: Re: Bio on my father My father passed when I was very young. I hope to know him through individual q&a's I will have with his friends associates, collegues and register it as a bio. What

It sounds like your father was a public person. In that case, you have to ask yourself what you're really prepared to find out about him. If all you want is to get boilerplate encomiums, then it doesn't matter much what you ask beyond "What was he like? What did you like about him? What were his strengths?"

If you want a picture of the whole man, warts and all, you will have to be braver and more resolute in pursuit of your task. Still ask softball questions like those above, but add negative questions. "What didn't you like about him? What were his weaknesses? What bothered you about him the most?" However dear you hold your father's memory, you have to understand that he was human and unlikely to be perfect. JFK was lauded to the skies and many, many breathless eulogies have been written about him. But he also had extra-marital affairs while in the White House. Again, what are you prepared to find out?

This does not mean I think you should go muck-raking, or putting too much stress on the negative. But a provocative question is likely to get you a more interesting answer. Ask each person to describe their first meeting with your father, and ask about the impression he made. Work them for striking details, things that stand out. You will have failed if your notebook is filled only with generic comments like "He was a good man. A great guy." Great how? Good how? Don't take "good" for answer, keep asking what he did that was so good for you personally (meaning the interviewee). Dig deep and get that story.

As a side note, I disagree with M Lizz, who says you should try to ask questions that elicit short answers. If you do that, you'll wind up doing the talking. Listen to a master interviewer like Teri Gross or Marc Maron, or even Marc Maron interviewing Teri Gross. You will find that an interview succeeds when the interviewer gets the subject talking. Have targeted questions, but let the conversation flow once a question turns on the tap.

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: Typically, an editor does NOT have their name listed on the cover of a book. It is more common to acknowledge the editor in the acknowledgements. The exception to this would be in an anthology

: Re: Bio on my father My father passed when I was very young. I hope to know him through individual q&a's I will have with his friends associates, collegues and register it as a bio. What

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: In a screenplay, how do you show people talking over each other? When writing a script where you have two (or more) people talking at the same time, how is that formatted? Side-by-side columns?

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: How do I write about nerdy concepts without sounding like a tryhard? How would one express nerdy gobbledygook without sounding like a technical tryhard? For instance, if I were to explain the

: Typically, an editor does NOT have their name listed on the cover of a book. It is more common to acknowledge the editor in the acknowledgements. The exception to this would be in an anthology

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