Tag Archives: write a better novel

Rule #3 of 32 Simple Rules to the Writing the Best Novel Ever

Posted on May 22, 2013 | 20 comments

I’m dissecting the article Hunting Down the Pleonasm, by Allen Guthrie, using it as a cattle prod to search for little nasties in my manuscript. Yep, you can join in the fun, too. Let’s take a looksee at topic #3

3: Use strong verbs in preference to adverbs. I won’t say avoid adverbs, period, because about once every fifty pages they’re okay! What’s not okay is to use an adverb as an excuse for failing to find the correct verb. To ‘walk slowly’ is much less effective than to ‘plod’ or ‘trudge’. To ‘connect strongly’ is much less effective than to ‘forge a connection’.

This one is a bit easier to swallow. Everyone knows about adverbs, right? But using them is sometimes a hard habit to break. If you find your work laden with adverbs, here is my suggestion:

1. Make a copy of your work and save the original “just in case”

2. Go through a chapter and delete all the adverbs. Resist the desire to look at the sentence at this point. Just delete. Using the search feature and looking for “ly” will help with this. Look for “very” while you are at it, and just delete.

3. Done? Good! Now go back and read your chapter. Most likely, if you’ve written a strong scene, you will not even notice they are gone.

Here’s a one sentance example from “Optimal Red”:

His heart beat rapidly in his chest as the doors opened.

His heart pulsed as the doors opened.

Go ahead! Give it a try? How did it go? Were you able to strengthen your manuscript just by deleting? Did you need to add a little more emphasis to replace the missing word? Where did you decide to leave an adverb for flavor?