01
Choose a specific milestone and sketch the sequence
Write a short description of the project and the period the interview will cover. Prepare open questions about how it began, what changed along the way and how completion was recognised. Leave gaps in the timeline where the interviewee needs to supply the details. Avoid building the questions around an assumed turning point merely because it makes a neat story. The preparation should create space for an account that may be less linear than the editor expected, including work that was revised or set aside.
02
Ask who and what helped make the work possible
Include questions about collaborators, useful resources, constraints and opportunities. In the exhibition example, the conversation might explore how the venue was found, who offered feedback and what practical arrangements mattered. Let the interviewee identify the relevant influences rather than inserting a predetermined explanation. Record names and contributions carefully for later confirmation. This part of the brief helps prevent an individual portrait from quietly erasing other people’s work or treating access to an opportunity as something that every reader can reproduce.
03
Separate recollection from details that need checking
After the conversation, distinguish the interviewee’s remembered experience from dates, quotations and other details that require confirmation before publication. Keep the source of each detail attached to the notes. Clarify the intended use of the conversation and resolve any uncertainty about what can be quoted. When drafting, preserve the limits of the account rather than turning one person’s interpretation into an established general rule. The result can be a specific, readable story that respects both the achievement and the context in which it happened.