Something I am unbelievably tired of

[scarletmote]

Okay. There are lots of people out there who have written succinct and often helpful little books about how to write. Some of those books are much better than others, indeed some of them are incredibly helpful

Comments

[mencc1701]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with adverbs, used in moderation. I think that something that actually sticks out more than using adverbs and does tend to smack of bad writing is trying to hard to avoid the word "said":

"I hate you." Harry hissed.
"I hate you too." Countered Hermoine.
"You don't mean that!" Harry exclaimed.
"And how would you know?" Hermoine pontificated.

And so on.

Since I haven't read HP, though, I don't know if Rowling falls into this trap, but from what I know, it sounds as if she probably wouldn't.

[scarletmote]

as far as i can tell she doesn't do that to excess either, but you're right, that usually indicates a writer that's gotten a little thesaurus-happy...

[mencc1701]

Yeah, I remember reading an article or something by Robert J. Sawyer in which he went on about how people feel that said is a word to be avoided, while in reality the opposite tends to be true.

[caliza]

In one of my english classes in hs (it was prolly writers craft, but I'm not sure) we had an "instaid of said" list, so that we wouldn't overuse it. But at the same time, *never* using it does seem to reek of trying too hard...

oh and Dave, you need to read the HP books :P

[dynastessa]

Well said, my dear, well said.

I think the thing with the English language is that there are always rules that people will follow all the way to the grave, and there are rules that are, I don't know, meant to be broken.

Not to mention, the language is constantly changing, being messed around with, etc. so it's really hard for people to say, "DUDE, YOU ARE WRONG!" unless...you write like a 3 year old whose only vocab is netspeak. Most of the time, you can pick out whether you, as a writer, are using too many adverbs, adjectives, etc. etc.

And honestly, that's what editing is for.

Everything works out quite nicely if used in moderation.

[garnigal]

Have you ever said "I hate you" pleasantly to someone? I have, plenty of times. The first line makes me think of Harry standing with a smile on his face, being sarcastic or trying to disguise his anger by playing it cool.

And the said thing drives me nuts. Incidentally, have you noticed how many guides to good writers aren't written by writers or editors? Hmmm....

[flashwildecard]

This is why the only people truly qualified to give me an opinion of a writer, are other writers.

[dothewu]

the adverb?

..

no....

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

:: copyright George Lucas::