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Hello! I'm pretty green. I'm doing a bunch of articles for a website. Basically friends of friends.
I'm on the last article and the guy I interviewed, everything out of his mouth was golden. So I'm thinking of doing the format where it's basically a copy/paste of the interview transcript-
Me: How did you blah blah blah?
Him: Well I blah blah blah. Blah.
Etc.
Obviously, people don't often speak in a grammatically correct fashion. Plus there are odd asides that really don't need to be included, stutters, starting a sentence but not finishing and going onto another sentence, all that. Not to mention how I only need around 500 words and the transcript is 2800.
My question is, how much freedom do I have to change the actual interview transcript? For instance-
Actual interview transcript-
Me: How did you blah blah blah?
Him: Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah! Blah. Blah blah blah. Blah. BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH. Blahblah. Blah. Blah blah! Blah! Blah! Blah.
Could I essentially omit everything in red? As long as I'm not changing the meaning of what he's saying in any way, shape or form? Or is this a huge no-no?
Going even further, can I fix sentences? If he misspeaks and something's not grammatically correct, can fix that if I don't alter the meaning?
Also, say he tells a story about something that has nothing to do with what I asked him, but it's a really good story that I'd like to include. Can I write up a leading question so what he says makes sense?
Any help would be appreciated!
I'm on the last article and the guy I interviewed, everything out of his mouth was golden. So I'm thinking of doing the format where it's basically a copy/paste of the interview transcript-
Me: How did you blah blah blah?
Him: Well I blah blah blah. Blah.
Etc.
Obviously, people don't often speak in a grammatically correct fashion. Plus there are odd asides that really don't need to be included, stutters, starting a sentence but not finishing and going onto another sentence, all that. Not to mention how I only need around 500 words and the transcript is 2800.
My question is, how much freedom do I have to change the actual interview transcript? For instance-
Actual interview transcript-
Me: How did you blah blah blah?
Him: Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah! Blah. Blah blah blah. Blah. BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH. Blahblah. Blah. Blah blah! Blah! Blah! Blah.
Could I essentially omit everything in red? As long as I'm not changing the meaning of what he's saying in any way, shape or form? Or is this a huge no-no?
Going even further, can I fix sentences? If he misspeaks and something's not grammatically correct, can fix that if I don't alter the meaning?
Also, say he tells a story about something that has nothing to do with what I asked him, but it's a really good story that I'd like to include. Can I write up a leading question so what he says makes sense?
Any help would be appreciated!