Interviews

Period 3 - Due: Monday, April 3 (700 words)
Period 5 - Due: Monday, April 2 (600 words)

Remember, the key aspect of writing your interview is establishing why your subject is important and worthy garnering someone's attention. Answering that question establishes your purpose. Also, make sure that you have an angle on your subject that helps you present them in a meaningful way. The easiest way to get an angle on your subject is related to your purpose and consider the following elements:

• Prominence – a well known Who
• Importance – a big What
• Human Interest – an unusual What
• Timeliness – an urgent or noteworthy When
• Proximity – a nearby or well-known Where
• Meaning – a How or Why that is illuminating

While not all of these may apply to your selected person, combining more than one will deepen and enrich what you have to say, as well as what you learn from your interview. Plus, keep in mind that all of these elements are relative since you are working within the local high school sports world.

Having read the Heinz interview of Red Grange, continue to look for little tools and tricks that you might be able to incorporate into your own writing. What's more, it would be an extremely good idea to look at some models of current athlete interviews or profiles from the newspaper or publications like Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine. While the scope of your interview is narrower than a full feature length article, you can still pick up a technique here or there from a good one.