I’ve ranted before about the bad things that happen to good quotes at the hands of executives, so I was pleased to see my sentiments echoed in an article (sorry, I tried to link to it but it may be one of those limited-time-access things) by the impassioned Steve Crescenzo in the latest Ragan’s Grapevine e-newsletter. In “When is a quote not a quote?,” Steve exclaims:
“Quotes are important! Words need to earn those wiggly marks! A quote should have to fight its way into a story. It needs to add something: perspective, humor, credibility, something. We can’t just slap the wiggly marks around a string of words and call it a quote!”
Unfortunately, that seems to happen all too often. Let’s make a pledge to fight the good fight for real words that say something!
I agree with that guy. In interviews, I listen for words that express things better than I would, or at least in the subject’s way of speaking. I seem to hear a bell ring in my head when something sounds great, and then I scribble like mad to get it down. Some people are full of such “sound bites.” Others have no natural ability to make words sing, and I have to strain to catch anything worth quoting. But quotations make writing come alive.
That’s exactly the difference – words that sing vs. words that plod along and put the reader to sleep. Sometimes trying to get the person being interviewed to say something natural requires asking a question several different ways! And you are right, other times the person is full of sound bites and your happy dilemma is which of many to choose.