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"If I knew nothing about these students, I could ignore the fact that the vast majority of them (about 80 percent of Dartmouth applicants at the time) would eventually be turned away. Like the students themselves, I focused on the positive. I persuaded every high schooler I met to take a chance at applying to the Ivy League."

That's Joie Jager-Hyman describing how she survived as the Assistant Director of Admissions at a highly competitive college. After that experience, she followed five high schoolers from one end of the country to the other as they struggled to get into school.

She recorded that journey in her new non-fiction book, Fat Envelope Frenzy. Today she explains how she chose her characters, and how these important relationships developed. 

This is my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality conversations with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:
As readers, we really get wrapped up in the lives of these characters. How did your subjects feel about the intimate portrait you made of them? How did you build and maintain these relationships? Any tips for journalists looking for deep relationships with their subjects without being too intrusive?

Joie Jager-Hyman:
I interviewed about 20 kids before selecting the 5 for this book and only chose students that I truly respected and thought had a decent chance of getting into a top college. Continue reading...

I didn't want to go home and write about how they were just spinning their wheels after spending all this time with them. 

I think the kids appreciated that I was always rooting for them.  They were going through a lot and enjoyed having someone to talk to that was on their side.  In terms of how they reacted, I made the somewhat controversial decision to show them (and their parents where appropriate) the material during the editing process. 

I wanted to give them a chance to veto anything that they really hated because it just seemed ungrateful not to consult with them.  Many writers told me that I was crazy, and I understand that point of view. 

However, when you're writing about kids, there's a little more responsibility to be protective.  In the end, they were all pretty cool and most of them were happy with the first draft of what I wrote.  I'm not going to lie, though, writing about real people can be incredibly stressful--at least for me.