Last week, I asked for your take on the book review -- what makes for a good one, a lousy one, an informative one. In short, what you expect from one and how you know if it's delivered the goods. While only a few of you responded in comments, several of you responded via email. Good stuff.
So now I ask about the author interview - an art, I remind you, that I have no stomach for and which leads me to great admiration for those (especially writers) who can interview other writers and not be a nervous wreck. I simply couldn't do it. I'd make an ass out of everyone involved - I can't even ask a question after a reading! Yet, I love to read these interviews - or listen to their podcasts - and I've developed some taste for the specific interview features I like and don't like. Even as I look through my book collection, I see that I've got a shocking amount of "interview volumes" from The Paris Review Interviews Vol. 1 to The Believer's book of Writers Talking to Writers and many - surprisingly many - others. For several years, I've printed off and archived every Salon author interview. I've studied them. I refer back. I'm kind of a nut for the author interview. As I pull together my own thoughts on what makes for a good interview, I thought I'd ask you.
As a reader of such an interview, what do you hope to learn? What questions do you hope are asked? What do you find the most irritating? Uninformative? Uninteresting? What bits do you love? Hate?
As the interviewer during such an interview, what questions do you find yourself frequently asking? Avoiding? What sort of prep do you do? (Read everything the author's ever written? Just the most recent book?) What are the most difficult questions to ask, the most awkward situations?
I look forward to your insights, as I think the author interview is an art form unto itself that is so often taken for granted. Those who do it successfully make it look easy...and I know damn well it's not.
