Kiwi documentary maker Kiran Patel has created a new conversation card game called Deeper Questions. Photo: Supplied
After 10 years of interviewing, documentary maker Kiran Patel has learned which questions get people to open up.
His new card game Deeper Questions is a carefully curated pack of 45 of his favourites to help people go deeper in chats with family members, friends and even strangers.
Photo: Supplied Kiran Patel
We never really know where someone else is coming from until we ask a question that unlocks that, Patel tells Afternoons' Susana Lei'ataua.
"There's always another story or memory or moment that's made someone who they are. These questions are just a little bit of permission or a nudge to get to that point in the conversation."
Patel's Kickstarter campaign to launch Deeper Questions has already reached its $10,000 goal. He says packs preordered from his site this month will arrive in early December, in time for Christmas.
Sample questions:
- "What do you wish more people knew about you?"
- "Can you describe a moment when you felt like you were exactly where you were meant to be?"
- "Tell me about a book, song, movie, or piece of art that has significantly influenced your life or worldview?"
- "What's a life lesson or piece of wisdom that you're grateful for learning?"
Susana Lei'ataua. Photo: RNZ / Jeff McEwan
RNZ presenter Susana Lei'ataua says she is grateful for some advice she received as a 17-year-old reporter from Taupō journalist Sue Hawkins.
"Sue said to me 'People are going to correct your stories and you are going to need to get used to that, and so feelings are going to come up in your tummy'. I was 17. [She said] 'They may not feel very comfortable for you but this is the process of your story getting better and you being in the process with other people and learning how to work with them'.
"I've never forgotten that. Then she took a red pen and changed all the words around. And we just got used to that. She said 'You see what I mean? Just get used to it. That's what change feels like'."
