In response to Chapter 3 of Like It Was, by Cynthia Stokes Brown (1988):
Well, I'm somewhat glad to have been handed a clearer idea of what this project will entail, if only in part. On the whole, it reminds me of Mock Trial. I was a prosecuting attorney on the team one year, and some of the guiding principles for that setting seem to apply to gathering an oral history as well.
Though Brown says in this chapter that you ought to hold some interest in or emotional connection to your topic of choice, I would posit that it's much more important to find someone willing and able to tell his/her story. Certain subjects interest me more than others, but this is a graded assignment, and we're on a schedule; we don't have time to go tracking down twenty billion different people asking if they'd mind being interviewed. As Captain Renault said in "Casablanca," "Well, personally, Major, I will take what comes."
There were a couple of suggestions for focusing the project's writing, though I expect most end results turn out to be a combination of everything in varying proportions. A character sketch, a feature story, a personality story...I like a little of everything, and I expect most readers want the plot with the character as well. Not too fast, but definitely not too slow (on pain of death).
The questioning methods are what really reminded me of Mock Trial. Brown says not to use leading questions, and it's exactly the same in (mock) court. With your witness, in direct examination, you are forbidden to use leading questions. All you can do is form a general frame, give a starting point, from which the witness must construct his/her own story. It's the same thing here. Let the narrator say what he/she wants; don't break the cardinal therapy rule and project your opinions on him/her through your mode of questioning. You provide the frame, then let the narrator paint his/her own storyboard from top to bottom.
The checklist sounds good. I've said it once (or more), and I'll say it again: I'm a sequential nut. I love lists, I love structure, I love order, and I love knowing exactly where I stand and how much more I have to go. A checklist of areas to cover will put my mind greatly at ease. (As for those confluent folk who feel they do better without, best of luck to you.)
The research element of conducting an interview also tied back to Mock Trial. When you step inside a (fake) courtroom, you need to know everything. Everything every one of your witnesses know, everything every one of your opponent's witnesses knows. You can't be lost. It will waste time and trip you up at some point. Besides which, I just like the idea of being prepared. It's much easier to engage in a story when you know the background, the context, the surrounding circumstances. (Not to mention, you'll have to do this research at some point in the project anyway, so you might as well get it done with up front.)
One thing grabbed my attention in a not-so-great way: Brown mentioned making sure you portrayed an attentive listener by giving verbal affirmations of your attention every here and there. She may have touched on this later (very, very briefly), but if there's any recording/filming going on and you hope to use the audio later, you better keep your mouth shut. If we have an awesome quote we just have to use in a video, but it's marred by an "uh-huh," we will feel like total and complete idiots. And there goes a beautiful moment, never to be heard again.
At this point, finding someone to interview and getting the sessions set up is sounding like the hardest part...but that could just be because my schedule's tight right now. Still, always room for one more (idiot) research project, right?
PS:
Since I still haven't figured out how to reply directly to a comment posted to a blog on Weebly, I'll just put it here for future (public) reference: when I say "idiot," which is almost always in conjunction with schoolwork, I do not intend it as a slight toward anyone. It's basically my personal synonym for "evil" (in a semi-silly, time consuming sense), one that tends to appear as the semester progresses and I get swamped with work. No offense intended toward anyone, living, dead, or zombified.
Well, I'm somewhat glad to have been handed a clearer idea of what this project will entail, if only in part. On the whole, it reminds me of Mock Trial. I was a prosecuting attorney on the team one year, and some of the guiding principles for that setting seem to apply to gathering an oral history as well.
Though Brown says in this chapter that you ought to hold some interest in or emotional connection to your topic of choice, I would posit that it's much more important to find someone willing and able to tell his/her story. Certain subjects interest me more than others, but this is a graded assignment, and we're on a schedule; we don't have time to go tracking down twenty billion different people asking if they'd mind being interviewed. As Captain Renault said in "Casablanca," "Well, personally, Major, I will take what comes."
There were a couple of suggestions for focusing the project's writing, though I expect most end results turn out to be a combination of everything in varying proportions. A character sketch, a feature story, a personality story...I like a little of everything, and I expect most readers want the plot with the character as well. Not too fast, but definitely not too slow (on pain of death).
The questioning methods are what really reminded me of Mock Trial. Brown says not to use leading questions, and it's exactly the same in (mock) court. With your witness, in direct examination, you are forbidden to use leading questions. All you can do is form a general frame, give a starting point, from which the witness must construct his/her own story. It's the same thing here. Let the narrator say what he/she wants; don't break the cardinal therapy rule and project your opinions on him/her through your mode of questioning. You provide the frame, then let the narrator paint his/her own storyboard from top to bottom.
The checklist sounds good. I've said it once (or more), and I'll say it again: I'm a sequential nut. I love lists, I love structure, I love order, and I love knowing exactly where I stand and how much more I have to go. A checklist of areas to cover will put my mind greatly at ease. (As for those confluent folk who feel they do better without, best of luck to you.)
The research element of conducting an interview also tied back to Mock Trial. When you step inside a (fake) courtroom, you need to know everything. Everything every one of your witnesses know, everything every one of your opponent's witnesses knows. You can't be lost. It will waste time and trip you up at some point. Besides which, I just like the idea of being prepared. It's much easier to engage in a story when you know the background, the context, the surrounding circumstances. (Not to mention, you'll have to do this research at some point in the project anyway, so you might as well get it done with up front.)
One thing grabbed my attention in a not-so-great way: Brown mentioned making sure you portrayed an attentive listener by giving verbal affirmations of your attention every here and there. She may have touched on this later (very, very briefly), but if there's any recording/filming going on and you hope to use the audio later, you better keep your mouth shut. If we have an awesome quote we just have to use in a video, but it's marred by an "uh-huh," we will feel like total and complete idiots. And there goes a beautiful moment, never to be heard again.
At this point, finding someone to interview and getting the sessions set up is sounding like the hardest part...but that could just be because my schedule's tight right now. Still, always room for one more (idiot) research project, right?
PS:
Since I still haven't figured out how to reply directly to a comment posted to a blog on Weebly, I'll just put it here for future (public) reference: when I say "idiot," which is almost always in conjunction with schoolwork, I do not intend it as a slight toward anyone. It's basically my personal synonym for "evil" (in a semi-silly, time consuming sense), one that tends to appear as the semester progresses and I get swamped with work. No offense intended toward anyone, living, dead, or zombified.
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