Who is Elizabeth Beechwood?

When I write, I start with regular people with regular lives … but then something strange happens. Whether it’s fiction, fantasy, magical realism or genre-bending, you can count on something just a little peculiar from my stories.

My popular workshop, “How to Write Animal Characters”, is now a workbook by the same name! Released in September 2025, this workbook leads writers through 4 elements of creating a believable, fully-formed animal character - point of view/perspective, behavior, intelligence, and The Wilding. Available in both paperback and ebook.

My collection of short stories and poems, “Strange Memories,” was released in 2023. From eastern Europe to the Pacific Northwest, this collection explores the complicated and often contradictory dreams and desires of women of all ages and the role that memory plays throughout our lives. Available in both paperback and ebook.

My Pushcart-nominated short fiction has been published in Nightscape Press’s award-winning anthology “Nox Pareidolia”, Rogue Owl Press’s “Horrors of the Deep” anthology, Lucky Jefferson’s “Discover Beaverton” anthology, Third Flatiron’s “Hidden Histories”, Not a Pipe Publishing’s “The Year of Publishing Women’s Short Stories” series, and more.

When I’m not writing, I love facilitating interactive and dynamic workshops. I’ve taught at Hugo House several times, Write on the Sound writers’ conference (WOTS), Salem Public Library’s “Salem Reads,” the Hoffman Center for the Arts, and the Oregon Naturalist Program, among others.

And now for some academic and professional information: I earned an MFA in Popular Fiction at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program with mentors James Patrick Kelly, Elizabeth Hand, Theodora Goss, and Elizabeth Searle. I’m a member of Willamette Writers and a certified Oregon Naturalist.