How Celeste Ng writes fiery prose
ReThinking
TED
4.7 • 626 Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2022
⏱️ 54 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
It took Celeste Ng a long time to believe she could write for a living. Now she’s the New York Times bestselling author of the novels “Everything I Never Told You” and “Little Fires Everywhere”-- which was developed into a hit TV show by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine. Adam and Celeste have been friends since college–they met through her first writing job. They discuss Celeste’s versatile writing process, her insights on thinking and communicating more clearly, and how she feeds her curiosity–both as a reader and a writer. Celeste’s latest book, “Our Missing Hearts,” is out now. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/RWAG5
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is sponsored by London Business School. You know that feeling of racing between meetings, |
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| 0:45.1 | Hello everyone. It's Abby and Pete from the Therapy Couch podcast, currently sponsored by Deliverum. |
| 0:50.3 | So, Abby and I want a proper at-home cozy date night. And one thing that's non-negotiable for me is ordering in from our favourite local restaurant on Deliveroo. Absolutely. We're even getting some chocolates and flowers. How amazing is that? And this can be delivered to your door in as little as 25 minutes. I do love our at-home date nights and Deliveroo helps us make them even better. |
| 1:11.4 | Head to the Deliveroo app now and order today to make your date night extra special. |
| 1:16.2 | Subject to availability, delivery times may vary, |
| 1:19.0 | C&AP, geographical restrictions, service and delivery fees and terms apply. |
| 1:25.1 | Sean has had some good ideas over the years. but using Canva was a really good one. |
| 1:32.0 | Sean designed some social posts to promote his friend's car boot sale. |
| 1:36.9 | They looked good, really, really good. |
| 1:41.3 | Next thing he knows, someone came and bought the lot, including the car. |
| 1:48.0 | Now Sean doesn't know how he's going to get home. |
| 1:51.5 | Thanks, Canva. |
| 1:59.1 | Welcome back to Rethinking. |
| 2:04.1 | I'm Adam Grant, and I'm excited to bring you today's conversation with acclaimed novelist Celeste In. Her debut book, Everything I Never Told You, won a slew of awards. |
| 2:12.6 | Her next book, Little Fires Everywhere, was the Goodread's choice winner for fiction, |
... |
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