First-Year Student at UNC Asheville has a Short Story Published

Elizabeth Devido
February 1, 2019

Most college students write plenty of papers during their first semester, but first-year student Elizabeth DeVido also became a published author. Her fiction narrative is included in an anthology of stories called Wicked South Secrets and Lies, and as you might guess, she is studying English and creative writing at UNC Asheville.

In the book, published by Blue Crow, a small independent publishing company, DeVido’s story is called “Finders Keepers” is a bite-size thriller about an unreliable narrator as she confesses her dangerous obsession with a classmate. She discovers his secrets, lies to those around her and manipulates information to achieve her own sinister ends.

DeVido has been writing fiction and creating characters since she was little, a passion she carried into high school.

“I actually discovered the [Wicked South] anthology in my senior year of high school,” DeVido said. “My dad had shown me an article from an arts magazine in my hometown, Wilmington, looking for authors in North Carolina to contribute.”

She signed the contract for the book her senior year of high school, right before graduation, fulfilling a long-held hope to have a short story published before going to college.

Having a story already published makes DeVido feel encouraged to keep writing and publishing.

“I would like to write fiction in the future as much as I can,” she said, “so having my foot already in the door and already having some experience with publishing and such is going to lay a good groundwork for the future.”

Her advice to writers would like to publish is to take the time to learn, as she is also educating herself. She pushes new writers to really take time to practice. Writing, she says, is something that you are always learning and improving upon.

“It is definitely something that takes patience rather than just writing one short story or a piece of a story,” DeVido said. “Patience and self-discipline are the two major attributes to work on when you want to be a writer.”

Right now, she is working on a novel that should be done by the end of this year, which is an expansion of her short story from the Wicked South anthology.

This time, she hopes to go through the publishing process in the traditional sense. Still, she’s excited to have had the experience of publishing through Blue Crow and to have a connection with the company.

“Having some relations and intimacy with Blue Crow Publishing might be helpful in the future.”

DeVido hopes the people who read her short story enjoy it and keep a lookout for her works in the future.

Check out her story at https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-South-Secrets-Stories-Adults-ebook/dp/B07G5FJYCQ

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