Advanced writing tips with UU #1
Hey guys, I’ve decided to start making posts to share the things I’ve learned during the eight years that I’ve spent honing my writing abilities. Seeing so many roleplayers online shows just how passionate people are about writing, and I’d like to pass on things that will hopefully make it more enjoyable for you, help people to take your writing more seriously, and generally help you grow. I am English, however, so there are probably going to be more U’s than the world’s most boring racing track. Well, here goes.
For those of you that might not be aware, adverbs of manner are a sub category of regular adverbs, words that are used to affect adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs.
Adverbs of manner basically add an -ly to other words, and can answer the question of ‘how?’. I’ve already used five of them. You’ll see them used a lot when role playing, especially if you’re in the crowd that likes to roleplay smut, where a lot of actions/verbs are going to be used.
While adverbs of manner are really useful in describing how things take place and the manner in which they do so, they can also be a crutch.
There are some adverbs of manner which can almost be a essential, whereas others can remove the depth from your writing and make it seem as if everything is being spelled out to the reader.
Adverbs of manner can mess with the rule of 'Show, don't tell', which is something I’ll over in my next post. You are essentially spelling out a scene or situation, rather than letting the reader interpret something for themselves.
‘Vriska stormed into her room angrily’,
is an example of telling rather than showing, and the main offender here is 'angrily', an adverb of manner.Why not try,
'Vriska stormed into her room, with clenched fists, and proceeded to start picking up and throwing anything in reach, while yelling loudly.'
They both convey the same message, and both use an adverb of manner. The first sentence TELLS you that Vriska is angry, by saying ‘angrily’, rather than letting the reader understand her emotions through her actions. The second sentence SHOWS you that she is angry, by demonstrating behaviours that are commonly associated with angry. The adverb of manner in the second sentence is ‘loudly’ - it doesn’t convey emotion, but rather the volume and quality of her screaming.
That’s fine, right? Well, no, actually! Why add the adverb of ‘loudly’ to her yelling? Can she yell quietly? Not really. You’re still showing, but the adverb here is entirely unnecessary, and words like ‘yelling’ speak for themselves, so take that into consideration. Some words cut out the need for adverbs altogether.
Here’s a few more examples of where adverbs can reduce the depth of a sentence, and ones that can improve it instead. Remember, adverbs can be used to describe qualities and save boring, lengthier descriptions, and are not all bad.
'He crept through the alleyway sneakily.’
'He crept through the alleyway, walking lightly on his feet, barely making a sound at all.’
'She fought to the end, heroically fending off her enemies for as long as her body would let her.’
'She fought to the end, never backing down no matter how many enemies surrounded her, refusing to let her fear take hold, despite how terribly her wounds hurt her.’
In short, look at your sentences - there’s a line between your sentences being overly simply and boring, and them being far too descriptive to the point that your actual message becomes muddled. Adverbs of manner can help your sentences get straight to the point, but if used too often, they can simplify them so much that you leave no imagination at all in the prose.
Next time, I’ll be writing about 'Show, don't tell', which is closely related to good usage of adverbs.
