If an image of the perfect subject has flashed into your mind, consider yourself lucky, and set up an appointment with that person at once. If you have drawn a blank, you’ll need to cast about for a likely interview subject.

Brainstorm for Possible Subjects. Try brainstorming for a few minutes to see what pops into your mind. Your subject need not be spectacular or unusual; ordinary lives can make fascinating reading.

Tap Local Interview Resources. Investigate campus resources such as departmental or faculty Web pages, student activity officers and sponsors, recent yearbook photographs, stories from the newspaper archives, or facilities such as the theater, media, or sports centers. Look on campus, at work, or in your community for people with intriguing backgrounds or experiences. Campuses and libraries often maintain databases of local authorities, researchers, and authors available for press contacts or expert advice. Identify several prospects in case your first choice isn’t available.

Set Up an Interview. Find out whether your prospect will grant an interview, talk at length — an hour, say — and agree to appear in your paper. If you sense reluctance, find another subject.

Don’t be timid about asking for an interview. After all, your request is flattering, acknowledging that person as someone with valuable things to say. Try to schedule the interview on your subject’s own ground — his or her home or workplace. The details you observe in those surroundings can make your essay more vivid.

Prepare Questions. The interview will go better if you are an informed interviewer with prepared questions. Find out a bit about your subject’s life history, experience, affiliations, and interests, and then work on your questions.

Ask about the person’s background, everyday tasks, favorite activities, and hopes to encourage your subject to open up. Asking for a little imagining may elicit a revealing response. (If your house were on fire, what would you try to save? If you had your life to live over, what would you do differently?) Focus on whatever aspects best reveal your subject’s personality. Good questions will help you lead the conversation where you want it to go, get it back on track when it strays, and avoid awkward silences. For example, to interview someone with an unusual job or hobby, try questions like these:

One good question can get some people talking for hours, and four or five may be enough for any interview, but it’s better to prepare too many than too few. You can easily skip any that seem irrelevant during the interview. Simply listening and responding may encourage genuine communication.

Be Flexible and Observant. Sometimes a question won’t interest your subject. Or the person may seem reluctant to answer, especially if you’re unwittingly trespassing into private territory, such as someone’s love life. Don’t badger. If you wait silently for a bit, you might be rewarded. If not, just go on to the next question. Should the conversation drift, steer it back: “But to get back to what you were saying about …”

Sometimes the most rewarding question simply grows out of what the subject says or an item you note in the environment. Observing your subject’s clothing, expressions, mannerisms, or equipment may also suggest unexpected facets of personality. For example, Ryan-Hines describes Joan Gilmore’s appearance as she introduces her character.

Decide How to Record the Interview. Many interviewers use only paper and pen to take notes unobtrusively. Even though they can’t write down everything the person says, they want to look the subject in the eye and keep the conversation lively. As you take notes, be sure to record or sketch details on the scene — names and dates, numbers, addresses, surroundings, physical appearance. Also jot down memorable words exactly as the speaker says them, and put quotation marks around them. When you transcribe your notes, you will know that they are quoted directly.

A telephone or an e-mail interview sounds easy but lacks the interplay you can achieve face-to-face. You’ll miss observing possessions that reveal personality or seeing smiles, frowns, or other body language. Meet in person if possible, or set up an online video chat.

Many professionals advise against using a recorder because it may inhibit the subject and make the interviewer lazy about concentrating on the subject’s responses. Too often, the objections go, it tempts the interviewer simply to quote rambling conversation without shaping it into good writing. If you do bring a recorder to your interview, be sure that the person you’re talking with has no objections. Arm yourself with paper and pen in case the recorder malfunctions. Perhaps the best practice is to combine both methods. Write down the main points, and use your recording to check quotations for accuracy or add more words from the interview.

As soon as the interview ends, rush to the nearest desk, and write down everything you recall but couldn’t record. The questions you prepared for the interview will guide your memory, as will notes you took while talking.