I’m still under the weather folks, so I am going to make this brief.
My editor as well as several books I’ve read talks about adverbs. Consider adverbs as a strong spice that you’re cooking with. None will leave the meal bland; too much will spoil your hard work.
Specifically (that word is an adverb), do away with as many as possible. The ‘ly’ and ‘ing’ words mark you as an amateur.
What I did was to highlight all of these words in my ms. Now I can easily see them and decide if they need to be changed. Your goal is to have no more than one or two per page.
That is just one step in self editing. I wished I’d known this about five years ago. With that in mind, I’m passing this information on to you.
Does that help?
26 comments:
I like the comparison - adverbs as strong spices. Too true!
Yes, that helps me understand the reason why. Thank you for your comment Marieke.
Nancy
I prefer most of my spice to come from action, dialogue, description, or from a trading route to Asia. And even then, I use the spices sparingly as I don't like to have steam coming out of my ears.
Seriously, though, I've been learning which words make a mess out of the writing. My latest target has been the word "that."
You make a good point Jeffrey. We all have certain words that we use too often.
Nancy
Highlighting adverbs is a great suggestion. Then delete 90% of them.... I added that last part. I love strong writing that doesn't rely on adverbs and adjectives.
I'd heard of the adverb thing, but this comparison is much easier to grasp. It's an excellent suggestion!
I have heard of the adverb advice, suggesting that the writing itself should communicate what the adverb does. I like your idea of highlighting them, to really pick up on if we're using too many.
I'm glad all of you like that idea. Thank you Lou, Golden and Joanne for leaving a comment.
Nancy
Frankly I'm way too lazy to use adverbs anyway. So this hasn't been a problem for me.
One or two a page, though? Wow. That's sparing usage. I suppose if that's the standard, it would make you evaluate each and every one and only keep the ones that were especially fantastically amazingly necessary.
Thanks for stopping by my blog the other day!
Cheers,
Kristen
I loved Kristen's tongue in cheek response!!
4 adverbs in one sentence.
Kristen, You're welcome. I won't make it around to everyone today. Sorry about that. Your sentence is amazing.
KK, it did make me smile.
Nancy
I really like the strong spice analogy!! Thank you!! And, I hope you feel better soon :-)
Get well soon. Being under the weather's a drag.
I like this explanation because you’re not saying never you’re just saying season lightly. (like my use of ly there, did ya, did ya?)
Spice is a good analogy Paul.
Thank you Kay.
I do like that Holly.
Thanks all for leaving a comment.
Nancy
I like to use the AutoCrit Editing Wizard for finding the LY and ING words. It let's you know when you've got too many -- i.e. you've overdone the spice :-)
I did this with my last line edit--it was hugely helpful. I cut 500 words ending in -ly... *blushes*
I did that with my MS. I did not realize I used the word "quickly" over 100 times. I got rid of all except for about three of the usages.
Stephen Tremp
Good idea Kay.
It's amazing how we rely on words and don't know it Lyla.
Stephen, that was good work.
Thanks everyone for leaving a comment.
Nancy
I hate the ly adverbs. They always sneak into my ms. =)
They sure do! I go out of my way now not to use anything with an LY at the end.
Carolyn, I hear you there.
L. Diane, I had the same thought but recently I read an award winning first chapter and came across a couple of ly words. So I guess it is the total context.
Thank you both for your comments.
Nancy
Oh! I hope you feel better soon!
Great advice to be wary of the ly and ing words. And don't forget 'very'.
Very is one of those unimportant words that we use so much in our conversations that we forget about it. Good advice Lynda.
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Nancy
The 'strong spice' analogy really helps, thank you
You're welcome eeleenlee. I know it helped me when my editor used it. I expanded on it a little to add the not enough.
Nancy
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