Quote of the Day (06/04/08)
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
Stephen King
[Quote supplied by the Quotations Page]
Writers of fiction are advised a lot not to use too many adverbs. It’s especially noticeable when you’re writing dialogue and each line is followed by ‘he said quickly’ and ’she said crossly’. I read in a newspaper article once that J. K. Rowling is very guilty of this in the early Harry Potter novels, and I got completely distracted when I re-read them last by noticing all the examples! Thankfully, she gets over it in the later ones.
On the other hand, I’ve found adverbs to be a great way of plumping out a NaNoWriMo word count – they can always be taken out in the edit!
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on April 6th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
That’s a good little book of Stephen King’s – good on writing and good on his life story too – it hasn’t been an easy ride for him.
I want to try to set down some of my own thoughts on Stevie over the next week or two – I go back a long way with his books.
on April 6th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Some critics, professors, and people I’ll call “snobs”, spend so much time criticizing Stephen King, that they fail to see the truth: the man sells books. Stephen King is good at what he does, and definitely has good advice to share with aspiring authors. I like King’s personal essays as much as I like some of what I consider to be his best books.
on April 6th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I don’t know, I’m quite fond of adverbs.
I admire your progress bar in the top right corner. I use an Excel sheet. Having a task list with pretty colors somehow makes it less daunting.
on April 7th, 2008 at 1:38 am
A little off topic, but do you know of Enid Blyton? If so, I’d like a recommendation as to what 3 or 4 of her books would give one a good introduction to her writing. Thanks.
on April 7th, 2008 at 2:17 am
I am guilty of using adverbs, but notice more and more when I use them, and seek better options. Like yourself, Stephen King introduced me to this matter of substance and style, and “On Writing” would be the only writing book I’ve read every year since it was first published. It always introduces me to something significant, and shapes the way I treat style and grammar.
I love the note on JK Rowling too I admire her for her ability to succeed, and reach so many people with her books; it’s wonderful to watch writers develop through their work = )
on April 7th, 2008 at 7:36 am
On Writing is wonderful. I love King because he loves writing. Even if no one published him, he’d be plugging away.
on April 9th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
A tremendous tip, from the mouth of an indisputable authority, King is great as well as Rowling because they now how to tell the story – and because their narrative bravura is making them tremendous first of all, regardless of certain technical issues which are, in my opinion -of minor importance.