My opinions are my own. « 5,000 Words Per Hour » is available at Kobo and Amazon/Audible. On to the tested writing tip stuff!
One night, the teacher in our creative writing class said: adverbs are bad.
I felt called out, probably like most of the others 20 years old students there.
One night, the teacher in our creative writing class said: adverbs are bad.
I felt called out, probably like most of the others 20 years old students there.
I was (still am) very fond of adverbs. I loved their rhythm, the way they would make emotions, places, moments clearer.
That being said, I was more eager to become a better writer than to fight for adverbs. And since, according to my teacher, a great open-minded author, relying on adverbs was a clear sign of lazy, unimaginative writing, I promptly banned them.
For years, I avoided them whenever possible, and felt like a bad writer whenever I was using them.
Over the years, I learned how to make peace with adverbs. I used them less for sure. And when I do use them, I go through these checkpoints:
When in doubt, I read the sentence out loud. Tell you the truth, I often read out loud, just to see if I trip on words or need to take a breath in the middle of a sentence (a clear sign that there’s a punctuation problem somewhere, or that the sentence is way too long).
So there it is, short and sweet, my tested writing tip on how to make peace with adverbs.
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Until next time!
It is an exercise to help you find your OWN writing voice, not an invitation to plagiarism!!!
That one comes from the creative writing class I took way back then, some twenty years ago, oh dear oh dear.
Still, its a valid writing tip that helps me a lot, especially when I feel a writing block lurking around.
Here’s the edited definition for writers: a literary piece consisting wholly of borrowed techniques.
You copy the writing style of a other writer, in order to understand how they use words, grammar, how they described, how they develop characters.
VERY IMPORTANT: It is an exercise to help you find your OWN writing voice, not an invitation to plagiarism!!!
It works like this: you pick 3 to 5 novels, from different authors from different eras, and more importantly, different genre.
Choose a novel from Agota Kristoff, Jacques Poulin, Colette, Isaac Asimov and Alessandro Barrico, for exemple.
It will help if you read the whole book before selecting a specific scene, but you can also just select a scene.
After reading the selected scene thoroughly, you write a new story using the style and voice of the author.
Simple enough, but I found it really helps me clear my mind and narrow down my own writing voice, while picking up some great writing techniques.
Writing a pastiche of J.D. Sallinger twenty years ago left me, to this day, with a different perspective on rhythm.
I hope this writing tip will help.
Now, this wanna-be traditionally published author is going back to the mid-point of her current WIP.
Until next time!
PS.: If you liked this post, feel free to buy me a little ko-fi. Thanks a million!
Marie Alice Writes & Reads 