The interview posted below was conducted by Jeremy Miller, a writer, blogger, and contributor to A Writer’s Shindig. Authors from the collaboration were all interviewed about their work as part of the initial project. This interview is about the short story Loss. An author interview will be posted after the conclusion of each story in the collection.

You can read Emily’s works at https://emilyamsel.wordpress.com/.

You can read Jeremy’s works at https://rocketcat.productions/.

You can read more about our collaboration at A Writer’s Shindig.

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Jeremy: Your title “Loss” is powerfully simple. Was there a loss that was most present for you while writing?

Emily: Ha, nothing that complex. I’m actually just bad at titles and tend to go with the simplest thing. In this case, it’s about loss, of a child, of a life that was supposed to be.

Jeremy: To me the main themes of this piece are invisible labor and the burden of care, is that what you expect the reader to take away?

Emily: I don’t want there to be a particular thing people take away. People will all take away something different from each story, and I think that’s what’s valuable about them.

Jeremy: To me the repeated undercurrent is Elle thinking that if it ends badly, it will be her fault no matter what, I think that’s something we can all identify with, is that a feeling that’s been a big presence in your life?

Emily: This is a good question. I do tend to blame myself when anything goes wrong, and that does seem to have appeared here. I also think when you care about anyone and something terrible happens, there’s going to be some self-blame there, especially when it’s someone vulnerable, someone you’re responsible for.

Jeremy: To me this story is powered less by external action than by Elle’s internal catastrophizing, the tension escalates through thought loops, self-interrogation, and moral replay, mirroring how guilt actually functions in real time rather than how thrillers usually depict missing-child narratives – was there a particular frame of mind you had in making the reader feel this way?

Emily: Yes, it very much was. It’s not about the question of what happened to the child as much as it is about the people living through the nightmare. It’s about the loss, the grief of that, and how that plays out in real life.

Jeremy: One of the most striking themes to me is how normal everything is right up until it isn’t, can you talk about that choice?

Emily: That’s how it happens in real life. Everything is normal, and then suddenly, unpredictably, it isn’t. Elle is going through another day, knowing everything that’s supposed to happen in her very boring life. Then it changes in a way she never expected. A lot of the horror is from that.

Jeremy: Elle is constantly monitoring herself, her body language, her tone, even her breathing. Was that hyper-self-awareness something you consciously put in from the beginning or did it emerge naturally as you wrote?

Emily: It came out as I wrote, as I tried to imagine what Elle would be thinking and feeling. She feels scrutinized and judged harshly, and also like she deserves it. It manifests in her not wanting to be seen as guilty and trying to monitor everything she does.

Jeremy: Kara is antagonistic but she’s also clearly in unbearable pain. How did you approach writing her without turning her into a villain?

Emily: I made sure that not every interaction with her is negative and that she has more to her than just being an angry mom. She’s blinded by anger at first, but once she can see more clearly, she’s more reasonable. She’s struggling and snappish, but also hurt and showing it.

Jeremy: Everyday objects take on enormous emotional weight. Do you deliberately assign symbolic value to mundane details, or does that meaning accumulate through repetition?

Emily: I tend to write things more like the latter than the former. In real life, things have whatever value you assign to them, and that’s usually from them appearing more than once.

Jeremy: The story raises questions about blame, who is responsible, who is forgiven, and who is presumed guilty. Were you interested in culpability, or the performance of blame in moments of crisis?

Emily: Somewhat. I think I was more leaning towards sometimes you can make a mistake or there’s an accident through carelessness, but it’s not really anyone’s fault. When what happened is very serious, guilt may be assigned, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.

Jeremy: This story sits adjacent to crime and missing child stories but resists their conventions. Were you consciously pushing back against those genres, or writing toward a truth?

Emily: Both, I would say. I didn’t want it to be as much about the missing child as the feelings of the people around him, which in the end, I feel is the truth I was getting at. Horrible things happen, and you have to find some way to deal with them.

Jeremy: What’s the first thing you remember writing?

Emily: Ever? An attempt at a book when I was about twelve. I’d been sharing my idea with a friend. I think I managed a page. I didn’t quite know what I was doing.

Jeremy: How did you land on WordPress and where if anywhere did you post your writing before?

Emily: I’ve been on other platforms, particularly Blogger, which is where I had my first blog. I’ve posted some writing there before, but nothing I was serious about. I’ve also tried a few other forums, though nothing very substantial.

Jeremy: What do you feel you learned from Ted’s Writer’s Shindig?

Emily: Mostly that I write too long and really need to get to the point in a short story. Also how differently people can read the same story.

Jeremy: What are you excited to work on next?

Emily: I’m currently working on a new novel and am about halfway done with the first draft. It’s an idea I’ve had for a while and the third book in a series I’ve been working on, so I’m really enjoying it.

Jeremy: What question do you wish I asked but didn’t?

Emily: Do you agree with your character’s ultimate choice? The answer to that would be: No, it’s something I would never be able to do. It just seemed like what Elle would do after all that she’d been through.