Also!!!! Adverbs Are Useful In Describing Body Language Meant To Convey Emotional Context:Aspen Stopped

Also!!!! Adverbs are useful in describing body language meant to convey emotional context: Aspen stopped themself, holding up their hands apologetically.

Just saying that they held up their hands gets rid of the emotional context - you can hold up your hands angrily, or aggressively, or sarcastically. They're also a lot more useful for conveying sarcasm without just saying the character is being sarcastic: “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Becks asked sweetly from the doorway.

So yeah. Vary your parts of speech, but also

I know adverbs are controversial, but "said softly" means something different than "whispered" and this is the hill I will die on.

fun little thought: Clark actually does need his glasses bc he's pretty far sighted due to His Eyes Are Optimized for a Different Atmosphere. he gets them pretty young, about when his parents start noticing him squinting when he has to do his homework. the optometrist is a family friend and is not asking any questions about the absolutely bizarre internal structure of the Kent boy's eyes

he doesn't generally need glasses for Superman work bc he's generally not looking at much up close! but there are a couple times he has to hold a bomb at arm's length to try to focus on the innards and it looks so much like what Pa does when he forgets his reading glasses that Kon almost bursts out laughing when he sees it

Genuinely, there is no worse part of the writing process for me than revising the first draft. (I always print my first drafts because it helps me see what's there rather than what I think should be there.)

And getting into writing novels has made it SO MUCH WORSE. This fucker is 258 pages, God help me.

Hot Shit | Tom Cardy

i'm not the praying sort, but i'll probably always have a soft spot for the astronaut's prayer

tfw you're still working on a second draft of a novel and you have the almost undeniable urge to write fanfic of your own novel because you've got Some Trans Shit To Work Through