Adverbs, the thing that helped me most.

[SeverinR]

I never thought of adverbs until I started writing. Then I read that adverbs a really poor choice for writing.

after that I noticed commercials use of adverbs:
Amazingly, incredibily, quickly, easily(one commercial used Incredibily and easily together in one sentence.
Listen to commercials, and the adverbs will jump out. Take them out of the commercial, will the commercial be any worse off?
They try to pump up excitement with adverbs, but they really do nothing but state an opinion of the paid speaker.
Watch an info-mercial, they are saturated with meaningless adverbs.

If anyone is having difficulty seeing adverb problems, maybe paying attention to commercials will help illustrate the problem.

Here is a list of adverbs: List of Adverbs
to watch for.

 

[Addison]

I've found that verbs, adverbs and such in writing is good yet can be bad. Just enough can strengthen the sentence or paragraph but too many can kill it. So I treat such words like spices in cooking. I add just enough to give it flavor, a nice kick, but not enough to the point where I need to spit it out or chug water.

 

[saellys]

The thing about adverbs is that they can be interpreted by the reader in ways that may not actually apply to what the author is trying to say. They're not the most efficient way to get a message across, in addition to being inefficient to read. I can write "Yerwe ran quickly," and that phrase is so open-ended (and also fairly redundant) that the reader probably won't get any meaning out of it. But changing it to "Yerwe bolted," or "Yerwe dashed," or "Yerwe ran until her lungs burned and her legs went numb," introduce strong connotations and an emotional charge to the passage.

So yeah, you should avoid adverbs, but you should also find stronger words to replace them so the reader will get what you're trying to say.

 

[SeverinR]

I've found that verbs, adverbs and such in writing is good yet can be bad. Just enough can strengthen the sentence or paragraph but too many can kill it. So I treat such words like spices in cooking. I add just enough to give it flavor, a nice kick, but not enough to the point where I need to spit it out or chug water.

Exactly, commercials over use them, thats why I suggested people really look at them, to understand how they don't help much in describing something. Ly really doesn't help the written word. I would say adverbs are the extreme spice in cooking, even the smallest of uses can overwhelm the creation.

I think the old Police Academy Commandant's speeches were a good example of poor wording(both adverbs and mis-overuse of adjectives). "Many many, wonderous things,"
I include this as showing it can be used in writing to show a character flaw, so its not an automatic no-no.

 

[Nihal]

I never gave much thought to my use of adverbs until I joined MS. Not that I wrote anything before, so, crisis averted.

However, I was aware that I overly-described things. I'm always doing this, assigning two adjectives or adverbs to the same thing and I realized that the misuse of adverbs, which are so generic, is one of the causes of this flaw.

Anyway, it's an interesting analysis of advertisement - and why it's bad when it's bad. I missed this detail, heh.

 

[Kit]

"The road to hell is paved with adverbs. To put it another way, they're like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day…. fifty the day after that… and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is TOTALLY, COMPLETELY and PROFLIGATELY covered with dandelions."

-Stephen King

 

[wordwalker]

After all, the narrative's built mostly from nouns and verbs. Especially verbs, because although the nouns orient you to what the pieces are for each moment, usually the key is showing a new relationship between them; we want to know John and Mary are involved, but when John shoots Mary...

So the verb is the center of each sentence, and the nouns define it. Adjectives and adverbs try to get in on their action, but just the fact that they're separate words makes them inefficient; "ran quickly" will never keep up with "bolted." Worse, they tend to look like lazy writing, because it's just too easy to think "he ran-- well, but it's a quick run" and use both words, instead of going back for a better synonym. (And, they may not have been named ad-verbs after the admen that love to throw them around, but they might as well be.)

Not to say that they're pure evil, especially adjectives. We use both enough that it would be unnatural to write without any of them, and often it's hard to describe a thing with no adjectives (if a thing's "green," it has to be "green," or a similar word). But they aren't at the heart of the sentence.

