With a good editor you find yourself shaping as you talk and they will ask a couple of questions that open new things. Some are good at line editing too, but there's this other, less visible talent.

Because America isn't perfect, it must be evil. Because Marxist regimes make claims of perfection, they must be good. ... Remind me again, was it John Ashcroft or Fidel Castro who put H.I.V. sufferers in concentration camps?

I always thought that I could write a novel. In my case, it was misguided. I do believe that the best nonfiction is not "literary journalism," a misleading term, but rather journalism that asks the questions that serious literature asks. It's storytelling that happens to be true. So I don't think it was a missed opportunity. After awhile you learn what you're really good at. Life is short, so spend time doing that.

With a good editor you find yourself shaping as you talk and they will ask a couple of questions that open new things. Some are good at line editing too, but there's this other, less visible talent.

Many things make the ideal magazine story . But one thing is that it calls attention to the reader to something that they never would have imagined being interested in. And you leave them with a sense of wonder. I have to think more about this.

That was an important thing to learn - the more preparation you do the more a subject will respect you. But also, the more you'll think about what the real story is.

Often, when I later listened to the tapes of the interview I would hear that I would rush in to break the silence. The worst is when you ask a question and don't let them answer by saying, "Of course, it's probably because of blah, blah, blah." And you go on and on and then they say, "Yes." So you don't get a quote from them.