New New Dispatch
Pages 38 and 39
This stuff from Richard Ben Cramer is so good I don't even want to share it:
How do you know when a story is right for you?
I'll mention an idea to my wife, and she'll say, "Ah, that's horseshit." And I'll get all defensive and argue with her, "No it's not, and the reason it's not horseshit is ...!" That's when I know I'm hooked. It grown on me to the point where I start telling the story to people over and over again.
On interviewing techniques:
(Talking here about seeking advice from a friend on writing about presidential campaigning) ... And he said ... here is how you have to do it: you get in the plane, and when they come to you for your interview slot you say, 'You know what? I don't really need to interview the candidate. But, hey, would you mind if I just sat there while he does all the other interviews?'
You don't ask any questions?
Not one. I'd sit there for the first day, and the second day, and the third day, and on and on. And sooner or later, the candidate is going to get so comfortable with my being there that he will lean over to me after one of the interviews and say, "Damn, I fucked up that agriculture question again!"
And at that moment I've moved from my side of the desk to his side of the desk. That's the judo move I try to pull off: using his power to throw him where I want him to go. I'm always trying to be on his side of the desk. If I come in with my notebook and my list of questions, then I'm just another schmuck with a notebook and questions to be brushed off with the "message of the day," ... But if I don't have any questions -- except for the basic one of 'What the hell is going on here?' -- and I'm willing to hang around forever trying to see the world from his side of the desk, then I become something else entirely.