For Rebecca Cuthbert, the writing process is “a little scattered,” and unconventional.

It’s on purpose, but she does follow the tiers of the writing process – brainstorming (pre-writing), rough draft, revision, editing, and publishing.

“I will scribble around about an idea for a little bit, and do some prewriting,” Cuthbert said.

During her pre-writing, she will make charts and maps because they help her think, help her draw out her ideas, and help her not to contradict herself.

At the Nightscape Horror Festival, Rebecca Cuthbert will discuss her book Creep This Way: How to Become a Horror Writer With 24 Tips to Get You Ghouling as well as featuring a writing prompt, and will hold a question-and-answer session. Submitted photo

“And then I do drafting. I re-draft. I revise, and then I get help from somebody,”

The help she receives is usually from her “writing” friends, and if she needs more guidance to hone her craft, she attends writing workshops.

Cuthbert loves writing dark fiction, and poetry, and will hold a horror writing workshop at the Nightscape Horror Festival Saturday at the Northwest Arena, 319 W. Third St. During her workshop she will discuss her book Creep This Way: How to Become a Horror Writer With 24 Tips to Get You Ghouling. Cuthbert also will feature a writing prompt, and will hold a question-and-answer session.

“I’m always going to be a fiction writer first, really, but I think that writing poetry trains me to be a better fiction writer, because poetry is a forced concision. You, you cannot be long winded, you cannot take forever to get to your point, and you can’t be vague and murky,” Cuthbert said about poetry.

Cuthbert’s third book, Self-Made Monsters, from Alien Buddha Press, was published on Oct. 4. The book is a hybrid collection of feminist horror, and contains stories and poems featuring women as villains and victims, as bystanders and enablers, exploring the quiet moments of magic and horror in women’s lives.

Rebecca Cuthbert will hold a horror writing workshop at the Nightscape Horror Festival Saturday at the Northwest Arena, 319 W. Third St.

Cuthbert said writers need to be precise in a novel too, even though writers do have, typically more room, but writing a novel doesn’t mean an author should be vague.

“I think that writing poetry, and also writing microfiction really help you to be efficient with language, so that you have that same efficiency when you’re telling longer stories,” Cuthbert added.

Ever since she was young, she always was drawn to writing as the craft just fit nicely into her life.

“I think then, I kind of took to writing naturally, and I kind of always knew that I would end up doing something with it,” the author said.

Cuthbert graduated from the University of West Georgia with a B.A. in English, and earned an M.F.A from West Virginia University.

She is an adjunct lecturer in the English Department at The State University of New York at Fredonia. She likes teaching, and wants to make sure young writers are pointed in the right direction, so they can excel at their crafts, and be proud of their words.

On Nov. 12, “Down in the Dark Deep Where the Puddlers Dwell,” her first children’s book will be published. The children’s book focuses on a monster that Cuthbert invented, and is told through second person narration, allowing the reader to go on a scary adventure as if the reader were the main character of the book.

She added that writers should not be afraid to put themselves “out there” to meet people, network, and join a writers’ community or group, so writers can hone their skills.

“You do need to put yourself out there and join that community, and then you have to try, and most importantly, I think, you have to be ready to accept rejection as part of the process, and not as any kind of personal insult or condemnation,” Cuthbert said.

Cuthbert noted that she had submitted a novella to 20 different publishers. It was accepted for publication, then the publisher folded.

So she had to start from square one.

And she was fine with it.

For more information, visit rebeccacuthbert.com, and for information about the festival, visit nightscapestudios.com.