 

[Chessie]

I've found that verbs, adverbs and such in writing is good yet can be bad. Just enough can strengthen the sentence or paragraph but too many can kill it. So I treat such words like spices in cooking. I add just enough to give it flavor, a nice kick, but not enough to the point where I need to spit it out or chug water.

Yes. Too much sugar in your coffee can make it undrinkable. I think adverbs--in the right mix--can really add some flavor. But its also good to think about the audience reading it and how too much description in the sentences/paragraphs can be distracting. At least for me. I go back and think--wait, wha?? and lose focus on what's going on.

 

[Sheilawisz]

I can tell you that it's very easy to abuse adverbs in the English language, while the use of adverbs in Castilian is more difficult and it looks really bad if you write them all over a story.

Adverbs are good for a story if you use them in the right moments, and they are not as bad as many writers believe. Anything that you abuse can cause damage to your writing, not only adverbs, so you need to use them in moderation and everything will be just fine =)

J.K. Rowling abuses adverbs a little, and her writing is still great!!

 

[Jamber]

Stephen King might have healed faster if he'd kept that dandelion... Dandelion herb nutrition facts and health benefits

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

It's possible to completely (argh!) eschew the use of adverbs, but it's not necessary to do so. One of the wonders of English is that in just about any case where you'd use an adverb, there's a more specific verb you could use instead: ran quickly -> bolted, darted, dashed, etc. as pointed out earlier by saellys.

That said, there's only so many such verbs, and sometimes it can help with variety to use an adverb here and there. When you're doing a lot of describing of characters running about, you're going to have to reuse verbs eventually, and throwing in an adverb now and then can help with that.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

When writing I make an effort to use zero adverbs... Yes that's right, zero. But guess what...they still creep into the prose without my realization. I can't imagine what would happen if I wasn't making an effort to write with more precision than adverbs allow. After all, that's the way people speak in reality....with weak modifiers everywhere.

Adverbs aren't all bad. Where they're bad is when (as Saellys mentioned) the description is vague and leaves too much to interpretation...or when the author is just being lazy. If you see an adverb in your writing, I believe you should examine it to see if another word would convey the intention more effectively. Only when you're certain the adverb is necessary or offers something special should you make the conscience choice to use one....after all, others will creep in without your being aware.

 

[Valinthros]

Great post! Thanks for showing me this one Butterfly!

 

[Mythopoet]

I don't really see the point of eliminating adverbs. As a reader if I'm into the story I barely notice them. It's only if I'm not really into the story and start reading on a sentence level (not the level you want any of your readers to be on) that I begin to notice.

I remember once I had been reading a lot of this kind of advice online and soaking it up like a good little sponge and was also rereading one of the Harry Potter books and enjoying it immensely like I always do. But suddenly, because I'd been steeped in that advice, something clicked in my mind and I noticed the absurd amount of adverbs (and non said dialogue tags, another "don't") on just the pages I was looking at. Then something clicked in my mind again and I realized it didn't matter. I was loving the story. The adverbs didn't detract from it. In fact, an adverb is often the most efficient method of clearly conveying meaning.

Now, for sure there are ways to use adverbs badly. (heh) I once read a book that used the word (?) "puzzledly". It yanked me right out of the page. (Of course, I wasn't enjoying that book very much before that point so who knows if I would have noticed it with Harry Potter levels of investment.) But that's no different from any other writing or storytelling tool. You don't throw out the hammer from your tool kit because you once hit your thumb with it. You just learn how to use it better.

 

[Valinthros]

Myth - I can certainly see where you're coming from, and to a point I agree. After reading this post and sifting through my writing, I've found removing adverbs tends to put more impetus into the story. In other words, it seems to flow better as a result. This might not be true for someone else, especially if adverb usage is part of their style.

