Most fiction writers consider research in a library or online a fundamental part of the writing process, but I’m often surprised by how few writers conduct interviews for their fiction. Interviews offer inspiration that will help build characters, situations, scenes and plot lines. It’s in interviews that we gain insight into patterns of behavior, how people generally respond to a given situation. Interviews are especially useful when working from personal or family stories. The reason? Interviews help push the story past the personal and into the universal, helping writers move past their assumptions, to see the project in a new light. And, of course, it’s in interviews that we find those terrific details that lend authenticity to a scene.

Writers are often concerned that people won’t want to talk to them or will be offended by how they choose to use the interview material. What I do is explain a little about the writing process to the people I interview, saying that undoubtedly the story will be transformed within my fiction, and that I will be writing from my own perspective, which will be different from their own. We all remember and see things differently and fiction will and should transform any story. Besides, when we read a story, we take our own imaginations, life histories and expectations into the fiction with us, in effect creating the story right along with the author. So, each person who picks up the story will see it differently anyway.

To find interview subjects, simply ask around. Ask a friend, a co-worker, or the guy sitting next to you on the bus if he knows of anyone who's had a similar experience to what you’re writing about. When you conduct an interview, look for commonalities to your own experience but look for differences as well. You'll quickly find that there are patterns in all the stories you hear. We are all humans. There are only so many ways that we respond to a given situation. At the same time, the details of the individual stories vary widely, and it’s these details that will add texture and depth to your story and help create characters who seem like real people.

If you want to take this exercise to the next level, you might consider contacting an expert in the field you’re writing about. If you’re writing about a soccer player, you can contact your local soccer league and talk to a coach or athlete. If you’re writing about an astronaut going to another planet, then contact a scientist at NASA. (I’m not kidding! Check out this resource.)

Colleges and universities are great places to track down experts. Go to the program and then faculty pages at a given university to find those experts in a given field. And if you’re writing about home, talk to the local newspaper editor as they can often point you in the direction of local experts. If you’re too shy to phone, try an email interview. These often work best as the person you interview has the time to consider their answer. However, you'll often get more details in a phone or face-to-face interview.

Here's a primer from Writer's Digest on Interviewing Techniques for researching your fiction. You'll see everyone gets nervous doing, or even setting up, an interview. The writing life is all about nudging ourselves just a bit out of our comfort zone (daily!).