Ah thanks Blue Butterfly, I appreciate the advice... I sometimes run into the problem of seemingly sounding like an interrogator when asking people about their interests. I probably don't, but I'm worried about being too intense.
I also agree with Blue Butterfly's advice, and I also used to worry about coming across as an "interrogator". Something that I've found really helps with this is that you shouldn't just ask questions, but should also comment upon what people say when they answer your questions. This shows that you're not only interested in what they're saying, but also that you listened to the answer of your question.
If all you do is ask questions, then you're not showing people that you really care about what they're saying, and the constant questions may come across as weird.
The key thing to me about the whole question-asking strategy is that it lets the other person decide what topics to talk about, and like Blue Butterfly said, it kind of takes the pressure off of you. But you can do this by asking a question, and then after the person finishes answering, say something to either validate what they said, add something to it, or even offer your own perspective on it or disagree with it. The key thing is that you're talking about something that interests them...you show them that you value what they're talking about since you're not jumping to your own topic.
So I've always felt the whole thing isn't necessarily about the questions, but about the idea of choosing to talk about something the other person likes. Questions are the best way to start this up, but you don't have to only ask questions.
I think it's ok to "over"-analyze it at first, but once you get more experience talking to people, all of it comes more naturally and you don't have to force yourself to do these things.
