Interviews of Krakauer and Cramer Blog #5

                     Jon Krakauer

                The interview with Jon Krakauer was different than what I expected. He seems extremely intelligent in his interview and it makes me wonder what kind of guy he is. An interesting fact he brought up was that he had never taken any courses on writing or journalism. He read a couple books about it, but other than that, he considers himself a self-taught writer.

A picture of Jon Krakauer from the Internet.

To get story ideas, he says he is always alert in case a story idea pops up. He likes to ask people simple questions and maybe have it lead to a story idea. For example, he asked a cop outside of Colorado City about the place and it was a start to his piece Under the Banner of Heaven. 

I found it really interesting how he describes the main character in his pieces. After reading other writers’ interviews, I would expect his main character to be really interesting and nice. However, he doesn’t look for the nice type of person. He is looking for someone who really sticks out—whether they’re extremely ignorant, have a great sense of humor, etc. He says that a single fascinating personality can make a book.

I always assume that writing comes easily for journalists but as I read interviews, I have found a pattern. They all think that writing is either hard, boring, tedious, etc. Krakauer mentioned that writing a book is so hard and painful. He also says that it demands a huge commitment of time and energy. To be able to write a good book, he says a writer must have talent, be stubborn, and have luck. Even I agree when he says this. Not anyone can be a successful writer that easily. Obviously you need talent, you need to be stubborn and persistent with research and interviewing, and you need to be in the right place at the right time sometimes!

A video of Jon Krakauer on the Oprah Winfrey show.

I learned a lot by this writer. He is wise and he knows what he is talking about. I really enjoyed how he talked about how he’s wanted to pay his subjects for allowing their time and all the information. That is unethical in the journalism world, so a lot of other journalists have gotten angry and have strongly disagreed. I like his point though. Everything he says makes me intimidated, but I still have this desire to read more about him and read his stories.

Other facts about him I found in the interview: He hates interviews in restaurants, would rather go on a long car ride or be at their home with the person. He sends a letter and a piece of his work to people he wants to interview. People have called him an asshole for his piece on the climb on Mt. Everest. He uses a blue fine-point Pilot Precise Rolling Ball pen when taking notes (why on earth did they ask him what kind of writing utensil he uses during interviews?). He believes that even removing 5% of unnecessary material from a book can make it twice as better.

                  Richard Ben Cramer

           I’m starting to read the interview on Cramer and I really enjoy it. He seems like a great writer. In the introduction, it stuck out to me that he takes so long to get a story done. It’s almost comical the way it sounds, because he ends up writing amazing pieces. I love how he describes himself as being hooked to a story. He is able to do these so-called “impossible” stories because of how interested he is in them.

It’s really interesting with his point of view on interviewing candidates in presidential elections. He is able to manipulate them by not interviewing them right away, but rather just “hang out” and wait for the candidate to come to him. He is then on their side of the desk. He doesn’t want to be just another reporter interviewing him with the same questions.

Richard Bem Cramer. Pic from
the Internet.

He uses great techniques when it comes to interviewing. He doesn’t prepare questions, doesn’t use a notebook, and doesn’t ask questions that they’re expecting. He only takes out his notebook when there are important quotes or facts he wants to remember. He doesn’t like using a notebook throughout an interview because he thinks you can’t connect with a person when you rarely look at them and they’re concentrating with their head down in their notebooks. His goal is to be personable and really make them feel comfortable with his presence, allowing them to give a lot of good information.

A sentence stuck out to me in his interview. He says, “The thing is that people want to tell their stories.” I’ve learned this in my class reporting and writing. I’d get so nervous that people wouldn’t want to be interviewed when, in fact, people naturally like it. Something that is different about him compared to the other writers in this book is that he allows the people who he interviewed to read the piece before it is published. If something is wrong about how he said something, he wants to know. I find this to be very respectful and a smart way to avoid backlash.

Other random facts that were interesting: He prefers kitchens over living rooms when interviewing. He likes to take the person he’s interviewing out for dinner, but not ask any questions until the sixth or seventh dinner date. His goal is to write a thousand words a day. He never puts himself in a piece unless he’s involved. He likes to use the “f” word during his interviews.