Essayist and fiction writer Erica Stern on writing hybrid nonfiction, weaving memoir with research and a ghost-story thread, and finding a publishing home for genre-defying work.

You'll learn:

What “hybrid nonfiction” can look like when memoir, research, and a fictional thread are all working toward one emotional truth.
Ways to make a genre-bending draft feel cohesive, even when it’s built from multiple modes and timelines.
How reverse outlining can help you figure out what each section is really doing, and tighten the book’s throughline in revision.
Why “moving the pieces around” for a long time can be part of the process when the structure has to be discovered, not imposed.
A mindset shift for writers making unconventional work: follow what the project needs first, before you worry about outcome or category.
How to treat “weirdness” as an asset (not a liability) when the form is doing meaning, not just style.
Practical publishing encouragement for genre-defying books: small presses can be a strong fit, and there’s a growing audience for hybrid forms.
What it can look like to publish without chasing “bestseller” logic, and instead focus on reaching the right readers with the best version of the book.
Why writing “for the market” isn’t the only path to publication—and how commitment to the story can be what ultimately helps it find a home.

Resources & Links:

About Erica Stern:

Erica Stern is an essayist and fiction writer whose debut memoir, Frontier, was published by Barrelhouse Books in 2025. Her work has appeared in the Mississippi Review, The Iowa Review, and Denver Quarterly, and she has been a finalist for the Noemi Press Book Awards and the Mississippi Review Prize. She has received fellowships and residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and holds a BA in English from Yale University and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is from New Orleans and lives with her family in Evanston, Illinois.

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