Feature Writing Advanced: Interviewing skills

Learn how to get the most from people in interviews and the secrets of telling complex stories with clarity

This four-hour advanced feature writing course will elevate your research and interviewing skills, and help you tell complicated stories so your reader remains engaged.

What you’ll learn: Interview skills and writing with clarity

We’ll focus on how to get the most from interviews – whether a 10-minute phone call, or an hour-long sit down. You’ll learn about the fundamentals of interview preparation – from finding interviewees and picking locations, to writing open-ended questions and preparing for tricky topics and questions – and we’ll look at how active listening can transform your conversations. We’ll also consider how to deal with celebrities in an interview environment.

The best journalists make complex topics simple. We’ll look at how to make confusing concepts clear, and transform dense information into engaging copy that is easy-to-read and tailored to your audience. You’ll learn how to make the most of complicated quotes from interviews and we’ll get you thinking and acting like a sub-editor to transform your writing.

How you’ll learn

This two-module course will be led by an experienced editor and trainer who will share their practical expertise through presentations, discussion and practical exercises – ensuring you have opportunity to reinforce your learning and test your understanding. As feature writing can often be a relatively solitary exercise, we lean into the opportunity to bring people together to discuss their experiences.

Who the course is for

This course is for you if you want to build a features toolkit of skills and knowledge that will elevate your ideas and writing. You should have professional writing experience. You may wish to complete Feature Writing Essentials, which focuses on structure and ideas generation, before this course.

We currently offer this course as bespoke training for teams and can deliver it remotely or in your offices. Get in touch using the button below to discuss times and dates, as well as how we can tailor it to your needs. 

If you are an individual looking for training, you can find all our scheduled courses here

Course Modules

Interviewing Skills for Journalists

  1. Interview preparation
  2. Approaches / techniques
  3. Listening as a skill
  4. Why and how to use case studies
  5. How to tackle celebrity interviews

Writing with Clarity

  1. Making complex concepts simple
  2. Simple sentence structure
  3. Recognising and avoiding jargon
  4. Dealing with complicated quotes
  5. Using case studies
advanced feature writing course - tutor with student

Feature Writing Advanced: Interviewing skills

Learn how to get the most from people in interviews and the secrets of telling complex stories with clarity

Get in touch

What our students say

View all testimonials

The team is flexible, slick, well-resourced and overall simply first class. Their expertise and knowledge have been invaluable. I was delighted with our choice, so I’d have no hesitation in recommending them

Prostate Cancer UK
, Head of External Relations

The small class sizes nurture a comfortable environment where everyone supports and learns from each other. The staff helped me hone in on my writing skills and develop the confidence to feel comfortable on camera.

Camilla Foster
, Reporter
, Newsquest

My time at PA Training was a whirlwind of fun and excitement. The full-time NCTJ course in London is fast-paced and hard work but perfectly sets you up for what to expect in a reporter role.

Camilla Foster
, Reporter
, Newsquest

I learned to write concise articles and features, while developing my skills in social media, interviewing sources, and producing stories for an increasingly online audience. The course has allowed me to start a full-time journalism career.

Jonathan Moynihan
, Social Media Producer
, Forces News

It’s a great place to make connections – networking with teachers, guest speakers and fellow students can be key to gaining advice or even job opportunities during and after the course. 

James Saunders
, Digital News Reporter
, GB News 

The methods and techniques you learn (and apply) on a daily basis through teaching, coursework and eventually exams crop up again and again in both job applications and jobs themselves – the course content is directly relevant to the realities of the industry. 

James Saunders
, Digital News Reporter
, GB News

Contact us

Do you wish to train on one of our specialist courses? Start by filling in the application form – we’ll ask you for some important information such as your education and employment history.

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Name*
By submitting this application form you confirm your acceptance that the information you have provided will be used during the recruitment procedure. Once the recruitment procedure is completed, the data will be stored for one year and then destroyed. If you are the successful candidate, relevant information may be taken from this form and used as part of your personnel record.
If you would like to receive regular updates from PA Media Academy, please tick here:

Contact us

For more information , simply fill out the form and a member of our team will be in touch.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
By submitting this application form you confirm your acceptance that the information you have provided will be used during the recruitment procedure. Once the recruitment procedure is completed, the data will be stored for one year and then destroyed. If you are the successful candidate, relevant information may be taken from this form and used as part of your personnel record.
If you would like to receive regular updates from PA Media Academy, please tick here:

Contact us

For more information , simply fill out the form and a member of our team will be in touch.