Melissa Petro on How to Write a Hybrid Memoir

The author of "Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification" will answer your questions about how to write about your most vulnerable experiences—and how to get your work published.

Melissa Petro has been part of the Narratively community for over a decade now. Back in 2013, she published a vivid first-person piece with us about her years working as a nonprofit intern and stripping on the side. She’s since built a very impressive career as a writer for many top outlets, a distinctive voice known for tackling difficult issues head-on—including her remarkable experience after being forced from her job and publicly shamed by politicians and media for her sex work past.

More recently, she authored a hybrid memoir, Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification, named an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Nonfiction Book of the Month. She’s also mentored hundreds of writers and helped them share and publish their own vulnerable stories in national publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, Salon, Washington Post and elsewhere.

And next month Melissa is teaching Writing the Unspoken: Crafting Stories from Shame and Silence, a three-part workshop that will guide students on how to reclaim your stories from shame.

On Tuesday, September 16 at 12pm ET, Melissa will join us for an Open Book live video chat. We’ll talk about how she managed to flip traumatic life experiences on their head and spin them into literary gold; how she landed a book deal with a leading publisher; and how she combined her own experiences with extensive research to write a hybrid memoir. As always, come with any questions you have for Melissa!

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who joined this wonderful conversation! We’ll share the full recording later this week.

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