Writing "...birthday celebrations had gone as explosively as she had imagined." Reading this would you think that the celebrations had gone in a good or bad way. I want it to sound like it went really well and was a great party but not sure explosively is the right word to use. Thanks, Natalie.
I find "explosively" to be singularly unspecific. It could mean anything from a smashing good time to a terrorist attack. But a more basic problem is that you are telling, not showing. Rather than conducting an excruciating search for the quintessentially correct adverb, spend a few words describing something that happened at the celebration that sums up how great it was for the POV character.
The sentence is not very long so I guess what comes next will set the scenery. It could be: ...birthday celebrations had gone as explosively as she had imagined. The fireworks had been a huge success! ...birthday celebrations had gone as explosively as she had imagined. She should have known aunt Elizabeth and uncle Tom would make a scene. ...birthday celebrations had gone as explosively as she had imagined. Severed body parts had reached the nearby church and her white dress looked like it came straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie. I guess.
