{"id":1168,"date":"2015-04-20T13:14:34","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T18:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/?p=1168"},"modified":"2015-04-20T13:16:15","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T18:16:15","slug":"killing-and-sparing-the-adverb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/killing-and-sparing-the-adverb\/","title":{"rendered":"Killing (And Sparing) The Adverb"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"knife\"<\/a>Any tool can be used goodly or badly!<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n

Why are adverbs “bad?”<\/p>\n

Well, to be fair, they’re not. They’re quite simple and clear in their meaning, and are very common in ordinary speech.<\/p>\n

However, some are severely overused in prose, making it plodding and tiresome to read. Some are extremely extraneous. And some tell what you can easily be showing instead.<\/p>\n

One good way to step up your writing is to strike and swap out adverbs- when it makes sense to do so<\/em>. Here are some thoughts toward addressing adverbs in your prose:<\/p>\n

1) Don’t worry about dialogue.<\/strong> People talk how people talk. You needn’t take an axe to the words that come out of a character’s mouth, unless their dialogue must conform to a specific pattern (for instance, Commander Data in Star Trek<\/em> never used contractions, lending a stilted tone to his speech).<\/p>\n

2) Consider the person\/voice of your narration.<\/strong> A first-person narration, wherein a character is telling<\/em> you his story, should read more like the character is speaking<\/em>. In that case, narration can follow the same rules as spoken dialogue, and can be whatever it needs to be- so long as it’s in-character. Your raging illiterate barbarian probably won’t ever be pondering the verisimilitude<\/em> of his targets, for instance.<\/p>\n

However, a narrative voice that’s not attached to any particular character will have no particular personality associated with it, and can benefit from some adverb-trimming.<\/p>\n

3) Some adverbs can almost always be removed without a problem.<\/strong> Very, mostly, quite, really, fairly, somewhat, basically, fundamentally<\/em>– these don’t add much. Removing them often makes the sentence stronger.<\/em><\/p>\n

4) Consider revising or removing “cliche” adverbs.<\/strong> Strikingly beautiful, frequently used… some adverb\/adjective or adverb\/verb pairs are glued at the hip, they’re so frequently used<\/em> together. Using them is a bit of inadvertent laziness on our part. It’s what our brains fall back on. And that’s fine<\/em> for a first draft… but couldn’t you later come up with some original, more revealing<\/em> way of saying the same thing?<\/p>\n

Example 1:<\/strong> “I don’t come here often,” he said nervously<\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternative 1:<\/strong> “I don’t come here often.” The hand holding his shot glass quivered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternative 2:<\/strong> He stuttered something out, too quiet for me to hear. “What’s that?” I prompted.<\/span><\/p>\n

He gave a start. “I- I just don’t come here often is all.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, this falls into “show don’t tell” territory. Use these opportunities to reveal how characters behave or interpret the world around them.<\/p>\n

Suddenly<\/em> is also a good cliche to hunt down and destroy where possible. It does nothing to add to the prose, and is just a lazy way of signaling, “Hey, something’s about to happen.” You can do better!<\/p>\n

5) Consider reserving adverbs for “unexpected” uses.<\/strong> An original<\/em> adverb pairing can be attention-grabbing, but it should still be used sparingly. Too many of these can be distracting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have any other ideas about adverbs? Share your thoughts in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n


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