“The ways in which a standardized language test induces storytelling, for example, is the opposite of creative writing; you have to learn a logical way to start a story, whereas in creative writing you may begin at the end or begin at the middle of the story.” WayWritingMayEndsStoriesLanguageCreativeMiddleExampleTestsOppositesStorytellingLogicalCreative Writing Author:Alejandro Zambra
“The stories on standardized tests don't have one author, therefore they can never authentically be in the first person. Imagine that! Everywhere, there are these tests that have been written by multiple people.” PeopleFirstsPersonsHas BeensStoriesImagineWrittenTestsImagine ThatMultipleFirst Person Author:Alejandro Zambra
“I am still trying to find out things. And I inevitably tell myself the story in different ways every time I think about it.” ThinkingWayTryingStillsDifferentStoriesDifferent Ways Author:Alejandro Zambra
“Every story, every poem, every written piece is about belonging. There is a me, there is a we, there is an us, and we want to belong to it or we don't want to belong. You can read every story with this as its main focus.” WantStoriesFocusPiecesWrittenBelonging Author:Alejandro Zambra
“I knew little, but at least I knew that: no one could speak for someone else. That although we might want to tell other people's stories, we always end up telling our own.” PeopleWantLifeLittlesEndsStoriesMightSpeak Author:Alejandro Zambra
