Bethany Henry: Writing & Wellness

Recently my daughter, completely unprompted, ranked her top 10 favorite words to share with us. Her list included a few made up words and has now been expanded to include a more words she “really likes the sound of,” including “peanut butter” and “pickle.” What words do you like the sound of? When was the last time you thought about some of your favorite words? Because words are amazing! They can inspire and evoke and they can be straight-up fun to say. Here’s a collection of a few words to get you started! Next step is to try to see how many we can use in conversation 😉 18 Words for Word-Nerds Definitions sourced from dictionary.com  where you can also find crossword puzzles and other word related fun! Wonky: Not exactly straight or balanced, off-kilter Wabi-sabi: A Japanese aesthetic concept that finds beauty and serenity in objects, landscapes, designs, etc., that are simple, imperfect, and impermanent. Zenith: A highest point or state; culmination. Vermilion: A brilliant scarl...

Our worldbuilding is the setting and atmosphere of our stories. As writers, we don’t want to overlook this critical component of making our stories the strongest they can be! But what makes worldbuilding great? And how do we *do* that? Today we’ll walk through two aspects of worldbuilding: Theme and Details. Theme and Details in Worldbuilding Theme A theme in worldbuilding refers to the big picture concept that pulls everything together. There will be lots of different pieces involved in our world but they all should fit into one unified whole, otherwise the story will feel disjointed or unfinished and leave the reader confused. The goal is to create a setting that is cohesive and where its parts work together: suddenly all the different pieces are more than the sum of their parts and we’ve created something  more. Themed worldbuilding results in powerful settings that interest and resonate with readers and can add to the story’s tone and plot. Aspects of Theme to Consider: How thi...