#166 How to Write for Electric Literature with Editor-in-Chief Denne Michele Norris (Part 2)

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 [e-mail] for details.