Ann Beattie on writing poetry and stories

In the last paragraph of her story "Indian Uprising," Ann Beattie's character Maude, a would-be poet and maybe short-story writer, muses:

"Then winter ended and spring came, and I thougth, even if I don't believe there's a poem in anything anymore, maybe I'll writer a story. A lot of people do that when they can't seem to figure out who or what they love. It might be an oversimplification, but they seem to write poetry when they do know"(from the collection, The Accomplished Guest, hardback, 18).

Joseph O'Neill on when a story is finished

Joseph O'Neill in a New Yorker interview about his story "The Sinking of the Houston":

"The interpretation of motive really is the reader’s prerogative. In any case, I’m not really sure why the father does he what he does. A basic sense of mystification is precisely what can push one into writing about something. You keep the plot going until you reach a point where you no longer know what’s happening. Then you’re done."