Why does everyone hate adverbs so much??

BarbaraKE · Dec 23, 2008

One constant piece of advice I keep running across on these boards is 'avoid adverbs'. People don't seem to mind adjectives but adverbs are treated like the disreputable second cousin that shows up drunk to Thanksgiving dinner.

The notion of using a stronger verb ('he sprinted') instead of modifying a weaker one ('he ran quickly') makes sense. That's good advice. But this blanket condemnation of adverbs leaves me puzzled.

Adverbs exist for a reason. They have their place.

Sometimes the English language simply doesn't have a 'stronger' (i.e. more descriptive) verb. Or the stronger verb doesn't convey the same nuance of feeling/motion.

Granted, adverbs can be overused. But so can anything else. Too much of anything is bad - moderation is the key.

scarletpeaches · Dec 23, 2008

Exactly. Every writer's tool has its place. However, so many rookies rely heavily (!) on adverbs to the point of overuse. So it's better to trim said use right back and only use them when essential.

DeleyanLee · Dec 23, 2008

The problem is that, over the last couple of decades, what used to be considered guidelines and things to consider well before doing (like adverbs, like passive voice, etc) have become hard-and-fast Rules Of Writing that critiquers pound into you as BAD BAD BAD BAD regardless of the fact that you really did do it right that time. And they speak with such conviction and authority that it's very hard not to listen to their nonsense.

donroc · Dec 23, 2008

If one were to follow each rule without exceptions listed on every AW thread, I suspect no book would or could ever be written.

dpaterso · Dec 23, 2008

BarbaraKE said:
Adverbs exist for a reason. They have their place.

That's pretty much the advice that's usually offered in the ever-popular "adverbs" threads.

-Derek

qwerty · Dec 23, 2008

BarbaraKE said:
One constant piece of advice I keep running across on these boards is 'avoid adverbs'.

I think the advice is to avoid superfluous adverbs. As in: "He shouted loudly". Loudly is superfluous because the verb shout says that it was done loudly.

He ran quickly is another example because, by nature, a run is a quick action. Whereas He walked quickly/briskly can serve to indicate a speed beyond a normal walking pace.

Adverbs exist because there are times when they are needed to convey how something is done. I agree with what DeleyanLee and donroc said. But as these new rules have come into being, the safest thing to do about adverbs is to avoid the ones that aren't necessary.

gothicangel · Dec 23, 2008

I'm busy working on editing my novel and I'm shocked by how many adverbs are needing to be removed.

Why weaken your writing when it could be strong?

Hillgate · Dec 23, 2008

qwerty said:
I think the advice is to avoid superfluous adverbs. As in: "He shouted loudly". Loudly is superfluous because the verb shout says that it was done loudly.

He ran quickly is another example because, by nature, a run is a quick action. Whereas He walked quickly/briskly can serve to indicate a speed beyond a normal walking pace.

Adverbs exist because there are times when they are needed to convey how something is done. I agree with what DeleyanLee and donroc said. But as these new rules have come into being, the safest thing to do about adverbs is to avoid the ones that aren't necessary.

Anyone fancy meeting behind the bike sheds for a quick fag and a discussion about tautology versus apposite adverbial usage?

Linda Adams · Dec 23, 2008

The boards are not the only place this turns up. I finally let my subscription to Writer's Digest lapse after each issue starting having articles like "Ten Things YOU NEED to do to GET PUBLISHED," and it was always the same ten things. Eliminating adverbs was always at the top of the list. Just eliminating them. Not reviewing them to see if it was the right choice or if something more appropriate could be used.

And this advice has been in just about every writing book I've seen, along with most Websites that talk about "editing tips." I think it's easy for beginners to hang on to because it's like correcting a typo. Just look for the 'ly' and start deleting. It's something they can control in an environment where there are many elements that aren't as black and white as fixing typos.

I knew a well-published non-fiction writer who wanted to write novels, but he had a zero tolerance of adverbs. He took his time writing his chapters, carefully avoiding any use of advebs. To this day, I think he was convinced that because he followed this rule to the letter, it would make his work publishable. The opposite was true. Without any adverbs, his writing was pretty lifeless, and he's still looking for an agent.

JamieFord · Dec 23, 2008

Adverbs are sometimes a symptom of lazy or unimaginative writing--especially when they're slathered on in place of better descriptive writing. For example:

Alice lazily worked on her manuscript.

What does lazily look like? Instead of just plugging in an adverb, it would be better to show her being lazy.

Alice sleepwalked her way through her manuscript, settling for adverbs instead of more descriptive writing.

Rough example, but you know what I mean...

ChaosTitan · Dec 23, 2008

BarbaraKE said:
Adverbs exist for a reason. They have their place.

dpaterso said:
That's pretty much the advice that's usually offered in the ever-popular "adverbs" threads.

-Derek

Ditto.

The defense rests, your honor.

BarbaraKE · Dec 23, 2008

First of all, I'm glad to see that not everyone hates adverbs. I was really beginning to feel a bit paranoid about ever using a word ending in -ly.

JamieFord - I'd like to pick up on something you said.

JamieFord said:
Adverbs are sometimes a symptom of lazy or unimaginative writing--especially when they're slathered on in place of better descriptive writing. For example:

Alice lazily worked on her manuscript.

What does lazily look like? Instead of just plugging in an adverb, it would be better to show her being lazy.

(I don't mean to 'pick on' Jamie. I'm just using this as an example.)

I agree that adverbs can be a sign of unimaginative writing. But I disagree that it's always better to 'show her being lazy' instead.

(Of course, now I'm veering into the whole show-vs-tell debate.)

