How to Write Up an Interview: Best Practices for Crafting a Great Story

Recently I was discussing writing with a friend who is a manager with an engineering firm.

“We always need great writers,” he said.

I was surprised to hear this. Why would an engineering firm need writers?

My friend explained how his colleagues struggled to write important presentations, contracts and emails. His team’s weak writing skills resulted in confusing internal and external messaging.

Business success depends on clear communication, but poor writing skills damaged relationships with clients and hurt team morale.

It’s likely that you or your team have also struggled with writing: most professionals weren’t taught how to write in the context of their career, so communicating facts and ideas in writing can be a daunting task.

Writing mastery is critical to my success as a journalist. Learning that professionals outside the communication field also need writing skills hit me like a lighting bolt. I realized that:

• Writing is an essential business skill for all professionals.
• To thrive, companies must communicate with clarity and thoroughness.

Just like any professional can learn how to interview, any professional can — and should — learn to write.

Mastering written communication will empower you to:

• Communicate ideas with authority
• Influence decisions by presenting facts
• Increase professional credibility

Writing empowers

When you write, you’re engaged in active learning. While reading nudges your brain to understand information, writing forces your brain to link concepts and generate ideas. Writing empowers you to become an expert on the subject you’re writing about. The expertise you gain from writing gives you a professional edge.

Yet many professionals become frustrated or even panic when assigned a writing task. My engineer friend confessed that it’s not only his team that struggles with writing; he said he once spent an entire workday composing a short, departmental update about a building project for a company newsletter.

Writing doesn’t have to scare you. Writing is a professional skill you can learn. And the more you write, the easier writing becomes.

Mastering writing

To expand your professional skill set, master expository writing. Expository writing is a type of non-fiction writing that uses facts to explain something. News articles and business writing — including a company newsletter — are examples of expository writing.

Learning expository writing skills empowers you to transform complex information into readable content. Mastering expository writing will increase your professional credibility.

Here are my proven steps to improve your writing process:

Do the work!

Have you ever driven by a brand new building and thought, “When did that happen? Just last week, that was an empty parking lot. That building went up overnight!”

Any engineer or architect will tell you that buildings don’t appear overnight. There're months, sometimes years, of planning involved before construction even begins. We never see the blueprints, and hardly ever notice as construction workers pour the foundation and assemble the frame. Really, we only notice the shiny new building that pops up at the end.

Just like new buildings don’t simply appear, great writing doesn’t just happen. To communicate information with intent, I follow a research and writing workflow that helps me establish the story foundation, frame and details. This workflow enables me to both learn about the topic and write to inform and engage readers.

Here’s my personal, step by step writing workflow:

The Foundation:

1. Research: Educate yourself about the topic by diving into the subject. Read articles, listen to podcasts, follow social posts. Take notes!
2. Mine interviews: I read through my interview files three times. The first time, I read. The second time, I highlight all important information. The third time, I highlight only the most critical information within my previous highlights.
3. Write The One Thing: This is the “What” your article will explain. The One Thing is a the single most essential fact or concept your audience needs to know; it’s what makes your article worth reading. For example, when I wrote a story about a man with advanced kidney disease, The One Thing was his living donor search.
4. Bullet point supportive facts: These are the “Why” and “How” of The One Thing. In the kidney donor search story, the supportive “Why” was that he needed a new kidney to keep enjoying his active life. The “How” was the way his coworkers rallied around him by posting on social media and offering their own kidneys.

Transcribed interview notes for a story about child refugees. I highlighted important information in yellow, then read it again and highlighted the most critical information in blue.

The Frame (Now write!)

1. The Lede: A lede is the opening to a news story. It provides a clear introduction to the topic by stating The One Thing — the “what.” A lede should be succinct, focused and engaging - a short two or three sentence paragraph (or even one sentence) that grabs the reader’s attention and encourages them to read more. Many journalists find “nailing the lede” to be the most important part of their writing process.
2. The Body: Once I nail the lede, use the information you organized under the bulleted “how” and “why” to explain The One Thing. I write using all the information I have now and use TKTKTK (”to come”) as a placeholder for any information I don’t have yet.
3. The Kicker: The kicker is a conclusion that emphasizes the importance of The One Thing. Like the lede, the kicker should be engaging and brief; a few sentences that sums up your article. Here’s a kicker example from a story I wrote about volunteer conservationists managing invasive species:

Following the removal of the invasive plants, crews gradually replanted with native plants, trees and shrubs. Maples, oaks and shrubs were planted to start repopulating the area with a variety of native species.

