Phantastic Phantasy Forum Those "ly" Ending Adverbs (it'..

I'm about halfway through writing my first ever novel, and I just came across this concept (see link above). 

Yikes. 

I think I do this a lot.  Luckily I'm using Scrivener for writing my book, so tracking down all instances of -ly is easy.  I've got a ton of editing to do.  I'm going to try to replace all instances of adverbs with stronger verbs that better depict the image I'm driving towards. 

It's not that all adverbs are bad, but using them a lot people say (the writing community in general) that it's weak writing. 

Any other novice writers like me check out the link, I think it's very valuable.  If this is obvious to you, then you are one big step ahead.  ;)

Write on!

Great point here
I am currently going through my novel and culling as many superfluous adverbs as I can.
Take heart. It's a big job but well worth the effort

Chris K

I admit it sounds painful after a while. Yikes.
I hope I haven't done this to any of my writings!

Thanks for posting this up.
Much obliged :D

I tend to liken adverbs to seasoning. A little when appropriate adds flavour to your writing, but overuse or using them in the wrong place leaves a bad taste behind.

     As many of you seem to agree, I personally believe that there is nothing wrong with placing -ly into a sentence if it fits. The writer needs to understand that overusing -ly is the same as constantly saying, he did this while he looked around the room at the same moment he...etc. Moderation and practice.

Stephen King was joked that JK Rowling never met an adverb she didn't like.

So take heart, we all do it ^^

I'd agree that when adverbs are used redundantly or incongruously it's bad writing, but adverbs are key to adding thickness to descriptions.

I think at the end of the day its a stylistic choice-- If you're a writer who enjoys detailed nuanced descriptions and you have a readership that enjoys reading such things, then it's a match.  If you're a writer who enjoys more a more pointed, punchy style and you have a readership who prefers to move along and leave the details to the imagination-- then that works too.  I can think of a lot of great authors that go both routes.

More importantly, though, I think adverbs are key to pacing.  It's a useful tool to lay them in thick in some stretches of writing and leave them out in other, depending on how you want the reader to experience variations in time, detail and thereby develop a rhythm that dovetails in with your climax-building moments. I think if you focus too much on a part of speech, especially if you're calling it bad writing, you focus on a fixed structure and miss out on the point which is the nuances of human communication.

But that's just my opinion (probably because I don't want to give up my adverbs :) )

oh crap...... lol, that's kinda the first thing that pops in my head