and that gives the
  writer anecdotes, events, examples.

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• And now here is a list of some basic questions
  for the writer to ask. A writer would never ask
  them all, and maybe none until the person being
  profiled feels comfortable.
• To feel the impact of such questions, imagine how
  you would answer them. Here goes

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• What were the best times of your life (or of your
  involvement with the topic under discussion) and
  the worst?
• What makes you angry? Frightened?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• What makes you laugh? Or cry?
• What were the major events of your childhood?
  What childhood experiences explain what you are
  today your successes, failures, your beliefs,
  opinions, your personality, your character?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• What are your best character traits?
• What are your worst character faults?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• What kinds of material goods do you surround
  yourself with? What meaning do you attach to
  them? If your flat caught on fire, what would you
  try to save?
• What do you read? What do you watch? In either
  case, why?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• Who do you admire the most? Why?
• What are your major goals and problems, both
  professionally and personally, and what are you
  doing about them?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• Where and how do you spend leisure time?
• What issues and ideas matter most to you, on both
  personal and professional levels. What would you
  fight for?
• What would you die for? Why?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• What actions have you taken in support of your
  beliefs?
• What is a typical day like for you?
• What do you dream or fantasize about?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• What do you most regret in your life? Why?
• What are you most proud of? Why?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• How do you react to common problems? If somebody
  insults you, how do you respond? Do you ignore
  it, or what? How do you behave at a party where
  you do not know anyone? What happens if someone
  pushes ahead of you in a cafeteria line?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• If you could erect a large sign in Central to
  describe yourself in a few words, what would it
  say?

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Profiles Some Basic Questions

• Okay, final question
• How would you like to be remembered?