“I know when a story is finished when there is not a single thing more I can think to do to it. And since I know at the start what the last line will be, I know when I've reached that point as logically as I can that it's finished. As for the rewriting-it's not foolproof, of course, but if you're honest about having thought of every possibility and you still come back to what you have, what more can you do?” IfsThinkingKnowsWritingStillsI CanStoriesLastsCoursesLinesHonestPossibilityFinishedRewritingFoolproof Author:Amy Hempel
“Maybe this is not a come-down-from-the-ledge story. But I tell it with the thought that the woman on the ledge will ask herself a question, the question that occurred to that man in Bogota. He wondered how we know that what happens to us isn't good?” KnowsMenStoriesHappensAsksLedges Book:The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Source: The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
“Sometimes I can better describe a person by another person's reaction. In a story in my first book, I couldn't think of a way to sufficiently describe the charisma of a certain boy, so the narrator says, "I knew girls who saved his gum."” ThinkingWayFirstsPersonsI CanBookSometimesStoriesCertainGirlBoysSavedReactionsCraftsCharismaGumNarrators Author:Amy Hempel
“I probably have less revision than those who have that wonderful rush of story to tell - you know, I can't wait to tell you what happened the other day. It comes tumbling out and maybe then they go back and refine. I kind of envy that way of working, but I just have never done it.” KnowsWayKindI CanDoneStoriesWaitingWonderfulHappenedEnvyRevisionTumbling Author:Amy Hempel
“I assemble stories-me and a hundred million other people-at the sentence level. Not by coming up with a sweeping story line.” PeopleStoriesLinesLevelsMillionsHundredSentencesSweeping Author:Amy Hempel
“I do feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a good story.” IfsFeelsWritingEndsStoriesSentencesGood Story Author:Amy Hempel
“I've always known when I start a story what the last line is. It's always been the case, since the first story I ever wrote. I don't know how it's going to get there, but I seem to need the destination. I need to know where I end up. It never changes, ever.” KnowsNeedsFirstsEndsStoriesSeemsLastsLinesKnownCasesKnow HowDestinationNever Change Author:Amy Hempel
“I started writing by doing small related things but not the thing itself, circling it and getting closer. I had no idea how to write fiction. So I did journalism because there were rules I could learn. You can teach someone to write a news story. They might not write a great one, but you can teach that pretty easily.” WritingIdeasStoriesMightFictionTeachNewsJournalismNo IdeaRelatedGreat OnesNews Stories Author:Amy Hempel
“I'm not first and foremost interested in story and the what-happens, but I'm interested in who's telling it and how they're telling it and the effects of whatever happened on the characters and the people.” PeopleFirstsCharacterStoriesHappensHappenedEffects Author:Amy Hempel
