Andrew Forrester is the author of the new novel How the Story Goes. He is a former English teacher, and he lives in Austin, Texas.
Q: What inspired you to write How the Story Goes, and how did you create your characters Whit and Merritt?
A: In fourth grade, I had my first brush with obsessively reading a series. It started with Katherine Applegate’s Animorphs books, then expanded to include The Chronicles of Narnia, Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet, the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien, and many more.
For me, this was a quintessentially childlike experience, because I had so much time to read, and I was able to fully devote myself to a book or series in a way that’s impossible now with all the, you know, life going on. But man, was it special back then.
Cut to a few decades later, and you have me, an English teacher on winter break, trying and failing to make a manuscript work. In truth, it was my fifth or sixth manuscript, and I had been trying for some time.
I needed a different creative direction, and I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but those early years of obsessive reading combined with other, more grown-up interests. Things like the movies of Nora Ephron, the small towns in cozy mysteries (minus the murder), and a working knowledge of the publishing industry (honed, yes, by years of disappointment).
The concept of someone having to finish his late wife’s masterpiece came to me pretty fully formed, but then I needed to inhabit that idea with good characters.
First came Whit, who was easy: who would be the most miserable in this context? He needed to be a writer, someone mildly grumpy and a little depressed but essentially loveable, et voilà.
Then I needed someone to balance him out, someone capable and funny who was at least partially defined by her love of reading. Merritt took a little longer to flesh out, but in the end (don’t tell anyone) she’s my favorite.
Q: Were your character Helen’s books based on a particular series?
A: They were mostly based on that cultural phenomenon we saw with Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Percy Jackson: midnight parties, fan websites run amok, stuff I don’t think we’ve really seen since. But that global blockbuster book series thing is what I was going for.
When I was imagining The Greenwood Castle Saga, I actually thought a lot about a book I read in my fourth grade Language Arts class called The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt (of Tuck Everlasting fame!) and then John Peel’s Diadem series, which is not super well known.
I honestly don’t remember a ton about their plots or characters, and I can’t speak to how good they are, but I do remember the feeling they gave me, about magical worlds and groups of heroes on important quests, and I carried that with me into Helen’s books about Ursula, Rupert, and Christabel.
Q: The writer Ashley Winstead said of the book, “How the Story Goes is a gift for book lovers.” What do you think of that description?
A: Um, it’s my dream description, and I promise I did not pay Ashley to write it. Honestly, it’s what I was aiming for. I am such a fan of books about books. I mean, I am here because I like reading, and then when a book itself is about someone who also likes reading? It almost feels like cheating.
I think that, if How the Story Goes has an aim, it’s to celebrate all the things a book can be for someone: an escape, a job, a way to connect, a balm for our hurts, and so on. So I’m really glad Ashley saw that in the novel, and I hope other readers do, too!
Q: The novel is set in New England—how important is setting to you in your writing?
A: I have a friend who’s read all my other manuscripts, and he mocks me relentlessly because the ones about teenagers are almost all set in, like, the bleakest parts of suburban Houston.
That’s where I grew up, and so much of young adult fiction is about that feeling of longing for more: what better backdrop than a six-lane freeway or the parking lot of a failing barbecue chain?
But for this book, a lot of the fun was imagining what my life like a writer could look like, and it turns out I would very much like to live and work in a town that is partially Stars Hollow and partially Three Pines, with a little bit of the Cape Cod town where my aunt and uncle live thrown in.
My hope is that the setting helps the book feel cozy and warm, while the stakes and characters balance out the charm with real-world problems.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Well, speaking of setting, I am revising a manuscript that is also set in Whelk Harbor, in which some of our friends from How the Story Goes may or may not appear… It shares the same cozy bookishness, but this time, it’s about a historian and an English professor trying to solve a literary mystery. And there are museums, lots of museums.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I’m just genuinely so excited that this book is coming out and that real people in the world will read it. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to dig into this little story I made up in my head. It means the world.
If people are interested in following along on my author journey, my website is www.andrewforresterbooks.com and my Instagram is @andrewforrester. I’m doing a mini-tour in a few cities, and I’d love to meet readers in those places.
I am also so down for visiting book clubs virtually (or in person, if you’re in the Austin area!). Please reach out through the form on my website or even over Instagram. Happy reading!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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