From Interview to Monologue

After completing your interview:

1. sit down and carefully listen to the recording of the interview and think about which parts would serve as a strong crux or center of your monologue.
2. to choose a crux, choose a story that you will be able to communicate about the interviewee's life. It may be the most dramatic, funny, surprising, or emotional part that affected you strongly. It should be the moment when your interviewee's character comes alive through her language
3. transcribe the moment word-for-word (best to do this on the computer). Put in line breaks as you transcribe, at moments where your interviewee pauses or takes a breath. Include the likes, ands, and ums. Even words in another language or dialect or even curse words if necessary. The transcription should be typed, about 2 pages. 
4. once you have transcribed these sections, look them over. Think about how to shape your monologue: what would be a strong first line? last line? what is the one story you want to tell?
5. don't try to tell all the stories; focus in on one.
6. edit and rearrange. you have the power to move sections around in order to tell this story
7. in the end, you should have a 2-3 minute monologue

Full transcription due Tuesday, May 28 - typed. Make sure to include a paragraph character description.

In class, we will listen to a Storycorps interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=151620851

Listen for a good crux, focus.

Then transcribe it by listening to it again and adding line breaks to represent pauses and emphasis: