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.
Just after lunch at this year’s ShortCon (continuing a series on the conference), I met Daniel and KT Bartlett, husband and wife, both fiction writers and both professors at Lamar University. We talked about writing, of course—with some focus on writing collaboratively, since my wife Tara Laskowski and I have co-written a couple of stories ourselves. Daniel and KT have a story they co-wrote coming out later this year or early next, and I’ll hope to have them co-write an essay about that one ahead, with a focus on process and challenges. In the meantime, though, I’m pleased to host them on their individual stories—Daniel first this week, since the story KT is writing about is still forthcoming (stay tuned).
Daniel’s story, “A Complicated History,” was first published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and was later selected for one of EQMM‘s anthologies: Twisted Voices. In between, it was also named to the honor roll “Other Distinguished Mystery and Suspense” in The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023.
That anthology title Twisted Voices might give its own preview of the story, I guess, and as Daniel explains in the essay below, it was the voice of his narrator that provided the heart of the story, and he even says that he “followed” that voice in the writing of it—”let it guide things.” Reading Daniel’s essay, I was struck by a balance between careful attention to craftsmanship on the one hand with small hints elsewhere that the narrator and the narrator’s voice were almost like something outside of him, a character he was watching, surprised by, learning about himself. (Maybe I’m reading too much between the lines, but it seemed to me a fascinating glimpse at the process of creating and then following a voice.)
In addition to this story’s publication and honors, Daniel’s work has also appeared in Shotgun Honey, Mystery Tribune, Mystery Magazine, Thrill Ride: The Magazine, Crimeucopia, Yellow Mama, and The Yard: Crime Blog—a killer resume and more success ahead, guaranteed. Be sure and follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DanielCBartlett.writer.
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.