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Two Ways Adverbs are Wrecking Your Writing
Yes, you’ll need some. No, you don’t need as many as you’re using. I promise.
Stephen King famously said that the road to hell is paved with adverbs. I think a lot of people interpret this as: adverbs are bad and good writers don’t use any at all. Which is pretty impossible.
And then someone points out that Stephen King himself uses -ly words fairly (haha) liberally (hahaha.) So, how bad could they be?
As a published author and a writing teacher, I’m here to tell you that they can be very bad. When they’re used willy-nilly, they weaken your writing and mark your work as amateur.
We’ve all head the adage ‘show don’t tell.’ Adverbs are telling. Always.
Today, I want to share two ways that adverbs are ruining your writing, in an effort to convince you that reducing them will improve your work. Dramatically.
First, some vocabulary, so we’re starting on the same page. Adverbs are words that modify a verb. They often, but not always, end with -ly. Especially adverbs.
Adverb example: She quickly ran to the corner store.
The word ‘quickly’ describes how she ran.
