Episodes

  • #171 Musings on Writing Through Uncertainty with Abigail Thomas

    #171 Musings on Writing Through Uncertainty with Abigail Thomas
    Dec 25 2025
    Memoir often begins where certainty ends, and that is exactly where Abigail Thomas feels most alive on the page. In this thoughtful conversation between friends, Estelle Erasmus and Abigail explore what it means to write through uncertainty, follow curiosity, and let small surprising moments become the heart of a story. This episode is for writers who crave honesty on the page, who wrestle with self-doubt, and who want practical ways to turn ordinary moments and uncomfortable memories into powerful stories. In This Episode: How Abby's writing process starts with curiosity rather than structure [5:42] Why writing for yourself first can quiet doubt and deepen authenticity [10:42] The surprising moments that reshape a memoir while you're writing it [14:08] What aging and memory loss have taught Abby about storytelling [16:24] Estelle's own revelations while drafting her memoir [19:57] A simple exercise to unlock vulnerable, unexpected material [20:58] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dWoVEinON7c About Abigail Thomas Abigail Thomas has four children,12 grandchildren, two great grandchildren, eleven books, and a high school education. She was asked to leave Bryn Mawr freshman year when she told the Dean she was pregnant, and she never went back. She had always wanted to be a writer, but for a long time the closest she came was bopping around her kitchen to Paperback Writer, by the Beatles. When she was forty-eight, after an interesting adventure, when she got home, she left her ego outside, and began to write a story. It didn't work, but instead of crumpling it up saying "who do you think you are?" sat in a different chair, and another, and at the end of the afternoon, she had written a story. It was published in the Columbia Journal of Poetry and Prose. She had learned you have to keep at it. Writing is work of the best kind. She has written two short story collections, one novel and four works of non-fiction, including the memoirs Safekeeping; A Three Dog Life; What Comes Next and How to Like It; and a book about writing, Thinking about Memoir. Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing is her latest memoir, published by Scribners in November 2024. Connect with Abigail Thomas: Substack Abigail Thomas/What Comes Next?: https://abigailthomas.substack.com Estelle's prior Episodes with Abby #116 https://estelleserasmus.com/116-conversations-with-abby-ruminations-on-writing-featuring-abigail-thomas/ #83 https://estelleserasmus.com/83-writing-your-way-into-an-engaging-and-enthralling-story-featuring-abigail-thomas/ Get More from Estelle Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here. 🎓 Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Discover how to beat writer's block, shape a powerful narrative, pitch editors, and walk away with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages. Find out more information and register here. Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. 📰 Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: How to Pitch Slate: Advice, Ideas and Examples on How to Write Articles and Essays from NYU My Editor-on-Call Event • Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. 🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond 📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here 🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    27 mins
  • #170 Braiding Cultural Context into Your Memoir with Melissa Fraterrigo

    #170 Braiding Cultural Context into Your Memoir with Melissa Fraterrigo
    Dec 18 2025
    Estelle Erasmus sits down with award-winning author Melissa Fraterrigo, whose latest book, The Perils of Girlhood, is a memoir in essays that examines identity, fear, body image, motherhood, memory, and the cultural touchstones that shaped so many girls growing up in the '80s and '90s. Together, Estelle and Melissa explore the moments that define girlhood, from fear and body image to parenting, consent, pop culture, and the stories we carry into adulthood, and how writing about them can open conversations we rarely have out loud. In this episode: The real fears that follow girls into adulthood, from unsafe encounters to inherited anger How pop culture influences like Judy Blume, Madonna, and true crime stories shaped a generation The challenge of talking to teenage daughters about consent, body image, and safety Using braided essay structures to layer personal experience with cultural reality Turning difficult memories into narrative without judgment or sensationalism Why reading your work aloud can reveal emotional truth Teaching writing in a way that encourages students to find and trust their voice Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/unHd_sT5lZ8 About Melissa Fraterrigo Melissa Fraterrigo's memoir, The Perils of Girlhood was published by the University of Nebraska Press in Fall 2025. She is also the author of the novel Glory Days (University of Nebraska Press), which was named one of "The Best Fiction Books of 2017" by the Chicago Review of Books as well as the short story collection The Longest Pregnancy (Livingston Press). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies from storySouth and Shenandoah to Notre Dame Review, Sou'wester and The Millions. She teaches creative writing at Purdue University, in the Butler University MFA in Creative Writing program, and is also the founder and executive director of the Lafayette Writers' Studio in Lafayette, Indiana, where she offers classes on the art and craft of writing. She lives with her husband and two daughters in West Lafayette, Indiana and can be found at melissafraterrigo.com. Connect with Melissa: Website: https://www.melissafraterrigo.com/ The Perils of Girlhood: https://www.melissafraterrigo.com/the-perils-of-girlhood Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissafraterrigo/ Get More from Estelle Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here. 🎓 Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Discover how to beat writer's block, shape a powerful narrative, pitch editors, and walk away with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages. Find out more information and register here. Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. 📰 Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: How to Pitch Slate: Advice, Ideas and Examples on How to Write Articles and Essays from NYU My Editor-on-Call Event • Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. 🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond 📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here 🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    35 mins
  • #169 Finding the Line: How a Linear Structure Brought a Memoir Into Focus with Heather Sweeney

