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One of my peers at Gamers with Glasses is thinking about conducting their first interview for a piece on the site. I've been doing interviews like this for over half my life at this point, and I wanted to demystify it for them if possible. This is one example based on their idea, but I think the types of questions and thought processes here are transferable. If you're in a scenario where it would help you to interview someone, please try it!
This is just discord posts that I'm editing lightly. Their idea was to talk to the authors of a few books that are about video game history. So think of this as a pep talk that I hope can also help you.
I think feeling nervous or anxious is really normal and understandable. I will say just from your comments so far, it's clear you have a good base of what you're looking to discuss as well as at least some of the background and context.
Also, remember your questions can be quite imperative and open ended. And you can always ask them to hang on for a moment while you "finish taking some notes" even if you just want to think and decide on a next question.
So if this were me and I were talking to folks about being part of a book series, I would want to start with something like, "Can you talk about deciding to pitch/write/conceive of this project?" Whichever is the right choice here. I honestly think it will flow naturally from that point -- but you can write down other questions to supplement, make sure you cover specific stuff, or just a security blanket (valuable).
"What was it like going from fan to subject matter expert?"
"Who did you most look forward to getting to speak with about the franchise?"
If they've published books before, how was this experience different?
Were they afraid of fair use or copyright claims, did they do anything special to prepare or relax about that fear? Did anything surprise them about the writing or editing process?
Would they do anything differently if they were in the same position again, knowing what they know now?
If this was a first book -- how did that feel to work on? Was it like their day job work in some way they didn't expect, or very different in some way they didn't expect?
And anytime someone answers in a way that you aren't sure about, please always know it's okay and normal to clarify or ask outright: "Oh, I'm not familiar with that side character/subplot/game designer/whatever, could you say more about their role?"
Then you can respond to their answer with a sort of confirming idea: "So Jackie Side Guy is there to help you find the key, it sounds like?"
You can also introduce your own topic in a question: "I saw your posts on social media about Jackie Side Guy, and that made me wonder how you got so into him as a character. Was that the impetus for your idea that the key is a metaphor?"
You can tell I was deepening my fake interview lore there at the end. Jackie Side Guy, why aren't you real??