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

I was able to count on excellent teachers and professionals who helped me push my limits and achieve my goals. I was impressed by the quality of the course and the motivation teachers put into it. It was a great experience and I would definitely do it again!

Laure Poncet
, Research Officer
, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes

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

What a great session we had on Communicating with Impact. Bridgid shared practical techniques to enhance and develop our communications skills so we can present and speak publicly or to senior stakeholders with confidence and impact.  I speak for my whole team in highly recommending Bridgid Nzekwu if you are after effective and fun communication training.

Vodafone
, Group Legal Director, Corporate Commercial & Compliance

The teaching I received was second to none and despite having no experience whatsoever in journalism, the tutors made sure there was a friendly environment where I felt welcome to ask any questions I needed. I was able to finish the course and go into a job working for The Sun.

Olivia Allhusen
, Junior Journalist
, The Sun

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

The staff truly go above and beyond, providing detailed feedback, a wealth of knowledge and many career opportunities. I’d recommend the course to any budding journalist. You’ll have fun, too!  

Erin Waks
, Trainee Sub-Editor
, Daily Mail

Contact us

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