Comments on Quiller's Place - The View From The Spire: Ask Sally #14 - Rules and advice

It's a really interesting point and I'm glad you r...

2007-10-18T13:45:00.000+01:00

It's a really interesting point and I'm glad you raised it on your blog, Sally.

Thanks for coming along to give your take on this,...

2007-10-18T09:06:42.781+01:00

Thanks for coming along to give your take on this, Kate. I think you've explained it really well and certainly much better than I could (which I'm sure is why you were chosen to teach at Arvon!)

I've taught writing at Arvon, and I can say why I'...

2007-10-18T08:13:00.000+01:00

I've taught writing at Arvon, and I can say why I'd never espouse the rule about automatically replacing verb+adverb with a strong verb.

Firstly, what some people call a "strong verb" by its nature is more visible. It draws attention to itself; it stands up and announces its presence in the middle of your writing where a more humble, invisible, transparent verb would not. You can see the effect I mean if you do through a piece of dialogue and replace all the 'saids' with synoyms for 'said', like 'muttered', 'exclaimed', 'intoned' etc. Every one of those verbs is "stronger" than said, but that's not necessarily an effect to strive for continuously! Plus a lot will depend on the style of the piece you're writing.

Secondly, "strong verbs" tend to descrbe a very precise action, to pin-point it exactly. That might be what you want for the particular writing moment - in which case go for it. But looking at the examples above, 'sneaked' is a very specific movement, and in no way works as a replacement for 'walked slowly' (unless you were after describing sneaking in the first place). The same goes for the other verbs: 'sloped' and 'sauntered' imply great casualness, either real or studied, which the action of simply walking slowly doesn't carry. There IS no direct, invisible, neutral equivalent for 'walking slowly'. And if you've set your context beforehand, there shouldn't be any ambiguity about the reason the character walks slowly.

And thirdly, you sometimes need a multi-syllabic phrase for the sake of the rhythm of the sentence. That's harder to define or summarize here, but your writer's ear should tell you if a sentence you've just written sounds too abrupt or short within its context.

I should add that the other Arvon teacher I was teamed with didn't follow this "replace adverbs" rule either. I don't know any novelists who do.

I should add that not every writing teacher explai...

2007-10-17T21:47:22.159+01:00

I should add that not every writing teacher explains why adverbs and adjectives should be left out. They just give it as a blanket rule and don't explain why.

Your two'penneth is very welcome here, Cally :-) Y...

2007-10-17T21:35:11.938+01:00

Your two'penneth is very welcome here, Cally :-)

Yes, I agree with you. And I know the examples I used weren't perfect (they never are when you need one, are they?)

I just wanted to make the point that the advice given to the person who asked the question to take out *all* adverbs is a bit drastic, as there are more than the -ly ones out there, as in my examples 'she finished it on time' or 'he laughed out loud'.

We will always, as writers, look for better, more poetic ways to say things, and sometimes we might decide the first, simple way was the best. What's troubling is if we're told don't do this' 'don't do that' which makes us afraid to experiment with the language for fear of getting it wrong.

Great post Sally. I just wanted to add my two'penn...

2007-10-17T21:19:00.000+01:00

Great post Sally. I just wanted to add my two'penneth about the reason why people tell you to avoid using adverbs. I know you'll know the reason but just for anyone that doesn't...

It's to do with using strong verbs. i.e. Don't use an adverb if you can use a strong verb to replace the verb+adverb.

So...

"Geoff walked slowly across the room"

is more vivid if you write:

"Geoff sauntered across the room"

or

"Geoff sloped across the room"

or

"Geoff sneaked across the room"

"walking slowly" can be interpreted in lots of different ways. Saying Geoff "sneaked" across the room is a much more powerful and precise way of describing the way he moved. It can also give an insight into Geoff's character.

Two'penneth over!