Tài liệu Mastering the craft of science writing part 8 pptx

without the visual details with which we human beings ori￾ent ourselves?

E-mail can work well for follow-up, or if all you need is a

brief expert reaction to someone else’s research, but the

e-mail “interview” tends to devolve into mere information:

dry little packets of fact. I find that a piece written that way

acquires the hollow, depersonalized sound of an encyclope￾dia entry, and I would abandon a story idea rather than de￾pend on e-mail interviews.

Telephone interviews may be a feasible alternative. Person￾ality transmits on the phone, and you and the scientist can

develop significant rapport and a coherent line of thought.

Interview in the morning, on the other person’s turf, and

never in a restaurant. Timing is no deal-breaker, but if you

can, avoid the midafternoon droop: make your appointment

for the morning.You’ll get a better interview when both of

you are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as my mother used to

say, and when the day’s distracting little crises have not yet

arisen.

Never interview in a restaurant. Silverware clicking on

plates and the conversation at the other tables will obliterate

every sound on the tape, nor are you well situated to take

notes. Distractions abound.

At the person’s lab or office, by contrast, things are quiet,

the scientist feels comfortable, and serendipity can happen. If

the subject widens, you and the scientist can scamper down

the hall to look in the lab or talk to someone else. If there’s a

reprint or photograph the person wants to give you, you’re

in the right place. (What you go home with that day, you

can be sure you have.) Because you two can see each other’s

faces, you will avoid many small misunderstandings, and

both of you are more likely to venture a joke or a wild idea

that suddenly comes to mind. The conversation can flow in a

natural, easy way, so that the resulting piece will have a cer￾tain indefinable flavor.

Even when you interview someone several times, the best

quotes often come from the first session. For that reason,

you should be especially conscientious in preparing and

conducting a first interview. Tape, take notes, and generally

do it right, because the truth is, people cannot help but pea￾cock at a first meeting. They’ll be adrenalized, so they will

ruffle out their feathers and speak with a little extra punch.

Ideas

into

Words

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