    #169 Finding the Line: How a Linear Structure Brought a Memoir Into Focus with Heather Sweeney
    Dec 11 2025
    Some lives resist easy summary, and Heather Sweeney's was one of them. After two decades inside a military marriage, marked by relocations, solo parenting, and a gradual loss of personal direction, she knew she had a story, but not yet a shape. Estelle Erasmus talks with Heather about how she translated that long, complicated stretch of living into her memoir, Camouflage: How I Emerged from the Shadows of a Military Marriage. They discuss the early drafting that felt scattered, the challenge of seeing her own experience clearly, and why a straightforward linear structure ultimately gave the narrative its definition. Heather shares how moving chronologically helped her understand what moments carried weight, what could be left out, and how structure can reveal meaning that isn't visible in real time. In this episode: How Heather determined that a linear structure best served her story [1:33] How she found the true "start" of her memoir [3:00] How she used a three part structure built around beginnings and endings [5:18] How reader responses to her early essay revealed a gap in stories about military divorce [7:02] Why the book needed forward motion instead of fragmentation [11:31] How she balanced writing about real people with protecting privacy [12:00] Turning years of journals into a clean storyline [13:21] How she considered weaving in military history or prescriptive elements, and why she chose to keep the memoir focused and personal [15:03] What she's excited about next in her writing life [28:44] Why readers from all backgrounds connect with her story [30:06] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GlBYpm9Ac2Y About Heather Sweeney: Heather Sweeney is the author of the memoir Camouflage: How I Emerged from the Shadows of a Military Marriage. She writes about divorce, life as a military spouse, parenting, and women's health, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, HuffPost, Business Insider, TODAY.com, Newsweek, Good Housekeeping, Healthline, Reader's Digest and Military.com, among many others. She lives in Virginia with her boyfriend and two college-aged kids. Connect with Heather: Order Camouflage on Estelle's Bookshop https://bookshop.org/a/98827/9798895653081 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writersweeney Substack: https://heathersweeney.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-sweeney-5a15115b/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/WriterSweeney Get More from Estelle 🎓 Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Learn more• Private Small-Group Memoir Class — JANUARY AND MARCH SOLD OUT. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. 📰 Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: How to Pitch Slate: Advice, Ideas and Examples on How to Write Articles and Essays from NYU My Editor-on-Call Event • Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. 🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond 📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here 🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    33 mins
  • #168 The Making of A Modern Love Essay, "Negotiating the End of Us" with Leslie B. Blanchard