 

[BWFoster78]

I don't really see the point of eliminating adverbs. As a reader if I'm into the story I barely notice them. It's only if I'm not really into the story and start reading on a sentence level (not the level you want any of your readers to be on) that I begin to notice.

I remember once I had been reading a lot of this kind of advice online and soaking it up like a good little sponge and was also rereading one of the Harry Potter books and enjoying it immensely like I always do. But suddenly, because I'd been steeped in that advice, something clicked in my mind and I noticed the absurd amount of adverbs (and non said dialogue tags, another "don't") on just the pages I was looking at. Then something clicked in my mind again and I realized it didn't matter. I was loving the story. The adverbs didn't detract from it. In fact, an adverb is often the most efficient method of clearly conveying meaning.

Now, for sure there are ways to use adverbs badly. (heh) I once read a book that used the word (?) "puzzledly". It yanked me right out of the page. (Of course, I wasn't enjoying that book very much before that point so who knows if I would have noticed it with Harry Potter levels of investment.) But that's no different from any other writing or storytelling tool. You don't throw out the hammer from your tool kit because you once hit your thumb with it. You just learn how to use it better.

Myth,

I think that most of us are trying to figure out, "What is that magical combination of words we need to use to make people love our books?" In that vein, noting that adverbs don't seem to make much of a difference to your reading enjoyment is valid information.

When I began posting here a couple of years ago, I would have said, "Adverbs are bad. Get rid of them!" I find that, the more I focus on the content of my scenes, the less importance I think individual word choice has. My goals, however, revolve around trying to tell a story that people will want to read, not on creating art with my words. Some authors care a lot more about every individual word. I'm not going to tell them that their method is wrong because it may be right for them.

As far as adverbs go, some are perfectly used. Some are no real problem. Others are extraneous. Still others are indicative of a place where better words, perhaps, could have been used.

If the advice against using adverbs causes a writer to examine their word choice to make sure there's not a better way to express what needs to be conveyed or to cause that writer to think about if the word is needed in the first place, I think those are two good results that, perhaps, would be of benefit to almost all of us.

 

[Chessie]

I read a most enoyable supernatural mystery recently that had a lot of adverbs. The story still kicked ass and I would still recommend it. I think that, along with anything else, adverbs in moderation. To take them out completely doesn't work for me, as sometimes they portray precisely what I'm trying to say. I don't judge other authors by their use of them. If the story is good, I'm in.

 

[Mythopoet]

Myth,

I think that most of us are trying to figure out, "What is that magical combination of words we need to use to make people love our books?"

If this is the case, then I think people are asking the wrong question. There is no magical combination of words that can be used to make people love your books. Focusing on the words, on the sentence level, in general is, in my opinion (and in other well respected opinions), a bad idea. There is way too much emphasis on the sentence level among those who give out writing advice on the internet. Story is what matters.

 

[BWFoster78]

If this is the case, then I think people are asking the wrong question. There is no magical combination of words that can be used to make people love your books. Focusing on the words, on the sentence level, in general is, in my opinion (and in other well respected opinions), a bad idea. There is way too much emphasis on the sentence level among those who give out writing advice on the internet. Story is what matters.

As I stated above, I've come to realize that content trumps words for my writing. I'm not so sure that every author can say that, however. Frankly, words to me are a means to an end; to some writers, it's all about the words.

I wouldn't want to tell them that they have to concentrate on story any more than I would want them telling me that I have to concentrate more on words.

I will say that I think all authors would do well to pay some attention to technique. It's pretty easy to ruin a good story with poor writing.

 

[CupofJoe]

A friend had a family "game" around the dinner table. As a child they weren't allowed to watch much TV. When they did they would then have to critique the programmes and adverts for meaning, content and style. I have sat there for more than a few evenings as they dissected the adverts of their adverbs, fuzzy logic, hyperbole etc, to get to the zero point - they will say anything that can get away with to sell you stuff.
It was a great way to hone a forensic mind...