Using the adverb conveys the action efficiently (i.e., in one word). If I 'show' it instead, it would take more words. Sometimes, especially in fast-paced sections of a book, succientness is more appropriate.

tehuti88 · Dec 23, 2008

I don't hate adverbs.

I also don't hate prologues, "said-bookisms," archetypes, stories over 100,000 words, series stories, dream sequences, and just about every other thing that a lot of writers seem to despise with a passion.

As long as they belong in a story and aren't overdone, I'm good with them all. *shrug*

I admit, I'm seriously peeved about the people who DO misuse them, because they make it harder for writers like me to be taken seriously when WE use them. I can't count the times people have skipped my prologues (which are not infodumps or "introductions"). It was only when I came to this message board that I finally figured out why. Stupid prologue-misusers.

And that's not adverbs, no, but I hope I made my point. Such things can be misused, but it's sad that this leads to an assumption that such writing elements must ALWAYS be bad, at least until proven otherwise. An adverb (prologue, long story, etc.) is guilty until proven innocent!

gothicangel · Dec 23, 2008

I used to love my pretty writing. Then I read Hemmingway's The Killers. Wow!

NeuroFizz · Dec 23, 2008

Adverbs are just tools in the writer's toolchest.

But in writing our prose, if we are careful to show rather than to tell, and if we take the time to select the very best verb that perfectly suits the sentence or scene, we shouldn't be surprised to find the passage will be devoid, or nearly so, of adverbs.

If we want to make a precise, curving cut, we should reach for the jigsaw, not the chainsaw.

But, there are times in a story when it is demanded that we do some telling. And there are some verbs that just can't do the job they need to do by themselves.

When it comes time to rip through a tree branch, the jigsaw is no longer a wise choice.

[The analogy doesn't mean to suggest that using the occasional adverb is "rougher" writing, only that different tools are needed at different times in a story.]

Cranky · Dec 23, 2008

NeuroFizz said:
Adverbs are just tools in the writer's toolchest.

But in writing our prose, if we are careful to show rather than to tell, and if we take the time to select the very best verb that perfectly suits the sentence or scene, we shouldn't be surprised to find the passage will be devoid, or nearly so, of adverbs.

If we want to make a precise, curving cut, we should reach for the jigsaw, not the chainsaw.

But, there are times in a story when it is demanded that we do some telling. And there are some verbs that just can't do the job they need to do by themselves.

When it comes time to rip through a tree branch, the jigsaw is no longer a wise choice.

[The analogy doesn't mean to suggest that using the occasional adverb is "rougher" writing, only that different tools are needed at different times in a story.]

Yep. I always do a search when I'm finished with my first draft, and I find that almost none of the adverbs are necessary if I am showing instead of telling.

That's not always the case, as everyone else has said, but more often than not, they're there because I wasn't taking the time (being a first draft and all) to write it the way I see it the first time.

GirlWithPoisonPen · Dec 23, 2008

No part of the English language is inherently bad or evil.

In the hands of a writer who knows how to use them, adverbs can be wonderful things. But since so many writers misuse them, they have become a whipping boy.

It's never a bad idea to ask if all of the words in your sentence are doing the work they should be. If not, pick different ones or toss out the ones you don't need.

Dave.C.Robinson · Dec 23, 2008

The problem with adverbs is they often have the opposite effect to that intended.

qwerty · Dec 23, 2008

Hillgate said:
Anyone fancy meeting behind the bike sheds for a quick fag and a discussion about tautology versus apposite adverbial usage?

I'm up for that. The examples I gave were tautological, but I'd love to know what apposite adverbial usage means.

NeuroFizz · Dec 23, 2008

tautology versus apposite usage

(needlessly) repetitive usage versus appropriate usage

scarletpeaches · Dec 23, 2008

Eschew surplusage without obfuscation.

NeuroFizz · Dec 23, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
Eschew surplusage without obfuscation.

"I love it when you talk dirty," he slobbered hornyingly.

shakeysix · Dec 23, 2008

or just eschew obfuscation and screw the surplusage --s6

Jerry B. Flory · Dec 23, 2008

For me, avoiding adverbs is a great exercise. When I find myself building a sentence that runs into an adverb, I stop and think about how I can restructure that sentence. I catch myself doing some pretty stupid stuff just because I have the adverb alert on.
Now I just need that alarm that beeps and says "mockingly" YOU'RE WRITING SHIT!

The Lonely One · Dec 23, 2008

Whether or not you use adverbs, the ultimate challenge of the writer is to convey experience through words, a worthy but almost impossible endeavor.

This is my take on why a minimalist style is effective:

Words, in and of themselves, aren't worth their weight in experience. You can tell me a "horse trotted merrily down the hot, summer road and the flies buzzed lazily, grainy dirt beneath the horse's rock-hard hooves."

But (and this is going to show my geekiness) it's like Princess Leia said: the more you tighten your grasp, the more slips through your fingers. The more you say, the farther the writing gets from its goal.

With fiction, what is effective to me is what is in between the words, what the words evoke but do not choke out with forced over-describing.

Employing this ideology, I might tell you, "The horse clopped down a Louisiana dirt road, sun on her back, flies humming summer tunes in her ear."

I can more readily see the second example as a fictional image.

Why does everyone hate adverbs so much??

Writing Anarchist

Historicals and Horror rule

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

exiled Brit

Toughen up.

On location

Soldier, Storyteller

giving resonant directions

Around

Mackinac Island Fanatic

Toughen up.

The grad students did it

Mata Hari

... with the High Command

exiled Brit

The grad students did it

The grad students did it

blue eyed floozy

under the Milky Way

Why is a raven like a writing desk?