Robin Williams always gives (or appears to give) a spontaneous interview. That's because he hijacks the encounter by conjuring a dozen or more personalities who overwhelm his questioner.

James Lipton on the Actors' Studio is an example of a terrific interviewer whose performance is marked by meticulous preparation and concise questions. He has a marked ability to spot the tiniest opening that can turn his subjects toward an unexpected revelation.

Unless you are interviewing someone like Robin Williams or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who love to dominate an interview, you will need to work hard beforehand to try to ensure the interview seems spontaneous. We polled our Hammock writers for tips on how to prepare, what to do when your interviewee shows no signs of life, and some specific problems they have faced.

• Earlier this summer, Emily McMackin wrote this post on how to prepare for an interview. It is a terrific primer, and the rest of this post amplifies her points.
• Megan Goodchild notes, "I've had people try to tell me how to write the story. Sometimes people are rude and talk down. Once, no matter how great a question I asked, all I got was a one- or two-word answer. The person was nice, but that interview was like pulling teeth.

  "The best interviews I've had were ones where the subjects have been — above all else — friendly. Even if they're not full of good sound bites, friendly people are just easier to talk to. And even if I don't get any great quotes right away, we can usually keep the conversation going until I do."

• Laura Creekmore says, "Most (but certainly not all) of my worst moments came when I was on the college newspaper staff. I remember several interviews when I was asking what I wanted to be hard-hitting questions, and how easy it was for my subject to intimidate me so I didn't push for the hard answers. Practice helps with that, but preparation helps even more. I learned how important it was to have an outline of the article in my head, or better, on paper, before I did the interview. Then I could see where the holes were as I asked the questions, and press for the ones I needed to get the story right."
• Lena Anthony recently wrote about using IM and other electronic messaging formats to interview, and why she likes them.



• The things that irk me about interviews tend to be things I have done. Such as:
  • Speechifying: Watch any presidential press conference, and you will see highly paid professionals run on and on before finally asking a question. Ask a question, get the answer, ask a follow-up or for further explanation.
  • Leading questions: Open-ended questions are great, but don't try to skew an answer by starting with phrases such as "Would you say" and then supplying the verbiage you hope the subject will affirm.
  • Bad questions: Don't depend on "What's it like …" to get your subject to open up. Instead, ask specific, open-ended questions to encourage the person to describe the experience or event in concrete terms.
  • Bad manners: Don't interrupt.
  • Sounding unprepared: Avoid "uhs," "ums," "ers" "you know" "like" and similar noise. It helps to have prepared questions and use them. Think about your unscripted questions for a moment so you can pose them with ease.