"Nature is not natural anymore. You have to garden it," said Hamilton. "If not, you will end up with a toxic wasteland."

Fill In The Frame (Write again)

Once you’ve set a solid foundation by establishing The One Thing and built your article’s framework, you’re ready to fill in details and descriptions that will enhance credibility and make your writing more enjoyable to read.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Plug the holes: Find out the missing facts to resolve the TKTKTK — or what you didn’t know when writing your first draft. I often do more reporting at this stage by calling sources to ask a few more questions or for clarification. I fill in the holes as soon as possible after my first draft (the same day or next morning), as by now I can envision the finished article once the TKTKTK is resolved.
2. Add details: Add descriptive adjectives and verbs to give your story “color.” For example, instead of “very loud” try “deafening” or “ear-shattering;” instead of “She got up from her chair very quickly and then walked across the room” write “She leapt up from the chair and strode across the room.”
3. Add quotes: Quotes from named sources boost credibility, but use quotes sparingly. Too many quotes diminish readability. Dan Higgins, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Canisius College, recommends paraphrasing vital information from sources and saving quotes for people’s insights, vivid descriptions and emotional responses.

If the fire department spokesman said “The fire started in the janitor closet,” don’t bother quoting him directly. If the spokesman says, “That was the worst fire we’ve seen in five years,” that’s more worthy of quoting.

or better yet…

The spokesman said the fire started in the janitor closet and spread throughout the building. It was the worst he’s seen in five years, he said. “It was so hot and moved so fast, the tires melted in one of our trucks,” he said.

Clean Up (Read. Edit. Repeat.)

You’ve done the work needed to construct an informative article. Now it’s time to tidy up — this will make your article easy to read and enjoy.

1. Fix structure: Every story has a beginning, middle and end. The information should progress in a way that’s easy for a reader to follow.
2. Trim: Eliminate repetitive statements and tangential information. Every word in your story should support The One Thing.
3. Break it up: Long sentences confuse. Brevity explains. Cut long sentences into short sentences.
4. Vary sentence and paragraph style: Some paragraphs should consist of three or four sentences with varied sentence structures, while other paragraphs should be simpler. A simple sentence is great for readability and impact. Here’s an excerpt from a story I wrote that contains varying sentence structure:

   "Richards shared her unsettling discovery with her family. They were stunned. No one knew about Rulloff. Richards spent years trying to write about happier things, but the more she tried to bury what she calls “existential shame” about her family connection to a murderer, the more she wanted to know."

5. Edit for style: Check for grammar, spelling, tense. I often print a hardcopy to help me find and correct errors I missed onscreen.
6. Share with a friend: We all need an editor, but I find the most on-point feedback comes from my friends who aren’t journalists. Does your story make sense to someone new to the topic?

Elevate your writing

Whether you’re an engineering manager or a new member of any professional team, you now have all the tools to build an informative, readable article.

As you become comfortable writing, here are three simple tips to elevate your expository writing.

• Follow a style guide: AP style is standard for news and most communications. Chicago-style is more detailed and used most frequently in academic and technical writing.
• Avoid jargon: Every profession has its own language. While some jargon may be necessary, use it sparingly, and only if you understand the jargon and know your audience will understand it as well. Use common words instead.
• Write loose, edit tight: The single most useful piece of writing advice I’ve been gifted was to “tell the best story with the fewest words.” Keep it concise and easy to read without sacrificing information.

Follow these steps to transform complex information into content that will communicate ideas, exert fact-supported influence and increase credibility.

Finally, remember the words of my friend, the engineer: “We always need good writers.”

If you’d like to dive deeper, feel free to check out my other guides in this series on preparing for interviews and conducting interviews.