Flip the Script: Use Adverbs Fearlessly
By Jael McHenry | July 2, 2012 |
As you can tell from the previous installments in the Flip the Script series, I’m not much for writing “rules.” Any advice that includes “you must always” or “you must never” has no place in my writer’s toolbox. So you can imagine how closely I suggest you follow the advice “Never use adverbs.”
Poor adverbs. They get a bad rap. But they’re not really the problem.
Every part of speech can be used for good or evil. You can’t eliminate any one of them outright. Would we ever say “don’t use verbs” or “don’t use adjectives”? How silly.
What’s the real problem that “Don’t use adverbs” is trying to solve? Redundancy. Overwriting is a common beginner’s mistake, and it goes a little something like this:
“Get away from me!” She shouted angrily.
The thief crept through the shadows stealthily.
Carefully, I set down the precious vase.
The thing is, if you’ve done your job in the dialogue and description, those adverbs are unnecessary. Redundant. A repeat of information the reader already has. So it isn’t really the adverb you should be avoiding. It’s the repetition.
Those sentences, rewritten to avoid the adverbs, can still come out clunky as all get out:
“Get away from me!” she shouted in an angry voice.
The thief crept through the shadows, taking care to stay hidden.
I set down the precious vase with care so I wouldn’t break it.
See? Still awkward — actually, even more so — and nary an adverb in sight.
So in your first draft, I say, deploy those adverbs fearlessly. Throw them in wherever you think they make sense. And when you go through the text on your first edit, see whether they’re really necessary. A good adverb can be a thing of beauty, so some of those uses are going to stay in. Some of them are going to come out. (Especially in dialogue-heavy scenes, where a well-placed concise description of action can convey loads.) And that’s okay.
What you don’t want to do is spend more time worrying about which parts of speech you’re using than just getting words on paper (or on-screen). Sure, you may find a better way to say it on the next draft. You may be able to make your dialogue sing or find that just-so bit of description that makes everything come alive. But one of the big problems with keeping all those writing “rules” in mind is that they stifle your creativity. And that’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it? To be creative.
So keep writing. Fearlessly.
(Image by psd)
Jael McHenry is the debut author of The Kitchen Daughter (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, April 12, 2011). Her work has appeared in publications such as the North American Review, Indiana Review, and the Graduate Review at American University, where she earned her MFA in Creative Writing. You can read more about Jael and her book at jaelmchenry.com or follow her on Twitter at @jaelmchenry.
I have one word for this post: Hallelujah! Why should using adverbs feel like a guilty pleasure? (she wrote exhultantly)–totally kidding there. Thanks for a fun post!
Wonderful post, Jael! I couldn’t agree more! Adverbs are always getting swept under the carpet when, if used correctly, they can really make or break a sentence. Thanks for all of your witty examples and for daring us to be “fearless” creators!
Love this post! I’m an adverb fan–maybe I should have t-shirts printed up. ; )
I see why the rule is in place, but you’re right–our goal is to get the story written. Thanks for the insight and permission to write without fear.
Jael,
You make a good point. I still try to avoid adverbs, but when I was reviewing my draft I came across a couple of them and was about to delete them, but then I thought in these cases they were the perfect word. It just goes to prove there is an exception to every rule. I really look forward to your posts. Keep up the great work.
Jael: Thanks for reminding writers “why and when” to avoid adverbs. Personally, I love them. Truly. Madly. Deeply.
Great post. I think I have seen this kind of advice before, but you still nailed it in the head: “Use an adverb when saying the same thing but with more words is pointless.”
Sometimes, you can’t find a verb that lets you knock out the adverb.
Hail fellow rule-breaker!
But…yes, adverbs can result in redundancy, but they also break another rule, an important one: show, don’t tell.
“The writer cautiously put down the words on the paper.” Told, not shown.
Behind each rule is a principle. If you want your readers to take your word for it, then tell…use adverbs. If you want your readers to discover things while they are reading your story, then show. I think readers believe their eyes more than the opinion of the narrator.
I say, find the principle behind the rule, and then crush it (the rule).
I was actually going to say the same thing!
Great article, Jael! I absolutely agree that “Never” and “Always” shouldn’t be in writing rules.
