Terena Elizabeth Bell

Prompt to Page

On this episode of the Prompt to Page writing podcast, we talk to Terena Elizabeth Bell, author of Tell Me What You See. Terena discusses why the events of the last few years compelled her to write experimental short fiction, and she offers encouragement to listeners who want to write about current events.

“You have to write with your voice, what you saw," she says, "and you can't worry about whether it's going to get published, whether if you publish it, anything else is going to get published, whether your mother is going to like it…. You have to turn all of that off and just write.”

Turn all of that off and write with help from Terena’s one-word prompt.

About Terena Elizabeth Bell

Terena Elizabeth Bell is a fiction writer. Her debut short story collection, Tell Me What You See (Whiskey Tit), published December 2022. Her work has appeared in more than 100 publications, including The Atlantic, Playboy, Salamander, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

Her short fiction has won grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Originally from Sinking Fork, Kentucky, she lives in New York City.