    #168 The Making of A Modern Love Essay, "Negotiating the End of Us" with Leslie B. Blanchard
    Dec 4 2025
    Modern Love essays aren't accidents, they're built from a bold hook, clear structure, and often, the courage to write through grief. In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with her student, writer Leslie B. Blanchard, about the journey of her New York Times Modern Love essay, "Negotiating the End of Us," from a quick in-class prompt to publication. Leslie shares how the opening line "He always said he would die young" became the spine of the piece, and how focusing on the negotiation around death made her grief story stand out in an inbox flooded with loss. As Estelle often teaches her students, the right entry point can transform a personal story into one an editor cannot ignore, and Leslie's piece is a powerful example of that. This episode is for writers who want to turn deeply personal material into publishable essays—and need to see exactly how community, revision, and coaching make that possible. Takeaways: How a 10-minute classroom exercise grew into a Modern Love essay [2:50] Why a specific, original hook is essential when writing about grief [6:21] How Leslie found the structure and emotional center of her piece [10:29] Craft choices that tightened the piece: cutting digressions, choosing one central metaphor, and having "bargaining" in the final line. [20:07] How workshops, careful line edits, community, and supportive coaching can turn a private story into a publishable essay and help a writer trust their voice. [27:47] About Leslie B. Blanchard Leslie tackles the complexities of marriage and child-rearing with a transparency that will leave you simultaneously laughing as you brush away tears. She began writing about marriage to her high school sweetheart and life raising 5 children. She's since added the grief of widowhood, joy of grandchildren and comfort of remarriage to her cache of insights. She's been interviewed on NPR, spoken at "Listen To Your Mother" and been published in The New York Times' Modern Love, Next Avenue, Huffington Post, BonBon Break, Today Parenting, Your Teen Magazine and Scary Mommy. She also a collaborated on, "Lose The Cape - It's a Teen Thing!" Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/bxezcEqnWK4 Connect with Leslie Her Modern Love essay: Negotiating the End of Us: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/style/modern-love-negotiating-the-end-of-us.html Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/leslieblanchard0408 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agingersnapped Twitter: https://twitter.com/Yayamom43Leslie Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/AGingersnapped Get More from Estelle 🎓 Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Learn more• Private Small-Group Memoir Class — JANUARY AND MARCH SOLD OUT. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. 📰 Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: How to Pitch Slate: Advice, Ideas and Examples on How to Write Articles and Essays from NYU My Editor-on-Call Event • Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. 🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond 📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here 🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    41 mins
  • #167 Fairyland: A Transcendent Father–Daughter Story Finds New Life in Film with Alysia Abbott

    #167 Fairyland: A Transcendent Father–Daughter Story Finds New Life in Film with Alysia Abbott
    Nov 27 2025
    Queer history is family history, and Alysia Abbott's Fairyland proves how one father-daughter story can illuminate an entire era. In this conversation, Estelle Erasmus talks with Alysia about her acclaimed memoir of growing up with her single gay father in 1970s and 80s San Francisco, and how that memoir found new life as a feature film more than a decade later. In this discussion, they explore the love, art, grief, and legacy at the heart of the story. Alysia shares how her father built a queer literary community long before the internet, and how his journals, letters, poems, and comics helped her reconstruct their world on the page. Together, Estelle and Alysia explore the craft, history, and emotional truth that shaped both the memoir and its cinematic adaptation. In this episode: Writing memoir from a daughter's perspective inside a queer community shaped by AIDS and activism [4:12] Showing how Fairyland bridges counterculture and mainstream culture, bringing a once marginalized father-daughter story into national conversation [6:03] Exploring how memoir can serve a higher purpose by honoring a life, a community, and a legacy that might otherwise be lost [23:53] Capturing the cultural touchstones, from poetry readings to Pride to the queer arts scene, that defined a transformative era [25:33] Using journals, letters, interviews, and research to rebuild a vivid sense of time, place, and character [28:57] Navigating the leap from book to film while remaining a trusted collaborator rather than an obstacle [33:44] Crafting an ending that situates one family's story inside a larger shared queer history [41:47] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sIyYiDxaGP8 About Alysia Alysia Abbott is the author of Fairyland, A Memoir of My Father, which was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a winner of the ALA Stonewall Award and the Madame Figaro Prix Heroine. The feature film based on her memoir, directed by Andrew Durham and produced by Sofia Coppola, premiered at the Sundance Festival in 2022, played in theaters across the country last month, and is now streaming on major platforms. Her essays and reviews have been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, WBUR's Cognoscenti, Vogue and elsewhere. She has been awarded grants and fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Ragdale and the Virginia Center for the Arts. She currently teaches literature and memoir at Emerson College and MIT. Connect with Alysia: http://www.alysiaabbott.com/ Stream Fairyland here: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/fairyland Get More from Estelle 🎓 Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Learn more• Private Small-Group Memoir Class — JANUARY AND MARCH SOLD OUT. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. 📰 Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: How to Pitch Slate: Advice, Ideas and Examples on How to Write Articles and Essays from NYU My Editor-on-Call Event • Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. 🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond 📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here 🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    52 mins
  • #166 How to Write for Electric Literature with Editor-in-Chief Denne Michele Norris (Part 2)

