loader from loading.io

#177 The Power of Narrative Tension with Peter Mountford

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Release Date: 02/05/2026

#177 The Power of Narrative Tension with Peter Mountford show art #177 The Power of Narrative Tension with Peter Mountford

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Great writing doesn’t come from inventing drama. It comes from putting characters in situations where something meaningful is at stake. In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle talks with fiction writer and essayist Peter Mountford about his short story collection Detonator and the craft choices that make stories propulsive. Mountford discusses how place shapes his fiction, drawing from lived experience in Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Mexico, Scotland, and the U.S. He explains why many of the stories began as previously published pieces and how revising them later, with a teacher’s eye,...

info_outline #176 The Domino Effect of Plot: Writing Emotionally Complex Characters with Tova Mirvis show art #176 The Domino Effect of Plot: Writing Emotionally Complex Characters with Tova Mirvis

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Family loyalty can push ordinary people toward unimaginable choices. Estelle Erasmus chats with novelist and memoirist Tova Mirvis about her latest book, We Would Never, a gripping murder mystery inspired by a true crime case. While real events sparked the novel, the plot ultimately emerged from the emotional choices her characters make, with each decision setting off the next. Tova reveals that the real work happened on the inside, as she burrowed into the emotional lives of her characters: the anger, loyalty, fear, and love that drive people to extremes. In this episode: How a true crime...

info_outline #175 From Mews(es) to Manuscript: How Inspired by Cats Became an Illustrated Literary Book show art #175 From Mews(es) to Manuscript: How Inspired by Cats Became an Illustrated Literary Book

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Did you know that cats have, in their feline way, shaped some of the greatest writing careers in literary history? Bob Eckstein and Nava Atlas join Estelle Erasmus to talk about their collaboration on Inspired by Cats: Writers and Their Mews(es), a visually rich book exploring the creative bond between writers and their feline companions. The conversation traces how the idea evolved from a shareable literary roundup into a full-scale book published by Norton. Bob and Nava unpack their creative process, from cleanly dividing roles between writing and illustration to navigating permissions,...

info_outline #174 Forgiveness Without Apologies. Writing a Mother-Daughter Memoir show art #174 Forgiveness Without Apologies. Writing a Mother-Daughter Memoir

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Forgiveness doesn’t erase the past. It changes who gets to control your present. In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with filmmaker, writer, and coach Gayle Kirschenbaum and her 102-year-old mother, Mildred Kirschenbaum, about their volatile, funny, and hard-won evolution from conflict to connection. Gayle shares the story behind her debut memoir, Bullied to Besties: A Daughter’s Journey to Forgiveness, including the relentless criticism she grew up with, the physical toll it took, and the moment she realized the only way forward was to stop living as a...

info_outline #173 Writing Flawed Female Characters in Noir Fiction with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett show art #173 Writing Flawed Female Characters in Noir Fiction with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

After years of writing literary fiction, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, author of Pool Fishing, saw her work shift when she turned to noir. Estelle Erasmus chats with Barbara about the genre shift that reignited her fiction and led to publication. Barbara shares how stepping into noir forced her to embrace plot, tension, and consequence, without sacrificing voice or depth. They touch on the big craft questions behind the book, including how place shapes story, how themes emerge across a collection, and how to build characters readers empathize with, even when those characters make bad choices....

info_outline #172 A Year in Motion: Writing, Teaching, and Publishing in Real Time show art #172 A Year in Motion: Writing, Teaching, and Publishing in Real Time

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

In this solo recap episode, Estelle Erasmus reflects on a year shaped by creative momentum, personal loss, and professional growth. As she approaches 200 podcast episodes, expands her teaching at NYU and Writer’s Digest, and leads small-group workshops, she considers what this season revealed and what she is carrying forward into 2026. She also revisits major moments including her TEDx talk, How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond, students publishing in outlets like Modern Love, Brevity, The Boston Globe, The Kenyon Review, Audacity, and Business Insider, and the shifting landscape of...

info_outline #171 Musings on Writing Through Uncertainty with Abigail Thomas show art #171 Musings on Writing Through Uncertainty with Abigail Thomas

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

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...

info_outline #170 Braiding Cultural Context into Your Memoir with Melissa Fraterrigo show art #170 Braiding Cultural Context into Your Memoir with Melissa Fraterrigo

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

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...

info_outline #169 Finding the Line: How a Linear Structure Brought a Memoir Into Focus with Heather Sweeney show art #169 Finding the Line: How a Linear Structure Brought a Memoir Into Focus with Heather Sweeney

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

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...

info_outline #168 The Making of A Modern Love Essay, “Negotiating the End of Us” with Leslie B. Blanchard show art #168 The Making of A Modern Love Essay, “Negotiating the End of Us” with Leslie B. Blanchard

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Leslie B. Blanchard joins Freelance Writing Direct for a conversation about developing her Modern Love essay, finding the line that anchored the piece, writing honestly about anticipatory grief, discovering structure through revision, clarifying metaphor, understanding what makes a submission stand out, and learning what the story truly wanted to say.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....

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Great writing doesn’t come from inventing drama. It comes from putting characters in situations where something meaningful is at stake.

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle talks with fiction writer and essayist Peter Mountford about his short story collection Detonator and the craft choices that make stories propulsive. Mountford discusses how place shapes his fiction, drawing from lived experience in Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Mexico, Scotland, and the U.S. He explains why many of the stories began as previously published pieces and how revising them later, with a teacher’s eye, changed their emotional impact.

This episode is for fiction and nonfiction writers who want their work to feel leaner, sharper, and more emotionally charged

 In this episode: 

  • How Detonator grew out of lived experience and real places [2:18]

  • Guilt, death, sex, and humor as recurring narrative forces [15:24]

  • The craft purpose of a nonfiction prologue in a fiction collection [15:55]

  • How strong hooks give writers freedom to slow down later [19:19]

  • Using secrets, requests, and moral pressure to create tension [21:06]

  • Why “mini-scenes” often work better than full narratives [25:09]

  • Revising previously published work with a teacher’s eye [27:08]

  • What makes Modern Love–style essays pitchable and effective [30:15]

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FvZLi7ehvdA

 

About Peter:

Peter Mountford is the author of the novels A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism (Washington State Book Award), The Dismal Science (NYT editor's choice), and his latest, a collection of short stories, Detonator (now out from Four Way Books). His work has appeared in the New York Times (Modern Love), Paris Review, Southern Review, The Atlantic, The Sun, Ploughshares, and Guernica. He teaches at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe's MFA, and through Mountford Writing.

 

Connect with Peter: 

Website: https://www.petermountford.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mountfordwriting/?hl=en

Detonator: https://www.petermountford.com/detonator

Coaching & Classes: https://www.mountfordwriting.com/

Modern Love Self Guided Class: https://www.mountfordwriting.com/how-to-write-a-new-york-times-modern-love-essay

 

Get More from Estelle

About Estelle

Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. An 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