Complete Write a Novel Course: Teach Yourself by Will Buckingham

Author:Will Buckingham [Buckingham, Will]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2014-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

ADVERBS

For many writing tutors, if adjectives are permanently under suspicion, then adverbs are often assumed guilty before they have even been arrested and tried. But many of the things we have looked at with adjectives apply to adverbs.

Adverbs modify verbs, just as adjectives modify nouns. While adjectives talk about particular qualities of subjects and objects (hence ‘ad-jective’), adverbs talk about the particular qualities of actions (hence ‘ad-verb’). Like adjectives, there is nothing at all wrong with adverbs in themselves. As with your adjectives, the question to ask is whether your adverbs are really doing the work that you want them to do. Are they helping to add intensity or nuance or richness to your story? Or are they slowing the pace, providing redundant information, or otherwise getting in the way?

Look at the following two sentences:

She suddenly burst through the door.

She burst through the door.

The second sentence, to my mind, is much more sudden, because we get to the verb – the action of the sentence – much more quickly. The sentence that announces its suddenness is less and not more suddenness. On the other hand, look at the following two sentences.

She slowly opened the bottle.

She opened the bottle.

In the first sentence, the reader is in the dark for a little longer as to what the protagonist is doing. But here you may want this effect: the slowing may suit your purposes. So there really are no rules about whether you should or shouldn’t use adverbs, or how many you should use. However, as with adjectives, there are a few questions that you can ask.

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