    #166 How to Write for Electric Literature with Editor-in-Chief Denne Michele Norris (Part 2)
    Nov 20 2025
    Electric Literature is where emerging writers become working authors—and in this conversation, I'm taking you behind the scenes with Editor-in-Chief Denne Michele Norris (who I spoke with last week about her debut novel) to unpack exactly what they publish, how they edit, the pitches that stand out, the craft mistakes that make editors stop reading, and the kinds of stories they want to run next. Electric Lit's mission is to make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Denne explains how that plays out across their digital journal, including The Commuter, Recommended Reading, and Personal Narrative. She breaks down word counts, pay rates, rights, and why accessibility and unpretentious prose matter just as much as beautiful sentences. Using a real (anonymized) submission, she illustrates the biggest craft problem she sees in personal essays: writers circling their subject instead of simply saying what they need to say. Denne also shares what kinds of cultural criticism and book lists perform best with Electric Literature's 3-million-strong readership, along with the pop-culture, TV/film, and literary angles that most excite her right now—from prestige TV to Taylor Swift. She also discusses how the magazine sustains itself as a nonprofit. The episode closes with a look at her anthology Both And and a moving reflection on her father's legacy as a reader. In this episode: What Electric Lit publishes across The Commuter, Recommended Reading, Personal Narrative, and cultural criticism [2:07] How rights, word counts, and pay work for contributors at a digital literary journal [4:57] The craft mistake that sinks many personal essays and how to avoid opaque writing [6:13] What kinds of book lists, pop culture essays, and TV/film criticism Electric Lit's readers devour [10:27] How Electric Lit operates as a nonprofit and how Denne is expanding her own work with an anthology and a new novel [19:15] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cgPJi3r0ERY About Denne Denne Michele Norris is the editor in chief of Electric Literature, winner of the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. She co-hosts the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Episodes Mentioned Episode #165 Giving Every Character Main Character Energy in Your Novel with Denne Michele Norris https://estelleserasmus.com/165-giving-every-character-main-character-energy-in-your-novel-with-denne-michele-norris/ Articles/Essays Mentioned Carmen Maria Machado essays: https://electricliterature.com/el-author/carmen-maria-machado/ I Was My Mother's Daughter, and Then I Was Stuck with My Dad (Shrinking TV show reference) https://electricliterature.com/shrinking-apple-tv-father-daughter-relationship-grief/ Peter Orner Connect with Denne: Electric Lit: to Submit https://electricliterature.com/about/submit/ Website: https://www.dennemichele.com When The Harvest Comes: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/735735/when-the-harvest-comes-by-denne-michele-norris/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedennemichele/ Get More from Estelle 🎓 Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Learn more• Private Small-Group Memoir Class — JANUARY AND MARCH SOLD OUT. Next 6-week session begins SEPTEMBER 2026. Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details. 📰 Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: How to Pitch Slate: Advice, Ideas and Examples on How to Write Articles and Essays from NYU My Editor-on-Call Event • Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. 🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond 📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here 🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    24 mins
  • #165 Giving Every Character Main Character Energy in Your Novel with Denne Michele Norris Part 1

    #165 Giving Every Character Main Character Energy in Your Novel with Denne Michele Norris Part 1
    Nov 12 2025

    I loved diving into this conversation with Denne Michele Norris, author, and Editor in Chief of Electric Literature. Her insight into writing every character with depth, presence, and main character energy is both generous and deeply human, and this is just Part 1 of our two part discussion.

    In this illuminating episode, Denne shares the craft behind her stunning debut, When the Harvest Comes, a sweeping queer love story that explores grief, faith, identity, and the transformative power of embracing difference.

    Stay tuned. Next week, Denne returns to cover what catches her attention as an editor, how writers can stand out, and what it really takes to build a sustainable literary career.

