TELL ME MORE: Random House’s Andy Ward on Kelly Corrigan’s New Book
January 8, 2018
In her new Random House book, TELL ME MORE: Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say, New York Times bestselling author Kelly Corrigan swings between meditations on life with a preoccupied husband and two mercurial teenage daughters to profound observations on love and loss. Kelly’s editor, Andy Ward, Vice President, Editor in Chief, Random House, was closely involved with the creation of this collection of stories and shares insights into his impressions of Kelly’s voice on the page, their editor/author working relationship, and who will find her new stories most beneficial in this Three Questions for an Editor interview.
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(c) Danielle Siess[/caption] Three main keys, I’d say: humor, intelligence, and honesty. (Okay, and a fourth: a rare, instinctive sense of what is interesting in any given scene or moment. Good observers tell good stories.) Kelly knows how to draw a compelling scene, but it’s her honesty – her vulnerability and openness as a narrator, her willingness to portray her life as, at times, something of a mess – that resonates for me. Kelly doesn’t pretend to hold the secret to a happy life. She doesn’t pretend her family is perfect. She doesn’t gloss over her mistakes (see: “It’s Like This”) or her less-becoming impulses (“I Was Wrong”). That kind of honesty keeps the reader from feeling defensive, and maybe encourages them to engage in some introspection of their own. How would you describe the editorial process involved in putting TELL ME MORE together with the author – in terms of shaping the narrative and organizing the flow of the chapters? [caption id="attachment_9125" align="alignleft" width="225"]
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