When I was in high school, I was in a writing class, and the teacher taught the more adverbs you could throw into a story, the better. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, how wrong she was. But, that little bit of misinformation stuck in my head when I decided I wanted to write professionally. I was the Adverb Queen (I was also the Queen of every other one of the things that now make me grit my teeth, too, lol). It took me a long time to realize I didn't need adverbs, that they are almost always redundant, and a sign of lazy writing. After all, why couldn't I say something and wrap it all up in one adverb? That way, I didn't have to write a whole drawn out scene full of imagery.
For example, back then, I loved to write something like (and I'll use our good friends Nick and Jenny):
Jenny grinned like a rabid hyena and joyfully shoved Nick down the stairs.
When you first look at it, that sentence isn't really too bad. It's got a good image of Jenny with a wicked grin plastered on her face, and she didn't just push Nick down the stairs, she shoved him. What totally (yes, I know that "totally" is an adverb, but hey, I'm a Florida girl) kills this sentence is the word "joyfully." You don't need it. It's redundant, because we know by Jenny's wicked hyena grin that she enjoyed shoving Nick down the stairs.
Another example:
"Take that, you underhanded, cheating sneak! I hope you rot in hell for your dastardly ways!" Jenny cried vehemently.
And no, "dastardly" isn't the bad adverb here, even though it is so totally dumb and a character would never talk like that (look for unrealistic dialogue in a future post). The bad adverb is "vehemently," because we know she is vehement, because her dialogue shows us she is. So, that naughty adverb must come out.
One thing I hear so often is the phrase, "Show, don't tell." One way to get rid of all the "telling" is to simply get rid of most of your adverbs, as many as you can.
And that is all I will say about adverbs, except I wish that most all of them would die.
Name: Mindy Home: Albuquerque, NM, United States About Me: I am Senior Editor for an imprint of Champagne Books. I am married to an Air Force Officer, who is currently serving his country in Afghanistan. I have three bright and beautiful children. See my complete profile
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