Have you met … someone I should write about?
In the past, articles have been delayed due to illness, travel, and technology issues. It’s a little scary to find that, in spite of numerous requests for interviews, there’s not going to be an article today because I didn’t have anyone to talk with.
Anyway, I thought I would use today’s post to tell you what is involved in writing the “Have You Met?” articles.
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Getting an interview
– Look at the Faires beginning the following month, noting anyone that I’ve talked to, seen, or had recommended. Find contact information for those people and send a request. Requests for interviews include where we have met or who recommended them, gives them a link to the Have You Met articles, requests an interview, tells them how long it usually takes, lists days of the week and times that are open, and asks them to suggest an alternate day/time if none of mine work with their schedule.
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Doing an interview
– When someone agrees to be interviewed, we compare calendars and select a date and time. Typically, we do the interviews remotely over the phone. I’ve found that in-person interviews are a lot of fun but, especially if done at faire, they are hard to schedule and the audio quality on the recording is usually poor. Before the interview, I do some research on the person to find out more about them, making note of any specific questions that come to mind, and then reviewing the list of typical interview questions. About fifteen minutes before they expect my call, I log off all applications on my laptop and bring up the applications I will need. I’m using Skype to call them from my computer, Audacity to record the interviews, and a headset with microphone so that they can hear me. I speak directly into the microphone and they reply through the computer speakers. I also bring up notepad for taking text notes and Firefox, with no tabs open, to search or reference anything we discuss. At the appointed time, I call them and we talk for 30-45 minutes. When we’re finished, I save the notes as a text file and the recording in mp3 format.
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Preparing to Write
– Using Express Scribe, I make notes and capture quotes from the recording. A thirty-minute interview usually takes about an hour-and-a-half to capture the data. Actually writing the article in MSWord takes about two hours, if I can sit and concentrate, but usually ends up at around four hours to complete all the editorial, grammar, and spelling checks. I like to listen to music while writing and generally have Faire music or the RenaissanceFestivalPodcast playing.
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Posting the Article
– FaireNews is designed around a WordPress theme, so getting the article to you all is the easy part. I just copy and paste it in to a screen, make the section titles a header, and add any websites at the bottom. The final, and most important step in my opinion, is a final read through, out loud, to catch any last minute errors.
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Notifying the Subject
– I send an email to the subject as soon as the article is posted, giving the exact link to the article, permission to use excerpts for PR, and requesting corrections for any glaring errors.
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Publicize the Article
– After I get confirmation that the article is accurate, I talk about it on RenaissanceFestival.com, Twitter, MySpace, Renspace, and anywhere else it seems appropriate.
So there you have it, the entire process. I hope that we’ll get some interviews scheduled and new articles written for you to read. If there is someone you are interested in having interviewed, let me know. And if you’re involved in the Renaissance Faire circuit as a performer, vendor, merchant, staff or cast member and would be willing to go through the process I outlined, let me know. Anyone can leave comments with requests or you can send an email to FaireNews@FaireNews.com
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