Doing Q&As

[boundforboston]

What do people think of running Q&As in print?

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

I'm partial or oral histories. :

Q&As are (IMO) lazy.
If you are a writer. Write. Get to the meat of the story and go from there.

 

[Ace]

I'm partial or oral histories. :

Q&As are (IMO) lazy.
If you are a writer. Write. Get to the meat of the story and go from there.

Not everyone is a writer, right?

 

[Small Town Guy]

Like everything else, depends on the quality. I think the Rolling Stone and Playboy interviews have proven over the years that they can be tremendously entertaining and engaging. If they're written instead Q&As, same thing: If the questions are good, and the answers even better, they can be great reads.

 

[Liut]

I enjoy reading them, by and large, and I've done a few myself that received positive feedback. Those were (I felt) special subjects that were best told in the first-person.

However, I abhor the transcription process.

 

[Versatile]

The editing is crucial. The Q&A format is not an excuse for overly long quotes that say little. Cutting a Q&A is a craft.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Like everything else, depends on the quality. I think the Rolling Stone and Playboy interviews have proven over the years that they can be tremendously entertaining and engaging. If they're written instead Q&As, same thing: If the questions are good, and the answers even better, they can be great reads.

You may be from a small town, but you get it.

 

[Hey Diaz!]

Did a series of Q&As and they were pretty well received.

Yeah, if you edit properly and trim the fat quote-wise, what's the problem? You're presenting the information to readers in a slightly different manner than your typical story and often transcribing is the hardest part of the process for the writer ... it's a win-win for both parties, IMO.

 

[slc10]

i have mixed feelings about them. They make good fillers for certain subjects but it isn't a cure all.

 

[Doc Holliday]

It's not a style you want to lean on or depend on, but if they're done well, they can be excellent and insightful pieces. Limiting their use is the key. We typically do it once a year, maybe twice, but NEVER with the same person.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

It's not lazy if the questioner is prepared, the subject is engaging and the demand is right

 

[Appgrad05]

They're best with subjects that can often be dry -- such as state of the department stuff with the local AD or similar administration folks. You can get all the info (When is that construction project starting? What's the focus this year for fundraising? What about that new NCAA rule/coach on the warm seat) out at one time, instead of 10 relatively boring 15-inch stories.

 

[Doc Holliday]

They're best with subjects that can often be dry -- such as state of the department stuff with the local AD or similar administration folks. You can get all the info (When is that construction project starting? What's the focus this year for fundraising? What about that new NCAA rule/coach on the warm seat) out at one time, instead of 10 relatively boring 15-inch stories.

Sorry, but this is a good way to bore your reader into moving on to another story. If you don't ask engaging or insightful questions, then don't bother doing the Q&A at all.

That is, unless, you want to get all the boring stuff out of they way in just one big boring epic fail swoop.

 

[BillyT]

The questions are the key.

You need to research.

 

[jackfinarelli]

If the questions are intelligent and pointed toward a goal AND if the answers are relevant and cogent, then Q&A is an excellent form of art.

If either of those conditions is absent ...

 

[Riptide]

I like Q&As as a regular and separate feature device.

Done right, they are great interviews. The subjects get to talk at length more, and I like that as a reader. The right questions set up good responses, and it rolls from there.

 

[Ace]

You can still cut out the answers that ramble or don't add anything. It's not a historical document.
If you ask 20 questions and get six good responses, just print the six good ones.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Had a co-worker who did this once and the editor decided to run every quote from begining to end. It was about 200 inches long and boring as hell. I drowned by the third question and didn't read another answer.

Do NOT run the whole answer for each question word for word unless the individual speaks in fantastic, short, imaginative, creative, insightful, poetic prose.

 

[jackfinarelli]

Steve Rosenbloom did a modified Q&A column in the Chicago Tribune a while back. His modification was that he omitted the questions and strung the answers together with ellipsis.

It worked...

 

[Riptide]

One good way to use it is in a "Ten Questions With ... " type of format. If the interviewer asks the right kind of interesting and provocative questions, the long-form answers are enlightening and entertaining. Set the subject up well and then let him or her roll with it.

Five questions, 10, 20 ... A fabulous regular feature if executed properly.