In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.
We’re continuing our series of essays by contributors to Friend of the Devil: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Grateful Dead with a very special guest celebrating her first-ever short story publication—though not the first short story she’s ever brought to publication. If that seems a contradiction of some kind, consider that the writer we’re talking about is Linda Landrigan, long-time editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Needless to say, Linda knows a thing or two (or three or four or more!) about short mystery fiction these days, but as she explains in her essay below, knowing some of the pitfalls for writers in this form and genre is different from avoiding those pitfalls yourself. But important to stress: Sounds like she’s worked through any issues nicely—and congratulations to her on the new story!
Last week, we hosted Avram Lavinsky with an essay on his own story for the collection, “Lady with a Fan,” and Friend of the Devil, edited by Josh Pachter, features lots of other great writers, including Bruce Robert Coffin, James D.F. Hannah, Vinnie Hansen, James L’Etoile, G.M. Malliet, Twist Phelan, Faye Snowden, Joseph S. Walker, and many more.
Do check out the full anthology, available from Down & Out Books—or ask for it at your local bookseller too, of course!
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.
Landrigan-Two-Pages
