Copyright 2008@ Judy Rosella Edwards. Do not reprint without written permission.

An editor once told me I am good at writing news because I know the difference between news and information. And, information is about as interesting as reading a manual (my words).

Recently one of my editors asked me if I would be willing to write a last minute article after another freelancer discovered they did not have time to complete it by deadline. I write fast. I knew it would not be a problem.

The editor’s next email made it obvious to me why my colleague wasn’t able to finish the assignment. It was a 500 word story about a new business in town. For this, she had written an entire outline.

Maybe a lot of people write outlines for a handful of paragraphs, but I don’t. One reason is the tendency to anticipate the answers too much. Even news is more interesting if you have the luxury of letting the story tell itself.

Whether you outline for a tiny assignment like this or not, there is one question you cannot ask and you can’t anticipate what it is. Sometimes the question comes out naturally. But, for me, the closest I can get is, “What else do you want me to know?”

By this point, my interviewee has accomplished their agenda. They got in all the sound-bites. They know they are still on the record – actually on editor told me an interview is ALWAYS on the record. But they know they can relax and tell you a little more of the story.

I’m not looking for them to tell me anything confidential or compromising. I’m looking for them to tell me something interesting. What I find interesting, is that one unexpected aspect that I could never have anticipated.

Recently I was interviewing someone in the arts for a publication targeting seniors, especially volunteer opportunities in the community. The interview was done. We were just wrapping up and I was about to close my notebook.

Out of that last few minutes of seemingly unrelated chatting came a story about a volunteer with Alzheimer’s who gives of her time to sew costumes. Sewing is one of the few things she remembers how to do, and one of the few things she and her daughter can still share while the disease has taken away so many memories.

It wasn’t in the outline. It wasn’t on the agenda. But it gave the story an inspiration that would not have been there otherwise. It was the question I could never have asked.