Get rid of the adverbs!

I always have someone in a workshop (almost always an unpublished, much rejected author) who tries to tell me I’m wrong, when I suggest this.

It is such a common mistake among would-be writers. It is the key to all bad writing, is what they mean by overwriting, and until you learn to control your compulsive need to stick an adverb into every orifice, trust me, you will never see a letter from a publisher that doesn't start with: thank you for your submission, however…

They are sloppy, indicate you haven’t thought the sentence through and worse, they slow down a good story.

Example

"Halt!" Percy cried loudly.

"Never!" Montague shouted defiantly.

"I'll kill you the next time we meet!" Percy yelled angrily!

"You'll have to catch me first!" Montague laughed cheekily, as he nimbly bounded over the fence to freedom…

If you've done your job, dialogue will speak for you. There is no need to emphasise the obvious by adding needless descriptions.

Corrected:

"Halt!" Percy cried.

"Never!" Montague shouted back.

"I'll kill you the next time we meet!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" Montague said with a laugh, as he bounded over the fence to freedom…

Remember Elmore Leonard’s historical romance writer who wrote books full of “rape and adverbs”?

Don't let that be you. Be strong. Slash those wretched adverbs. Ruthlessly. Enthusiastically. Passionately. Earnestly. Willingly… (get the idea?)

And just to prove I’m not alone in this stance against the abuse of adverbs, here are some links to some other authors who belong to the AAAS (Abolish All Adverbs Society) and who will tell you the same thing.

CH Cherryh

Elmore Leonard

And although they don't apply speficially to adverbs, here are Mark Twain's Rules of Writing, because not only are they hysterical, but they are perfect and nobody should attempt to write a book without taking note of his advice.

Funny, I couldn’t actually find a single published author who genuinely, helpfully and honestly advocated using more adverbs. Seriously.

Hi Jen,
Loved your article on adverbs, having just gone through my manuscript and destroyed any of the unmentionables I could find.
I printed out Mark Twain's common sense comments and will probably use them for my 'Confident Effective Writing' course, along with your adverbials anecdotes.
Hope we see you at the Gold Coast next year.

I still have the little sticker I put on my monitor "Kill the Adverbs!" - the sage advice you gave me in a phone conversation... good grief, over two years ago now!

Good advice, though I hate to kill _all_ the adverbs. I do agree that one should never use an adverb to modify "said", though I had to proof a few chapters of my own work to make sure I wasn't guilty. Another offensive practice too commonly used is creative verbs to replace "said". These will get you in just as much trouble.
One thing, Rule #8 in your blog "10 rules for writing a multi-million bestseller" was to disregard Elmore Leonard's advise and write something "full of rape and adverbs". I assume you were being sarcastic, no?

Yes Chris, you assume correctly:)

Stephen King despises adverbs, too. It's in his book called "On Writing." He says exactly that. Too many adverbs make the writing sound corny.

Perhaps someone should tell the Department of Education so they teach this in schools, I can still remember English teachers telling the class to replace said with more colourful words (yes thats what they said). Mind you, this was students attempts at creative writing they were going to mark, they were most likely craving colourful instead of stories from emo or airheaded students