Katherine Heiny, "The Hookup"

It’s December 2. Katherine Heiny, author of Games and Rituals, saves the good china for the CIA.

How would you describe your story?

KATHERINE HEINY: I always have a hard time with elevator pitches, but I guess it’s about teenagers, sex, family, and law enforcement. Also, it has a lot of cleaning tips in it.

When did you write it, and how did the writing process compare to your other work?

KH: The idea for this story came to me in a dream. That sounds like a sort of insane answer, but it’s true. I woke up and “knew” that the narrator was a Hungarian-American teenager called Bodi, and that he had a smart girlfriend named Rebecca who wouldn’t have sex with him because of the smell of bacon and that his father had done something illegal. Many details changed in the writing, but I tried to be as faithful to my dream as possible.

What kind of research went into this story?

KH: I am half Hungarian, but I don’t speak the language, and my mother and aunt are no longer here to ask, so I actually wrote to the Hungarian embassy, and they were tremendously helpful with the few phrases that appear in the story. Also, I had to research the all the math problems that Bodi’s girlfriend solves in the Math League high-school competition. Math is not my strong suit.

What, to you, makes the short story a special form? What can it do that other kinds of writing can’t?

KH: You have to be so economical while writing a short story—every word has to count. In a way, that makes them easier to write because if it’s not absolutely essential, you can’t include it. I don’t think short stories do anything that other kinds of writing can’t—the very best writing takes up residence in the reader’s memory, and short stories and poems and novels can all accomplish that.

Where should people go to learn more about you and your work?

KH: I have a website, www.katherineheiny.com, but I post more on social media. Especially Facebook.

What’s the best gift you've ever been given?

KH: I don’t know if it was technically a gift, but when I was in graduate school, a lingerie store that was going out of business let me have the girdle display table. I didn’t have a desk and it was the perfect size.

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