CREATING PROFILES: AFTER THE INTERVIEW

FASHIONING THE VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT
        There are four basic advantages to taking the time to fashion a verbatim transcription of an interview:

• The process of transcribing the notes refreshes your memory;
• Seeing a subject's words in print may give you a new perspective on the conversation or offer you a new angle for your article or interview;
• Close study of a verbatim transcript should reveal any holes in your interview where follow-up questions are needed;
• A verbatim transcript assures accuracy.

WORKING UP THE TRANSCRIPT
        The purpose of the transcript "workup" is to create an accessible reference guide to your interview and transcript, to break the transcript down into needed topic areas and isolate the quotations that best address these topics. It's a process involving three basic steps:

1. Go through the transcript and number each question (or answer, if you prefer). These numerals can be used in reference or cross-reference.
2. After assigning a number to each question or answer, make topic notations in the margins of the transcript; this will allow you to scan a transcript for a specific topic of discussion (rather than have to reread it).
3. While notating your topic areas, underline any important quotations that appear to be usable in your profile.

FINDING THE BEST QUOTATIONS
        The best quotations serve one of the following functions:

• They represent the voice of authority.
• They present the voice of the eyewitness.
• They underscore the major points you're making in your profile.
• They offer anecdotes and examples.
• They tell you something important about the speaker.
• They make a significant point in a stylistically distinctive and/or memorable way.
• They make statements you could not or should not make yourself.

When selecting direct quotations for your profile, avoid using quotations that state the obvious; aim for remarks that are offered in a unique way, with their own built-in color.

EDITING YOUR INTERVIEWEE'S WORDS
        The transcripts for most interviews will feature a hodgepodge of incomplete sentences and uncompleted thoughts, fractured grammar and word usage, disjointed or vague statements, and gobbledy-gook. Generally speaking, you would be irresponsible if you were to publish unedited an interviewee's words–and it would be a rare editor who would allow you to do so. Interviewees expect to be presented in the best possible light, and readers tend to become distracted by quotations that aren't clear and grammatically correct.
        Editing quotations is a two-part procedure: first, you deal with the person's thoughts, and then you deal with the individual words within those thoughts. It's a process that moves from the general to the specific.
        When dealing with a person's thoughts, your main concerns are organizational. You want the interviewee to say something in its most organized, precise, and interesting way. You can combine quotations from different parts of the interview as long as you are addressing the same topics in the same context.
        When editing your interviewee's words, remember that clarity is the main objective of the task. If the grammar is blatantly misused and makes your subject look unintelligent or fatuous, you should correct the mistakes; if the grammar misusage is slight, and if your correcting it might result in disrupting the rhythm and flow of the quotation, you should leave the statement intact.
        Colorful language and phrasing are personality signatures, so when you are working with your interviewee's words, you should avoid editing:

• Important colloquial or rhythmic language;
• Unusual phrasing that seems to be a part of your interviewee's personality;
• Any type of statement consciously designed to be out of the ordinary.

PARAPHRASING EFFECTIVELY
        When you paraphrase, you are choosing your own words over those offered by the interviewee. Rather than directly quoting your subject, you are offering a summary of what the person said. You attribute to your source as you would if you were using a direct quotation.
        Paraphrasing is useful when no single statement stands out as a strong usable quotation, or if your interviewee has merely stated the obvious or provided you with dates, numbers, locations, or statistics. It is also useful when you are breaking down long quotation or anecdotes. (Generally speaking, a direct quotation should never run longer than 50-75 words.) A mixture of short quotations and explanatory narrative can serve to emphasize key points.
        When paraphrasing, stay as close as possible to the wording of the original quotation. Don't put words into your interviewee's mouth: stick close to the intent and spirit of the original.

USING QUOTATIONS IN A PROFILE
        You are wasting your reader's time if the quotations from your subject merely give information that could be found elsewhere. Readers want thoughts, opinions, emotions, and ideas–anything that tells them something they don't already know about the true person. Look for quotations that only your subject could have given you.

[Adapted from Creative Conversations: The Writer's Complete Guide to Conducting Interviews, by Michael Schumacher, Writer's Digest Books, 1990.]