Something I was recently called out on was a scattering of adverbs in my writing - in other words, those words ending in '-ly', such as slowly, grimly, painfully...
I admit it's a cop out and a classic case of telling instead of showing, but I didn't realise how much I did it until someone pointed it out to me. Now every instance is like a giant turd staring out of the page at me, like some horrific obscenity - the literary equivalent of a kick in the knackers.
And I've started noticing the damn things in other people's writing too. Even esteemed authors use the occasional quickly or deftly, and each time it's like smashing your car into a brick wall - I crumble to a painful halt and have to start again from the next sentence.
Sometimes all these writing 'rules' are a pain in the arse. I'm off to make a cup of tea, quickly and expertly of course.
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You should check out the AutoCrit Editing Wizard. It lets you know when you've used too many LY-adverbs (plus a whole bunch of other weak words).
ReplyDeleteAhh, sounds good, cheers Janine! I tend to stop myself just as I type them these days, although every time I pick up a bestselling book that has about twenty on the first page alone, I wonder what's the bloody point :)
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