    In this episode:

    • Raising the stakes; Why Denne chose to open the story with a wedding to root readers in love before loss [2:32]

    • Bringing every character to life: How to ensure no character fades into the background [3:21]

    • Sex as storytelling: writing intimate scenes that move the plot and reveal character [11:22]

    • Dialogue & subtext: what's said, unsaid, and how readers can live between those lines [14:00]

    • Music as metaphor: a violist's instrument as inner mirror [24:17]

    • Finding structure: shaping 14 years of revision into a three-part arc [28:08]

    • Title turnaround: The rediscovered sermon that inspired When the Harvest Comes [31:13]

    • Reader takeaway: crafting stories that offer escape, empathy, and affirmation [33:11]

    Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KeDTyBArpFI

    About Denne

    Denne Michele Norris is the editor in chief of Electric Literature, winner of the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. She co-hosts the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.

    Connect with Denne:

    Website: https://www.dennemichele.com

    When The Harvest Comes: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/735735/when-the-harvest-comes-by-denne-michele-norris/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedennemichele/

    Get More from Estelle

    • 🎓 Learn with Estelle:
      • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Learn more
      • Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January sold out in 4 days. Next 6-week session begins March 2026. Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details.

    • 📰 Read & Subscribe
      • Substack:— new post: Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect"
      • Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide.

    • 🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

    • 📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here

    • 🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards)

    About Estelle
    Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines.

    Follow Estelle:

    • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus

    • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus

    • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus

    • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    37 mins
  • #164 Writing the Restorative Memoir: Finding Meaning in the Messy Middle of Recovery with Mallary Tenore Tarpley

    #164 Writing the Restorative Memoir: Finding Meaning in the Messy Middle of Recovery with Mallary Tenore Tarpley
    Nov 6 2025

    What if the truest recovery story isn't about redemption—but restoration? What if healing means learning to live inside the messy middle?

    Estelle Erasmus talks with journalist and professor Mallary Tenore Tarpley, author of SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery. Mallary shares how she wrote from the in-between—the liminal space between illness and full recovery—crafting a narrative that honors imperfection and progress.

    Content note: This episode discusses eating disorders, treatment, and grief.

    Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/89CdVDqkx0Q

    In this episode:

    • Restorative vs. redemptive narratives: why "progress, not finish lines" can create a more truthful frame and recovery arc.

    • Structure and symbolism: how Mallary used split chapters, recurring motifs, and dual timelines to mirror healing's nonlinear path.

    • Researching and weaving 175 interviews and scientific studies into scene-driven narrative.

    • Ethical revisitation: returning to treatment centers and old journals without re-engaging harmful behaviors.

    • Craft tools for memory: timelines, sensory anchors, and interviews with loved ones and clinicians as tools for depth and accuracy.

    Mallary Tenore Tarpley is a journalism and writing professor at the University of Texas at Austin's Moody College of Communication and McCombs School of Business. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Time, and Teen Vogue, among other publications. She is the recipient of a prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant, which helped support her research and writing. Mallary graduated from Providence College and has a Master of Fine Arts in nonfiction writing from Goucher College. She lives outside of Austin, Texas, with her husband and two children. Slip is her first book.

    Connect with Mallary

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mallarytenoretarpley/

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallary-tenore-tarpley-6719484/

    Weekly Substack newsletter: mallary.substack.com

    Get More from Estelle:

    NYU (Zoom), 6-week course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/WRIT1-CE9800-writing-about-your-life-through-memoir-essays-and-articles.html

    Private small-group memoir class: January sold out in 4 days. The next 6-week session starts March 2026 and enrollment is open now. Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details.

    New Substack post: Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/why-every-memoir-needs-the-echo-effect

    📬 Newsletter + FREE Pitching Guide Find out more about this episode and get Estelle's free pitching guide when you sign up for her newsletter: https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

    About Estelle:

    Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers), and host of Freelance Writing Direct—2025 Podcast of the Year (Education), American Writing Awards. A Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP: The Magazine. She's served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines.

    Explore More:

    • 📘 Writing That Gets Noticed – Buy the book | Audiobook

    • 📰 Subscribe on Substack: https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Latest posts: "Why Every Memoir Needs the "Echo Effect". When Writers Are the Ones Blocking the Page: 6 Ways to Move Forward (and An Offer); "How to Get Published in Cosmopolitan or Seventeen"

    • 🎧 More episodes: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast

    • Read Estelle's latest article How to Use the Internet to Become Your Own Private Investigator (Next Avenue/PBS)

    Follow Estelle:

    • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus

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    38 mins