Listen:
I adored chatting with Hyeseung Song, author of Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl, about the art of shaping nearly 40 years of life into a memoir. We talked about finding the right structure, writing honestly about family, identity, and mental health, and how her life as a painter informs the way she sees and writes the self.
In This Episode:
- Structuring a memoir across decades
- Using chronology to create momentum
- Writing about family and identity
- Self-portraiture and writing the self
- The ethics of writing about loved ones
Watch on YouTube
About Hyeseung Song
Hyeseung Song is a first-generation Korean American painter, writer, and teacher and the author of Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl, a memoir about an Asian American woman’s struggle with self-worth and mental illness. Docile was called “a savagely beautiful memoir” by David Henry Hwang and “a revelation” by Chloé Cooper Jones. The audiobook was named a Best of Apple title, and a Korean-language edition was released in 2025.
Raised in Texas, Song studied philosophy, languages, and creative writing at Princeton University. She pursued postgraduate studies in law and philosophy at Harvard before leaving to study painting in New York. Her paintings are held in private collections internationally. She was a nonfiction fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and is currently at work on a meta-memoir exploring the ethics of writing about other people, revision, and the failures of translation that emerged after her father’s unexpected death following the publication of Docile.
Links
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Don’t miss episode #204 Finding Urgency in Your Memoir and Selling It Without An Agent with Michelle Tamara Cutler
And congratulations to Holly Rutchik who won the giveaway for Kate Washington’s memoir Midstream. This is Kate’s episode. #203 Weaving Memoir Plus Through 50 Swims with Kate Washington
Get More From Estelle Erasmus
- Loved speaking with Book Notions about Writing That Gets Noticed, finding your voice, pitching editors, getting published and more. Read the interview here.
- My latest Substack post is the Substack Live I did with Aliza Licht on DKNY PR GIRL, the magazine world we both knew, branding and reinvention, and her Substack serial novel Off the Record, which brings that era vividly back to life.
- My next Editor-on-Call event with NYU is on Wednesday, September 16, with Electric Literature Executive Editor and Publisher Denne Michele Norris. Sign up here: https://events.nyu.edu/event/400238-light-up-your-literary-life-with-electric-literatures
Private Small-Group Memoir/Essay Class
My next six-week session beginning in September 2026 is sold out. Please email me to be added to the waiting list for the next session. Contact freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details.
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.”
Listen/Watch
Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast
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, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.
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.
Follow Estelle
Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus
TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus
Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus
Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.
