Conducting Interviews for My Book
Between Doing ‘Research’ and Playing (To Win) a Social Game
Hello, everyone!
How do we know we’re ready to write our manuscript? As creators (Here: Writers), conducting research for our pieces can be quite a frustrating and long process.
Having spent most of my education in academia, I have to admit that the word ‘research’ doesn’t necessarily spark excitement, let alone summon my creative genius.
Fortunately, I’ve been proving myself wrong lately when it comes to my creative endeavor.
The moment I realized I needed to go beyond the web…
I’ve never lived in a world without internet access, so I only know of this era where information is accessible everywhere. And not to rehearse what we already know, it is somewhat true that the internet covers just about anything we want to learn about today.
The internet may have worked for my academic education, but collecting data for my book involves more than scanning some articles or watching the media artifacts available on the topic of my research.
Internet is overrated
Aside from the frustration of looking up for credible online resources to learn about the community I’m writing about, I knew I was not doing the right thing when I was starting to feel drained by the overall search; I needed something of substance, and the internet was not giving it to me.
I don’t know which was more challenging: disclosing about my project or picking people to entrust with my project
It was a battle between transcending the secrecy of my craft and trusting myself to make good judgments about who I select for my research.
The first hurdle that had to overcome was accepting that I couldn’t keep this work held against my chest until it is published, and aside from the protocol of finding an editor and presenting my final draft to the publishing houses (or not), I had to trust myself first to be able to communicate this book to others; the readers, people like you and me.
The second hurdle was a question: “How am I going to talk about this book?”
Among the questions that marked me most when I’ve finally gathered some courage was this one: “Why did you pick this specific community? Why, not Morocco?” the first time I had to answer it, I was lost for words. Gone was my elevator pitch for a moment, gone was everything.
There was no script for that one. How do I explain that I felt that I had to talk about a community different than mine when I’ve never experienced their life? Have never seen the world from their eyes?
“Top Secret”
So I’m going to tell you a secret.
My 9th-grade French teacher once said that the best way to keep a secret from people is to have none in the first place.
That’s it. That is the secret. Feel like you’ve gained something from it? Well, me too; A part of me must’ve thought that was nonsense then, yet another registered that for the long-term memory.
These days, and especially when it comes to my book, I find myself stepping into this world of illusive secrecy more often than I’d like to. There are many ways to express it; the saying “there are too many cooks in the kitchen” does picture this well.
The more I invite into my book, the less I feel like it belongs to me. At the same time, I cannot help but ask how much of this book is really mine anyways…
On the other hand, the use of this expression ‘top secret’ does work as a social maneuver by bringing two strangers close to one another, and the thread of my book has been keeping me connected to some pretty amazing people thus far.
It is not about research any more than it is about learning to listen to and keep an open mind to others’ stories
Would you rather be a muse or a guinea pig?
According to Collins Dictionary, a ‘muse’ is “someone who gives an artist desire to create art, poetry or music”.
I haven’t officially interviewed my candidates yet, but only after introducing the book to one of them, with whom I got an enriching conversation, I’ve learned so much that I could hardly contain my excitement for when I officially begin the interview with her.
She’s told me about her motivations to be attending this university, pursuing her major, and how that was going to help her back home.
It was so refreshing to hear someone who was still willing to go back ‘home’ when I’d been constantly surrounded by speeches about how the ‘grass is greener on the other side’; Bye, the ‘American’ dream, and welcome to the ‘anywhere-but-home’ dream era.
Coming back to the previous question, could I consider my interviewees ‘muses’?
I don’t think so. The term ‘muse’ is still associated with idealistic adjectives and connotations, and that is hardly what I’m digging for; what makes my interviewees so special and less of ‘muses’ is that they’re regular people too, like me, with unique stories to them but with a strong spirit to make an impact somehow on this world.
It is a two ways operation: When we’re conversing, we’re giving each other desire to put our words into action: To create.
In this sense, according to Collins dictionary, we’re each other’s muses — or at least, as long as we’re not guinea pigs.
Special Mention of a peculiar interviewee:
She was the first person to ask me yet another important question.
“How are you going to use what I’m willing to tell you?”
Aside from attending the same university in the same country at the same time, this interviewee and I are pretty different people; but the mission to serve our communities in question brings us together.
I still haven’t conducted the interview with her yet -our schedule time was off- but I’m using this time to strengthen our connection with each other while we arrange for a day before the finals, and for that, I feel like I’ve been on a pressure cooker.
I still reflect on her question. If anything, it makes me realize the responsibility that I will carry as soon as I have her interview results.
BONUS: I’m a writer, now I need to collect some ‘substantial’ data. How and where do I Begin?
Collecting substantial data is tough; before you engage with anybody with your project, make sure you have a ‘good’ feeling about it first.
Hence, here are some of the lessons I wish I knew before I’ve launched into this special venture that merges between two worlds I have curiosity for; people and my book:
My interviewee’s motivation to collaborate with me:
- “Why would this person help me?” According to the categorization of people done by Adam Grant in his book “Give and Take”, there are two kinds of people who would agree to take part in my book:
- 1/Givers; those who will share with me as much information as possible to help, 2/Matchers; those who will ask “what is in it for me?”.
- Ironically, while meeting the first seems like the ideal case, it becomes irrelevant at the time of crafting the book — aside from the fact that I need to do something for the matcher at some point.
How much information I was willing to share:
- I believe that my interviewees have the right to know about my book and how I’m going to use their information if they give me their permission to use what they share with me.
- However, with the need to disclose information, comes the guilt of how much information I have to share with them versus how much I want to. The takeaway? Keep it concise, direct, and clear.
Persist, don’t insist:
- So what happens is that while my book is of utmost importance to me, that doesn’t really apply to my interviewees, and that can get quite disappointing to realize at first:
- Do NOT take it personally.
- I had a great surprise when one of my candidates reminded me of this interview when I met them by surprise after I first made the suggestion to them. But that is not the rule; Instead of forcing things, I take this as an opportunity to show my consistency and commitment to my book.
Keep an Open Mind:
- I’ve met my second interviewee for my book in the most unexpected ways possible. I ran late for my class and I met her at the cafeteria; she thought I looked like one of her family members, and that broke the ice for an interesting conversation that we had afterward.
Listening before Anything:
- There is no better way to both learn about people and get data for my project than to hear them speak about themselves.
- One of the things that this project has taught me is the power of listening; not only do I enhance this powerful skill in communication but there is some kind of empowerment to me as an interviewer and others in making them feel heard.
- When I see that my interviewee is feeling heard by me, I feel like I’ve gained a friend, and that feeling can hardly be compared to any other.
It is okay to “Sleep on it”:
- When someone asks me about my book now, I cannot find a better word to describe where I’m now than ‘sleeping on it”
- When I used open-source data before (the internet), I had full control over the process of both gathering data and writing. Now that it is different, I’ve grown to appreciate what it is like to see my story from the outside.
- Also, I have a better sense of discipline. Unlike how I used to dive into writing as soon as I had an idea, I’ve learned that becoming patient with my book pays off better the more I connect with my characters.
That is it now for my book update. I cannot wait until I tell you how my interviews go!
-Imane Ben
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Author Note:
It has been a time since I published an update about my writing! A lot has been happening and this is only one of the things that I’ve been up to! I’m so glad to be back! I hope you’ve all been well!
