Giving an interview on local radio
Helen Hunt tells us of her experiences being interviewed on local radio during last year's National Short Story Week, and shares her tips on how to do it:
When I first heard about National Short Story Week in 2010 I was very keen to get involved in promoting it. I’ve been writing short stories for a few years now and I’m really enthusiastic about the form, so any opportunity to raise the profile of short story writing was not to be missed!
Local radio stations are always keen for content which highlights local people and their interests, so with help from Sue Moorcroft who was involved in the organisation of National Short Story Week 2010, I got in touch with BBC Radio Northampton to see if they’d be interested in covering the week.
I write short stories for women’s magazines, so I sent the radio station a short biography of myself which explained where I’d been published and what sort of writer I was. The producer also asked me to send some examples of my stories over for the presenter to read.
We set a date and on one of the coldest days of last November, I found myself walking into the town centre to the offices of BBC Radio Northampton to be interviewed on the popular Bernie Keith morning show. It had been a busy week as I’d already been up to London the evening before to talk at the Momaya Press Short Story Awards.
I was greeted warmly by the producer of the show who explained the format to me and also explained that Bernie’s dog would be in the studio with him, so she hoped I was happy with dogs! As I walked into the studio I got a very enthusiastic welcome both from Bernie and from Riley the dog, and then I sat down to prepare myself for the interview.
We chatted a bit about National Short Story Week and then Bernie asked me a few questions about my own work. One of the things I was keenest to get over was that National Short Story Week isn’t just for writers – it’s for readers as well. It was great to be able to talk about how the short story form is perfect for the busy lives that people live today.
These days most broadcasts on BBC Local Radio can be listened to online for up to a week after they are broadcast. This is fantastic as it means you can promote the interview and link to it on Twitter, Facebook and your blog, and everyone in the country can hear it, not just people in your local area.
If you want to get involved in promoting National Short Story Week this year, contacting your local radio station is a great way to get started.
Here are my tips.
· When you contact the radio station, tell them where you live so they can see the local angle immediately.
· Tell them what sort of short stories you write and about any publications you’ve had.
· Send them some samples of your work to read before they interview you.
· Make sure they’re aware of anything you particularly want to mention – for example make sure you give out the National Short Story Week website details and talk about any relevant events that are happening locally.
· They probably won’t let you know what questions they’re going to ask you in advance, but spend a bit of time thinking about what they might ask you and how you would respond to those questions.
· Take in a notebook open at a page where you have made basic notes of what you want to say and crucial facts like the website address. This will help if you ‘go blank’. I didn’t need mine in the end, but I was very glad to have it there!
· Speak slowly as this will stop your voice going high and squeaky. It also gives you time to think about your words as you speak.
· Don’t forget to breathe, and don’t forget to have fun!
· Send the presenter and/or producer an email afterwards to thank them and let them know you’re available for future comment on short story writing if they need anyone.
Good luck!
Northampton based writer Helen Hunt writes short stories and features for magazines.
Her short stories have appeared in Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly, The Weekly News, People’s Friend and Take A Break Fiction Feast in the UK, and That’s Life Fast Fiction in Australia.
She has also had real life stories published by My Weekly, This England and Evergreen magazines, and articles in Writing Magazine, Writers’ Forum and The New Writer.
Helen runs workshops for people who are interested in writing for the women’s magazine market and you can find out more on her blog. http://fictionisstrangerthanfact.blogspot.com
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