Catherine Lacey, "Cut"

It’s December 7. Catherine Lacey, author of Pew, presses every button in the elevator on her way out.

How would you describe your story?

CATHERINE LACEY: All stories are feelings. This one may have something to do with the feeling of being cleft down the middle, metaphorically or literally.

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

CL: I wrote it one winter living in a single room that had a grand view of a bleak parking lot.

What kind of research went into this story?

CL: None.

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

CL: The short story gives you the illusion that you can get to the bottom of it, that you can know it inside out. The novel gives the impression that you can't know it completely, that it is too large. I suspect that the opposite might be true, that good stories can't be completely solved and even the best novels, more or less, can.

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

CL: In the olden days of the internet people used to care about their websites. A website was once a special place. Now people tweet or photograph their animals and they've forgotten about their websites. I am still a champion of the good old fashioned website. I have made mine as strange as possible and I make it stranger all the time.

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

CL: A knife.

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