Listen:
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, I was delighted to speak with fiction writer and essayist Peter Mountford about his short story collection Detonator and the craft choices that make stories propulsive. Peter 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
- Using secrets, requests, and moral pressure to create tension
- How strong hooks give writers freedom to slow down later
- Revising previously published work with a teacher’s eye
- The craft purpose of a nonfiction prologue in a fiction collection
- Guilt, death, sex, and humor as recurring narrative forces
- Why “mini-scenes” often work better than full narratives
- What makes Modern Love–style essays pitchable and effective
Watch on YouTube
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
Get More From Estelle
📰 Read & Subscribe
New Post on Substack
On Craft, Revision, and the Paragraph You Almost Cut
What writers risk losing when they revise too quickly, with details about an upcoming AMA for paid subscribers.
Read it here
Learn with Estelle
Upcoming Writer’s Digest Webinar
Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays
February 26
1:00–2:30 pm ET
Learn how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your memoir and personal essays in this brand-new, interactive craft webinar.
Learn more and register here
Save The Date
My next free Editor on Call web event (in collaboration with NYU, where I teach) will be on April 22, 2026 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm ETD. Stay tuned for my announcement of the editor I’ll be in conversation with, and a link to register.
NYU Zoom Course
Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays
Beat writer’s block, shape a powerful narrative, learn how to pitch editors, and leave with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages.
Find out more and register here
Private Small-Group Memoir Class
March session is sold out.
Next six-week session begins May 2026.
Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com to join the waiting list.
Watch, Read & Listen
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 available here
Five Star Review Announcement
I’m honored to receive a five-star review from Reader Views for Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published — a book I poured so much into, and one that continues to find its way into the hands of writers at every stage.
Since its release in 2023, the book has been named a Best Book for Writers by Poets & Writers and even adopted as syllabus material by writing instructors, which still thrills me every time I hear it.
In the Reader Views review, the reviewer highlights how the book opens the doors to freelance writing with practical, experience-based guidance on everything from generating ideas to working with editors and handling rejection — and calls it invaluable for anyone with the gumption to freelance and a backspace key.
Read the full review here
Podcast
Freelance Writing Direct
2025 Podcast of the Year, American Writing Awards
About Estelle
Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct and an adjunct professor at NYU.
Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including 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
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Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus
Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
