 Short Stories: November 08, 2023 Issue [#12268] |
This week: Royal Order of Adverbs Edited by: Leger~  
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This week's Short Story Editor
Leger~
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 Royal Order of Adverbs
You know it, I fell down the rabbit hole again. I've only had the basic of grammar instruction and even as old as I am, I like to learn. Then came the internet...and clicking...and hours later, I just might have a grasp on something. This time it was adverbs. I'm not sure the grasp is all that tight but hey, I like to share.
There is an order to adverbs. While we might automatically write adverbs in the right position, it's handy to know where they typically belong. Especially if you're describing something at length.
 VERB - MANNER - PLACE - FREQUENCY - TIME - PURPOSE
Yes, I'm aware rules are made to be broken. And break them we will! But I'd like to send submissions out that at least have some semblance of intelligence.
VERB: Dad walks
MANNER: impatiently
PLACE: into town
FREQUENCY: every morning
TIME: before work
PURPOSE: to get a newspaper
It seems sensible. But honestly, when I'm in the middle of getting something from the brain to the paper, stuff gets jumbled. I felt this was a handy little reference thingy. With everyone elbow deep in NaNoWriMo and plodging through the winter holidays, we'll need a little something in the New Year.
So feel free to use this little reference (or not). Perhaps you're always learning too!
And as always, Write On!
This month's question: Do you consciously think of word order when writing? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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NOVEMBER SITE CONTEST
Quote Prompt for November 2023:
"I've strayed so far from normal now, I'll never find my way back.
And the truth is, I no longer want to."
-- Alyson Noel
Excerpt: "Should we challenge the Laurence's?" Young King George demanded to know.
Excerpt: Marcus and I were walking on the rocky path of our campus. Our professor dismissed us early from our afternoon Art History class due to an incoming heatwave, which was foretold to be very, very horrible. Nobody was prepared for it, for some reason, except for the prince, who, at the moment, was strolling hand in hand with me.
Prince Marcus gave me the bottle he held in his hand, “Take a sip, you must be thirsty.”
| |  | The Cursed Day (ASR)
A man of royalty questions the meaning of Halloween and lives in disdain of it.
#2282808 by brom21  |
Excerpt: Cephas stood atop the castle of Evercrest frowning at the scene bellow him. People were setting up jack o lanterns and setting up banners with pictures of ghosts and situating four-foot-tall statue of a devil atop a pedestal of stone. Cephas cringed at the sight and it made his stomach turn. “What an abominable holiday we have embraced! How it must disgust God!”
Excerpt: George Lewis Guelph, Elector of Hanover, paced his sparse apartments, hands stiffly clenched behind his back, his thick brow wrinkled in displeasure. The elector was in his forties, but felt far older than his years.
“Your Highness, the prince is on his way,” announced Baron von Eltz, quietly shutting the door as he entered the room.
George Lewis grunted. “Good.”
| |  | Invalid Item
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#1991905 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: I was just finishing setting the table for dinner when there was a knock on the door.
“Get that, will you, Elisha?” Uncle Kane called distractedly from the small library off the front hallway. I sighed and set the last fork in its place. Something always came along to interrupt dinner—which was, by the smell, something excellent . . . but then, with Mrs. Hodgins as Cook, it always was—whether it was Uncle Kane absorbed in his studies in the library so that we had to hold dinner for him, or Uncle Kane’s strange friends showing up just when dinner was to be served. . . .
Excerpt: Queens' butlers are supposed to keep other people out of trouble. They are supposed to make sure that the Queen herself doesn't even get a whiff of trouble. The minute trouble comes nosing its way through the palace door or in to the royal window, Queens' butlers are supposed to glide over to the door or the window and shut it - delicately and noiselessly - and keep trouble out.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1666173 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: As Ni-essa settled into her seat, the hair on the back of her neck stood up. He was here – somewhere - watching her. Trembling, she angled a glance at the mirror on the front of the hover craft. No one looked out of place. In the back, sat a family of Cadminians. From a neighboring planet, their long shaggy hair and grunting gestures were common place.
| | | City of Victory (E)
A young gypsy yearns to get away from her opulent life in the harem of the king.
#1187979 by Catkins  |
Excerpt: To Jehaan, sitting at the windows of the royal harem, it seemed even the blades of grass wet with the rain could inflict wounds. She inhaled the smell of moist earth. A babble of voices rose around her, trailing into wisps of laughter. The sandalwood paste smeared on the burning bare limbs of the women mingled its cool fragrance with roses and heady jasmine. Meherbanu laid a soft hand on her shoulder.
"Why is the queen's favourite sad?" she asked gently, her doe- eyes glistening like black pools.
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This month's question: Do you consciously think of word order when writing? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: What tips do you have for short story world-building?
Turkey DrumStik  : I feel like short story world building techniques can vary depending on just how short the story is. The techniques can change a lot between a 1500 word story and one that's double the word count. In the former, you may only have a phrase's worth of space to include a world building detail.In the latter you can get away with a full sentence or two, depending on the plot. Obviously flexibility and space in this regard will increase as you get closer to the short story/novelette boundary.
That said, I do like to have my characters touch something in the space somehow. Even having a character do something like open a locker or trip over a rock can be useful in depicting where a story is happening. A character touching those objects presents a natural opportunity for visual description or even textural if the character is blind/low vision. Touching allows the descriptions to be brief and make more sense in the narrative structure at the same time.
Elfin Dragon-finally published : Suggestion for short story world-building: don't get caught up in trying to describe the place. Just write the story and the place will take care of itself.
Beholden  : Writing short stories is the best way I know of avoiding writing the great American (or British in my case) novel. It's an art form in itself and enables us to say what we want in a short, sharp burst, without boring anyone to death. And the secret of "short" is in telling the essential and letting the reader do the rest.
So, if we want to say autumn, we don't talk about fiery leaves falling to the conflagration on the ground - everyone knows that's why autumn is called fall. Pick an aspect less frequently noticed, perhaps a chevron of geese in the sky or even just their hooting cry in the wind. Just that one little detail will be enough to establish the atmosphere we want.
Always say less than you could and trust the reader to supply the rest.
WakeUpAndLive~doingNaNo'24  : I found this wonderful template on worldbuilding . The questions are really helpful.
dragonwoman : Thanks for including my short short: Don't Need No Stinkin' Rules in your picks. Always makes me smile to see it.
Bilal Latif : Broadly, you can write from the outside in (build the world of the story itself, clarify its internal logic and peoples etc, then populate it with specific characters for specific purposes), or you can write from the inside out (start with a character with a goal, and tailor the surrounding world accordingly). In practice, you may find you end up somewhere between these two extremes, which is fine and an organic way to write your story.
Joey' Falling for the Season  : For a short story, there is only One Rule! One character... One scene... One POV... One ARC ... One ending within 5,000 and 7,000 words.
Mouse says gobble gobble  : Don't get too extravagant or your short story will turn into a Trilogy...... just ask Tolkien (no seriously don't. I just put that in as a bad gag)
s : Put in enough to get a sense of place, but the details really don't matter. Short stories are constrained by word count - especially if you publish traditionally - so using those words to describe the vegetation on Mount Dontgothere when that's just window dressing is a waste of your word count. |
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