The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Lessons learned and the art of the grade school diorama. By Elizabeth Cutright © 2012 The Daily Creative Writer Did you ever make a diorama as part of a school project?  How lovely to distill an entire event or story into something the size of a shoebox.  You’d carefully paint that agnostic background – trees, […]

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Why Try?

NaNoWrMo is bigger than 50,000 words. By Elizabeth Cutright © 2012 The Daily Creative Writer Why did I decide to attempt the NaNoWrMo project?  That’s a good question.  While I’ve always harbored fantasies of being a published novelist, the truth is that it’s been a while since a long-form narrative has sounded appealing.  My life […]

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That One Time…

Dodging a scary homeless, homicidal drifter. (I posted this on Jezebel as part of their “Let’s Scare the Crap Out Of Everyone” discussion thread and thought I’d share it here…) Okay – this happened to me in broad daylight and is less spooky and more “real world terrifying.” No ghosts or goblins, just one really […]

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Using Fear as Fodder

  Silver bullets, stakes through the heart, and that twist at the end. By Elizabeth Cutright © 2012 The Daily Creative Writer  “If a fear cannot be articulated, it can’t be conquered.” ― Stephen King I know I’m not alone when I declare Halloween to be my favorite holiday.  I’m constantly hearing reports that Americans spend […]

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Interview With a Vampire-Maker

Anne Rice’s advise to young writers. By Elizabeth Cutright “You have to ignore critics. Critics are a dime a dozen. Writers are unique.” Anne Rice I was not yet 21 when Anne Rice made a book-signing appearance at our local bookstore the Earthling (moment of silence, please, in memory of great urban bookstore lost to […]

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Cut to the Quick…

A Story with 140 Characters By Elizabeth Cutright © 2012 The Daily Creative Writer Earlier this month, The Guardian asked a few well-known writers to draft a narrative in Twitter time – 140 characters for less.  The results ranged from interesting to banal (and to, perhaps, cribbed – commentators were quick to point out that Jeffrey […]

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