Bethany Henry: Writing & Wellness

Strong emotions (especially negative emotions such as grief, failure, and shame) can be uncomfortable. As humans we try to temper and shy away from some of these messier emotions and the undignified moments of life. It shouldn’t surprise us that as writers we sometimes do the same thing. Now, for the record, it’s not necessarily healthy to be stifling our emotions throughout our lives so if you find yourself doing that, maybe give it some thought on how to process emotion in healthy ways and practice self care along the way. But today we’re focusing on emotions in our writing! Because we don’t want to be stifling the emotions there, either. Making Our Writing Emotional It’s automatic for us to avoid strong emotions in our writing. Sometimes we aren’t even doing it intentionally, we just hold back as an ingrained method of self-protection when handling potentially painful topics. We keep our protagonist from complete and utter heartbreak. We protect their ego. We make sure they don’t *q...

There are more mythical reptiles than just dragons! Learning about lesser-known creatures can inspire our stories, broaden our horizons, and just be super cool and interesting. Today we’re looking at eight different kinds of mythical reptilian and amphibian creatures that may be often overlooked. Writing prompts are included just for added fun and to get the creative sparks flying! 🙂 Note: As with most myths and folklore, the information about these creatures is varied and hard to pin down. Most of what I’ve gathered and condensed here is information from  Wikipedia ,  MythOrTruth.com ,  Ancient Origins , and  Brittanica.com .  Beyond my notes, I’d encourage you to research further! There is a wealth of material to be found. Basalisk Also called Cockatrice. The Basalisk is a serpent which, while small, is known for being extremely deadly with the ability to kill all plants and animals with simply its gaze or breath. The weasel is known to be its weakness and is...

Today you can find me over at Fiction University one of the best resources for writers on the web! (And I’m not just saying that because I’m a guest poster there 😉 ) My post is titled  A Guide For Writing Strong Female Characters  and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic! Diversity and representation in our writing matters a lot. Writing strong characters is important regardless of gender or identity and in a society that continues to struggle with sexism it is important to be aware of how that effects our writing. When we are aware of common pitfalls and stereotypes then we will be more able to avoid, subvert, or address these topics in order to make our stories even better. And our world better as well! So check out  my post at Fiction University ! And happy writing 🙂 Originally published August 6, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com.

Today wraps up our month of writing prompts. Thanks for joining on the adventure! For even more writing prompts, check out my  pinterest board ! I add fun snippets here whenever I find them 🙂 Happy brainstorming and creating! A Month Of Writing Prompts (Part 5) Write about an unlikely friendship. Describe the emotions in a storm. Describe a character’s “happy place.” Write about a phone call at 3am. Write about a location across the globe from you. Write about the first time some tries ice cream. Write about someone cheating at cards. Write about people needing to share an elevator/car/carriage. Write about a character cutting their hair. Describe the smell of your current scene. Originally published July 30, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com.

We’re doing a month of writing prompts here, which is a fun way to get some creativity flowing and ideas happening! There are no strict rules in using these prompts, they are just here to help provide some direction or spark new ideas. So have fun and happy creating! A Month Of Writing Prompts (Part 4) Have a character infatuated with someone/something. Describe a character needing to give directions. Include an unfinished piece of art in your story. Make the first and last sentences of your scene the same. Use an object you can see and include it in your current scene. Have your characters play a guessing game. Write about someone dancing. Include a fish in your scene. Write about a character’s favorite book. Write about people playing on a playground. Originally published July 23, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com.

This month we’re having fun with some writing prompts! Whether you use them in your fiction, poetry, songwriting, or something else entirely- I hope they help get the creativity flowing! A Month Of Writing Prompts (Part 3) Write about something yellow. Write about your villain’s morning routine. Describe a character learning to cook. Have a character fall asleep when they shouldn’t. Have a character meet someone from their past. Include a nursery rhyme in your current scene. Describe people getting dressed up. Write about a sudden rainstorm that messes up plans. Write about finding a stray animal. Write about something that came in the mail. Originally published July 16, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com.

Welcome to week two of our month of writing prompts! Feel free to use these prompts as much or as little as you wish- they’re just here to help get some creative thoughts flowing and to help us have some creativity fun! Happy writing! A Month Of Writing Prompts (Part 2) Write about someone admitting a secret. Include the next person you see in your story. Write about someone losing a fight on purpose. Write about someone oversleeping. Write a haiku for each of your main characters. Include your favorite childhood toy in your story. Have a character get lost. Incorporate the number eleven into your scene. Show a character afraid of something small. Turn on the radio and use song lyrics in your current scene. Originally published July 9, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com.