-Gay Talese
I thought this was a very interesting quote. It's so true, in so many ways. Not just in interviewing, but in life. Everything is sparked by curiosity. You need to be curious in order to care about anything, or you wouldn't give that particular thing the time of day. Why do people interview others, and spend day after day, hour after hour, even year after year following someone or something just to write about it, and document it? Curiosity. Something a long the way sparked an interest in the writer's imagination.
Gay Talese talks about curiosity creating the urge to interview and write about people. After curiosity, you need patience. You cannot rush things or you won't get the real results. Background. You also need background and understanding to understand everything about the person. Talese even says in the interview that he would take up to two years sometimes to fully understand someone and to be able to write about them.
Trust. You must allow the person to trust you. This also takes time. Buy the time. While it may cost you in the end, it is worth the final product being everything it can be.
Another interesting fact is that sometime the best stories are of the people you would never expect; the loser in the corner, the farmer's son, the black man living in the 1960's. It doesn't always have to be about the celebrity, or the top-of-the-charts singer.
Frank Sinatra has a Cold
Harbrace Questions:
01. Yes, the subject is one of the most interesting people of his time. Everyone was interested in Frank Sinatra.
02. It offered a different perspective of his life. It wasn't about some celebrity living in the limelight, it was instead about his struggle with stardom.
03. Yes, Talese explains why Sinatra continues singing.
04. As many sources as he could, including Sinatra himself.
05. Yes, it asks the readers to look at Sinatra as a real human being, instead of just a famous singer.