Yes, yes, yes. Adverbs are not evil, any more than books are evil. Some books can be subversive (so what), and adverbs can make us lazy, but they weren’t invented out of meanness. They have a purpose, just as table wine has a purpose. It is our mis-use that can be wrong. I’ve long been an advocate of knowing the rules before you break them. Know your target, then smash that puppy.
I agree that your first draft should be brainstorming with your characters. But I strongly suggest you read it back aloud. As Paul Simon wisely (lol) said, “Your mind hears what it wants to hear, and disregards the rest.”
Dane, that thought crossed my mind when I was reading “Garden Spells.” Sarah Addison Allen uses the word “curiously” a lot, and I actually felt like she was cheating a little. It was okay and even forgiveable because the rest of the story was so good, but I soon after adopted that word in my own writing. It IS telling, though, like you say. A bit of a cop out. I think I’ll reconsider. thanks for your comment. Redundancy isn’t the only issue, here.
Great advice. Actually I have heard people say not to use adjectives. Like adverbs, when used improperly they can make for clunky writing, but at times they can be even more essential to sentences than adverbs are. Try describing the color of something without an adjective!
“one of the big problems with keeping all those writing “rules” in mind is that they stifle your creativity.”
I couldn’t agree more. When I am juggling the rules in my head, worrying about whether or not I’m “doing it right”, I can’t get words on the page. I love the advice to throw in the adverbs and then gently cull them later. As always, your “Flip the Script” advice is priceless.
Love the way you think (and, the way you write). Loved ‘every part of speech can be used for good or evil’. Your POV is liberating. Come back soon.
I am one of those writers who love adverbs. Sure, they can be used more than necessary, but so can any other part of speech, almost, anyway. So what is the difference between a great adverb and an adverbial phrase? Are those cliche as well? I know adverbs get a bad rap, but some are just too descriptive to overlook. Thanks for the encouragement to write cautiously, yet fearlessly.
I’ve never really understood the need to worry over the rules in a first draft.
Getting the story on paper is the goal. I happily rush through draft one.
Tell instead of show!
Use adverbs!
Head hop baby!
Experiment!
If you don’t, you might miss a novel idea or character facet.
I passionately am in concordance. Up with adjectives! Down with nouns!
The brick-and-mortar, noun-and-verb, school of writing is precariously unstable. What easily passes for perfectionist precision is in fact a sneaky cover for subversive and erosive bluntness. Who wants writing to be readily comprehended? Make readers stop and think–or better still reach for their dictionaries!
Popular fiction in particular has reached schlerotic states of plain-spoken silliness. That’s what happens when you consume a perpetual meal of potato-chip crunchiness. Ladel on the cream sauce of language! We have nothing to lose but our our minds! (Er, maybe I mean “gain”?)
Oh wait…you aren’t against nouns? Sorry. I misunderstood.
But we can agree on verbs, can’t we? There isn’t a verb living that wouldn’t benefit from a modifier!
My goodness, you pushed a button there, Jael. I thought you were talking about adjectives. On re-reading, I see that you championed adverbs.
So we’re in harmonious agreement! Modifiers indisputably rule! I say again: obfuscate! Embrace complexity! If the revolution fails we’ll fix in draft two!
Now if I’d met you, I’d be asking you how much coffee you had this morning, but since I just follow your writing and advice faithfully, I am left to humbly ask–potato chips and cream sauce?! Nooooo. Talk about sclerotic. arterial, that is. :-)
I had a LOT of coffee this morning. Or maybe it’s the heat? Dunno, but a sudden rash of adverb fever has gripped me. It’ll pass, along with the metaphor miasma. Can’t stand cream sauce, truthfully.
Look who put the ‘ad’ back in adverb. ;)
Jael, thanks for the reinforcement. I love adverbs. Always have. Always will. Or should I say perpetually and endlessly?
I’m enjoying this series, Jael. Rules can paralyze, and I’ve been startled to see how often my favorite storytellers break them. That’s not to say one should settle for shoddy craft, but a writer doesn’t have to be a model craftsperson to engage readers.
Makes sense to me. Thanks for a clear and sensible post.
Jael, Thank you for fearlessly writing this liberating column.
