Adverbs in creative writing
Adverbs are a divisive topic in the writing community. Some people love them and others say they should never appear in your work. This can be confusing advice as a writer and you might find yourself asking, should I be using adverbs in my writing? Why are adverbs apparently so bad?
There are no ‘rules’ when it comes to adverbs, despite what people may say. Generally, writers are encouraged to avoid adverbs because they tell your reader what the emotional outcome is, rather than letting your reader experience it. There are times when this is a bad thing, but there are also times when you can use this technique to your advantage.
I won’t tell you to use or not use adverbs, instead, I want to give you the tools to understand what an adverb is, the effect they have on your reader, and typical scenarios where they work well and when they are better replaced with something else.
What are adverbs?
Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, sentences, or even another adverb to tell us how, when, where, how often and how much something happens. It’s generally the 'how' adverbs that people dislike in creative writing so in this blog, we will focus on that pesky variety!
Let’s take a look at some ‘how’ adverbs.
Verbs
· She quickly ran
· He slowly turned the page
Adjectives
· Extremely interesting
· Very happy
Sentences
· Interestingly, sharks have rough skin in both directions
· Funnily, I saw him last week
With another adverb
· He ran too quickly
· He did rather well on the test
Remember, not all words ending in ly are adverbs. Costly, friendly, kindly, likely, lively, ghostly, and cuddly are all examples of adjectives rather than adverbs. Sometimes, they can be both though so keep that in mind.
When adverbs work
In my experience as an editor, adverbs work best in the following situations:
When it will take too many words to describe the adverb
To create unusual or contrasting images
In dialogue
In early drafts of your novel
When you like the adverb
Let’s take a look at each scenario!
When it will take too many words to describe the adverb
Adverbs are useful when you want to say something without using too many words as they allow you to express complex scenarios in one word.
‘They ambitiously signed up for the half marathon’.
This use of 'ambitiously' tells us a lot about the character. We can tell that a half marathon is probably beyond their physical capabilities, but the character is either optimistic enough they can fit in enough training before the event or they have overestimated their abilities.
To create unusual or contrasting images
Another case where adverbs work well is when you use them to create unusual or contrasting images, especially those that reveal something about your character’s mood or motivation.
‘She quickly ran’
Running already implies a quick action, so the adverb doesn’t add much to this sentence.
‘She slowly ran’
This gives us a more interesting image to work with as it challenges our perception of running. This makes your reader ask: why is she running slowly? Is she unfit? Injured? Tired? Is she running slow on purpose to let someone else win the race?
Examples in this category are why it’s so hard to give 'rules' about adverbs. Their success depends so much on how they are used rather than the individual adverb itself. If you use 'she quickly ran' for a character who has been failing to train for a half marathon the whole book and could never jog more than a few meters, saying she ran quickly actually does tell you a lot about the situation they are in even if it’s repeated information.
You could replace these adverbs with an action instead, but these adverbs do add to the sentence rather than detract because of their unique usage.
In dialogue
Use adverbs in dialogue if it sounds natural for your character to say. Be careful, this is not dialogue tags (which is what comes after the dialogue such as she said) but within dialogue itself.
‘Think carefully about what comes out of your mouth next,’ her mother warned.
In early drafts of your novel
Otherwise, adverbs are great for first drafts as they allow you to get an idea on the page without having to think too much about it. After all, if you’re not sure if your scene is going to make it into the final novel, many writers don’t want to spend 20 minutes choosing the right word when you could just plonk an adverb down. It’s better to get the ideas on the page and worry about the details later.
When you like the adverb
If you think one of your adverbs sounds amazing and it goes against everything we’ve talked about today: that’s fine! Go for it. One of the best things a writer can do is be open to advice and criticism, but at the end of the day, it’s up to you what advice to take on and how you apply it.
Check out my adverbs flowchart here.