Moore tells JEA/NSPA audience to interview like a psychiatrist
Written by Elizabeth Braden, CJE
Improve your stories by getting great quotes with a technique used by psychiatrists.
That was just one of the great interviewing tips from the session, “Improving your copy: writing articles, not essays,” given at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle on Saturday, April 14.
The presenter, Whitney Moore, a Walsworth yearbook sales representative in Maryland, told the students and advisers in her session to say this statement and question: Tell me more about that, and, how did that make you feel? Saying them in a low, even tone like the clichéd psychiatrist brought a laugh from the crowd.
The tip was in response to a question about getting information out of sources who give short answers. Great quotes are an essential part of a story, which Moore defined as a moment in time or a snapshot, versus an essay, which is usually a group of facts that prove a point.
Moore also said students who want to become good writers need to read. She said she reads the blog by writer Jeff Goins, which can be found at goinswriter.com.
