We recently published Carly Berwick’s delightful “In this story someone.”

Here, we ask her two questions about her story:

1) I love how you invite the reader into this story by making them a part of it — it’s so cool and so effective. What made you decide to address the reader directly in this piece?

This question exposes so well the idea behind the piece, which is mostly about the interaction between two people: a reader and a writer, a good guy and a bad guy. One is open and curious, and by extension empathic and probably quite generous. The other can be rude, even brutal, and stingy with emotions.

2) The perfect little details of “whiskey as a soporific” and “The Great British Baking Show” really bring such a flavor of realness to this piece. What was it about the specific details you chose that made them feel like a good fit for the narrator here?

The collective narrator (we/us) isn’t doing so great. These are the sort of late-night activities of someone whose self-care strategies are a little off or willfully self-indulgent. I’m definitely drawing on life here.