How to Write a Good Story

'Ly' Adverbs (III)

 This is part two of the previous article, and contains many amazing quotes from famous authors about adverbs.

------

"Most adverbs are unnecessary. You will clutter your sentence and annoy the reader if you choose a verb that has a specific meaning and then add an adverb that carries the same meaning. Don't tell us that the radio blared loudly - "blare" connotes loudness. Don't write that someone clenched his teeth tightly - there's no other way to clench teeth. Again and again in careless writing, strong verbs are weakened by redundant adverbs.

So are adjectives and other parts of speech: "effortlessly easy," slightly Spartan," "totally flabbergasted." The beauty of "flabbergasted" is that it implies an astonishment that is total; I can't picture someone being partly flabbergasted. If an action is so easy as to be effortless, use "effortless." And what is "slightly Spartan"? Perhaps a monk's cell with wall-to-wall carpeting? Don't use adverbs unless they do necessary work. Spare us the news that the losing athlete moped sadly and the winner grinned widely."

~ On Writing Well, 5th Edition - William Zinsser.

"Perhaps it's a lack of confidence on the writer's part, perhaps it's simple laziness, or perhaps it's a misguided attempt to break up the monotony of using "said" all the time, but all too many fiction writers tend to pepper their dialogue with -lys.

Which is a good reason to cut virtually every one you write. Ly adverbs almost always catch the author in the act of explaining dialogue - smuggling emotions into speaker attributions that belong in the dialogue itself. Again, if your dialogue doesn't need props, putting the props in will make it seem weak even though it isn't.

For a final word on the subject, her's a quote from an interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

To tighten his own writing, [Marquez] has eliminated adverbs, which in Spanish all have the ending -mente [the equivalent of -ly] "before Chronicle of a Death Foretold," he says, "there are many. In Chronicle, I think there is one. After that, in Love there are none. In Spanish, the adverb -mente is a very easy solution. But when you want to use -mente and look for another form it [the other form] always is better. It has become so natural to me that I don't even notice anymore."

~ Self Editing For Fiction Writers - Renni Browne and Dave King.

"Prose has a bit more time to hover, daydream, linger, mess around. Poetry does not. Since every word in a poem must be an essential one, be careful that you are not adding words that don't really need to be there. This includes the words that modify nouns and verbs - the adjectives and adverbs. While these descriptive word-types can sometimes further color a noun or better define a verb, you'll find as you continue building your craft as a poet that you will tend to use adjectives and, especially, adverbs much less.

So let's look at a few lines and see how they might be condensed:

     Dark and restless, sleepless nights
     turn slowly to the respite of the dawn.

How about:

     Wide-eyed nights plead
     the dawn's respite.

You can write that above alternative in one line of formal pentameter OR in two lines of free verse. Either way, you're now down to the essentials."

 ~Limiting Adjectives, Adverbs, etc. - Al Rocheleau.

"Minimize words ending in -ly; these are usually weak adverbs. Instead, use specific nouns and verbs."