Good post! Sometimes it’s better to just get the words out when you’re writing the first draft, rather than losing your flow trying to think of a word to use instead of the adverb. You can always come up with a stronger verb during revisions–if the adverb isn’t just the word you need. Sometimes it may be just the thing.
Thanks Jael, a useful reminder to try and write…meaningfully!
This is one of the best posts I’ve ever read, Jael. You explain the real problem with adverbs isn’t the adverbs at all, but our writing so that we don’t have to use them at all.
Thank you.
Patti
Good advice on letting that first draft flow. They do that now in the early years of public school too, no worry about spelling. However, at some point they should be going back and editing for spelling and grammer – I don’t think that happens enough.
Loudly and happily I clapped repeatedly.
You get the point.
I tend to run through my first draft just writing, letting the words fly. Even my grammar and punctuation isn’t on target.
That is what editing and reworking are for.
Thank you for this post..
Hurrah! Thank you!
[…] get the words right. C.S. Lakin discusses adverb deletion, while Jael McHenry flips the script and promotes using adverbs fearlessly. Mignon Fogarty describes the 13 trickiest grammar hang-ups; Tiffany Lawson Inman decries “with […]
*cheering very loudly*
I’ve been saying this for a while, so thanks for saying it, too! Never use verbs, indeed.
A la King (Stephen), the road to hell may, indeed, be paved with adverbs, but there’s no reason they shouldn’t be mindfully used to patch a few potholes in some prose-weary sentence structure. Thanks for taking all my adverb guilt away, but more importantly, reminding me when they have a real purpose.
Writing rules are great for beginners but when you get to a certain point, you’re in danger of being held back by them. There comes a time in every writer’s life when you’ve got to think: so what if I’m never supposed to do this – this is what the story needs so I’m going to do it. Besides, for every rule I know, I can think of at least one well-respected author who’s broken it.
Great post.
As someone who is finishing the last edit of her first ms, all I can say is… WELL SAID! :)
Thanks for putting this out there, Jael. Sure, we’ve all seen adverbs overused and cringed at the language… but to declare that a writer should never use them? Pah.
I do highlight them with a highlighter as I edit along, but I don’t demand that they all be deleted.
Thank you for this post! :D
I completely agree with the advice in this post, but wonder if perhaps one might get the wrong impression from it if one is a beginner AND if one doesn’t read it carefully. If anyone presents the rule “never use adverbs,” that’s hyperbolic, but that beginning writers tend to use them too much is not. Your examples are of course awful (you chose them to be so), but often it is possible to say the same thing without the adverb more succinctly and more powerfully. (And I say that even though I used no less than three adverbs in the previous sentence.) Assuming there really is a rule “never use adverbs” (I’ve never encountered it but I’m prepared to take your word for it), the only thing wrong with it is that word “never.”
Here’s how I could rewrite those three sentences you presented above, the ones with and without the adverbs:
“Get away from me!” she shouted, her fists clenched and her eyes flashing.
The thief crept through the shadows, darting through the infrequent patches of light like a lizard.
I set down the precious vase, not daring to breathe, my fingers trembling.
Thus avoiding both adverbs and non-adverb clunky redundancy. And of course none of this means one should literally “never” use an adverb — only that using too many of them when the same meaning can be expressed in a stronger way is a very common error of both beginners and the first drafts even of non-beginners.
That said — I still agree with your advice regarding letting it hang in your first draft and then going through and removing all superfluous adverbs, which will be most of them but not all.
Jael, really appreciate your words of support for the adverb. If you don’t mind indulging a little self-promotion, I’ve created a game called Act the Adverb that celebrates the part of speech. If you have a Kindle and Amazon Prime, you can get it for free here, https://amzn.to/NnTVIm, or shoot me an email at contact@hypublishing.com and I’ll gift you a copy. Thanks!
Good advice and summed up in a point made by Ramsey Campbell in an interview he gave with OFW:
You’d hope nobody would write “I love you,” he said affectionately – but what about “I love you,” he said bitterly?
In the second example, the adverb is spot on.
Good gravy, THANK YOU SO MUCH for writing this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard published authors say, “Don’t use adverbs.” Then you read one of their books and, lo and behold, there are adverbs all over the place. I’m not worrying about it anymore and I’m getting words on the page. Thank you for your advice!