My Battle With the Adverb
I confess, I was addicted. Many beginning writers have a problem with adjectives. This is a universal given. My problem had always been with adverbs. (To refresh: an adjective modifies a noun and an adverb modifies an adjective and a verb) In my early works, if anything could be done, it could be done happily, sadly, smashingly, haltingly, poorly, smartly. No verb in any writing of mine was left without a description, and if one adverb worked well, then two must be twice as good!
My editor at Doubleday, and then at Random House (I moved with her), was the lady who broke my habit. Editing a first draft, Kate would pencil in the margin, “Barbara, be careful of adverb use.” That would be in the early pages. As she went progressively through the manuscript, there would be the little penciled note until it became “adverb.” And then “Adverb!” And then “Adverb!!!!”
But keeping out those modifiers is hard work. I believe it was Mark Twain who wrote to a friend, saying, “Sorry this letter is so long, I didn’t have time to make it short.” And then there is the famous quote from the great columnist Walter Winchell, who said, “The same way water dilutes bourbon, words dilute a sentence. The less you water it down with words, the stronger it will be. Eliminate all adjectives [adverbs] except one.”
In other words: less is more.
After twenty-three published novels, I’m starting to get the hang of leaving the extraneous adverbs out. I believe I’ve learned my lesson. Really. Truly. Honestly.
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Re: My Battle With the Adverb
The clarity of a cartoon drawing doesn't have use for shades and graduations.
And we don't seem to have time for much more art than the cartoon in the daily newspaper.
However, if we can find time to cherish the details in a situation, we enjoy listening and reading the shades and graduations.
On the other hand, a breathtaking story does not necessarily unfold by cherishing details...