Bethany Henry: Writing & Wellness

In our stories, our characters can’t always get along. Even friends can’t always agree. Why? Well let me ask you this- do you always get along with everyone? Really?  Really ? Not only do we all have bad days, moments of stress, and grumpy mornings- we’re also all human. We have different ideas, worldviews, plans, and goals. Which means we’re going to disagree. Not only do we disagree, but sometimes we actually disagree and fight with our friends  more  than with other people. This is because we often view close family and friends as “ safe targets :” our security in our relationship means we are more real and more confrontational than we would be otherwise. We aren’t putting up a front or playing nice, which leads to different dynamics in the relationship. So that does that mean for our stories? The relationships in our stories should mimic real life, which means they should include conflict. Showing this conflict in our stories can have a variety of benefits. 5 Reasons ...

These are some of my favorite comics about writing and creating! As well as a few bonus comics just for fun 😉 Your own mileage may vary but I hope they make you smile! These artists all have fantastic work posted online and sold in stores- I’ve linked to their sites below so definitely check them out. A Few Favorite Comics Sarah’s Scribbles By Sarah Anderson of Sarah’s Scribbles By Sarah Anderson of Sarah’s Scribbles By Sarah Anderson of Sarah’s Scribbles Incidental Comics By Grant Snider of Incidental Comics By Grand Snider of Incidental Comics By Grant Snider of Incidental Comics XKCD By Randall Monroe of XKCD By Randall Monroe of XKCD Strange Planet By Nathan Pyle of Strange Planet By Nathan Pyle of Strange Planet For more smiles, check out  these random and funny things that have caught my eye on pinterest!  🙂 Originally published February 19, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com. 

There’s lots of talk about love this time of year and so today we’re looking at 5 different types of love in stories. That’s right, because love doesn’t come one-size-fits-all greeting-card type format. There are a million different ways to give, receive, experience, and feel love. All of these experiences and expressions of love can be super powerful and emotional. This is true of real life and it should be reflected in our stories as well! 5 Types of Love in Stories 1. Romantic Love The most obvious answer two days before Valentine’s Day, I know. Romantic love not only has its own story genre but there are several different romantic themes/tropes commonly seen within it. We have: Friends to Lovers Slow Burn Fated Mates/Soul Mates Arranged Marriage Secret Baby Secret Billionaire Second Chance Forbidden Love Fake Relationship Forced Together …as well as probably many more! 2. Love for Family This doesn’t always receive the spotlight of romantic love, but it is just as powerful a force ...

Today I am thrilled to be sharing a guest post I wrote for Fiction University looking at  six rules for retelling classic stories . As always, I encourage you to check out the vast stores of resources and information available at Fiction University… and of course check out my post as well!! 6 Rules for Retelling Classic Stories I love retellings, especially of Shakespeare or fairy tales! However, some retellings are definitely better than others. Hopefully these tips for writing retellings will help our stories to be the absolute best they can be! Originally published February 5, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com. 

Writing great character introductions is an important way to get our readers invested in our story and interested in our characters. We want to help readers see and love our characters as much as we do! Character introductions seem like they should be easy. Just tell people the character’s name and a couple of basic descriptions and we should be good to go. However, we’re missing out on a lot of potential if we leave it at that. First impressions are important, after all! We want to spark interest. We want to impress. We want to make the reader invested and care about the character. While there are library shelves full of different styles and genres of writing, here are a few key overall concepts of writing great character introductions. 5 Keys For Writing Great Character Introductions 1. Main Characters Go First Protagonists and major characters should get more time and be introduced at the start of the story. This signals to the reader they are important, establishes  character m...

Last week I talked about the importance of knowing who we are writing for. We talked about genre and how knowing our genre can give us a foundation to help us create satisfying stories that our readers will find and enjoy. Another important aspect of knowing who we are writing for is  identifying our target age range. While people read widely and often don’t conform to their actual age when choosing books, stories are generally divided into a few different age levels. Each of these levels will have different word count targets. This is probably the most obvious difference between them, but there are a few more things that are important to note as well! We don’t have to follow all the trends to shoehorn our story into a certain category. But being aware of these differences can help us to identify where and how our story can best be enjoyed by readers. Age Range in Stories Board Books Age range: 0-3 Word count: 0-100 (often under 30) These books are designed to be read alo...

Writers should know who they are writing for. “I’m writing for myself!” many writers say. As best selling author Jodi Ellen Malpas says, “You must write for yourself and not what you think people want to read.” And that’s important advice. It’s important to evaluate our personal motives for writing and work toward satisfying them. It’s good to be creating things we enjoy and are proud of. Yet you know who else we write for? Our readers. If we want readers to find and enjoy our writing, it is important to  know  that. To be intentional keeping that in mind as we craft our work. One major way this comes into play is through genre. Who Are We Writing For? Exploring Genre Genre simply means a type of category.  It’s nothing fancy, just a way of organizing things based on their content or style. Sometimes genre can get a bad wrap among writers when we complain we are being limited by certain genre expectations. Yet genre isn’t designed to ruin our lives by making up ...