Yusuf Toropov's Blog: Literary Striver, page 4

My Pet Peeve: Adverbs

My pet writing peeve is my own dangerous propensity to rely on adverbs, which I consider the linguistic equivalent of junk food.



It happens, from time to time, that I find myself tempted to stick cheap adverbs into my fiction. And when that temptation arises, I remind myself of Stephen King's admonition to avoid them. Here is the relevant quote from ON WRITING, a marvelous hybrid of memoir and how-to book, and one of my favorite nonfiction books of all time:


“I believe the road to hell is paved...

Ayat of the Day

Ayat of the Day: October 15, 2016

Surat Ar-Rahman, 60
هَلۡ جَزَآءُ ٱلۡإِحۡسَـٰنِ إِلَّا ٱلۡإِحۡسَـٰنُ
Is there any Reward for Good other than Good?
نیکی کا بدلہ نیکی کے سوا کچھ نہیں ہے

NO I AM NOT KIDDING: Get ready for President Trump. Here's why.

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This latest news is quite alarming. It turns out there is in fact a strategy to the Loathsome One's final weeks of the campaign. And you know what? It could work. Below is from Electoral-Vote.com.




The most recent ABC poll shows Clinton with only a four-point lead, far less than one would expect given the magnitude of national outrage over the Tape. I believe this strategy is brilliant. I believe it is working. And it makes my stomach churn.
This little twist suggests that, to the degree we...

The Work In Progress

It's coming along quite nicely. My editor par excellence +Safie Maken Finlay knows how much work has gone into it. As of now I have 15,000 readable words of a projected 100,000 words, and the thing has kicked into overdrive. The car seems to know where it's going.

No Beatles references in this one.

The target completion date for the draft is February 15.

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This is no longer an election. It's a national exorcism.

Please help get out the vote.

Michiko Kakutani's review of Volker Ullrich's HITLER: ASCENT does not mention the US presidential election ...

... and is all the more powerful for not doing so.

Read the review. It serves as a grim, important warning to all democracies, and this year, the American democracy in particular. You'll find it here.

Then connect the dots and share, please.

Suppose we all call him "DONALD" from this point forward.

The Democratic nominee never said a word about "Mr. Trump" in the recent debate. Did you notice?

It was always "Donald."

This was a shrewd tactic, and it clearly rattled the Fascist candidate. Mrs. Clinton placed a bet that this man really, really doesn't like being called "Donald." And the bet paid off.

Personally, I think the practice should continue for the rest of his life.

His doorman should call him "Donald." His limo driver should call him "Donald." Random strangers passing him on the stre...

My vote for best show on Netflix: SPOTLESS

Two brothers, one of whom owns a crime-scene cleaning business, are forced to clean up the mob's dirty work.

SPOTLESS is not for the faint of heart -- in fact, it's brutally violent in places -- but if you liked BREAKING BAD, I predict you will not regret committing to this brilliant, occasionally blood-spattered black comedy. Click the image below for a teaser video. Warning: It contains spoilers.




Some might not agree with me about the "comedy" label, but I do think it fits here. The show's in...

How the Hell Did Vladimir Nabokov Pronounce His Last Name? How the Hell Do I Pronounce Mine?

Let's start with the most essential piece of evidence. Sting, an English speaker and former English teacher, chooses to accent the first syllable of the name "Nabokov" in the Police classic DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME -- just as I, an English speaker and former English teacher, choose to accent the first syllable in my own last name.






That great Eighties band, of course, played no role in my dad's decision to reclaim our family name. It had been long concealed by my grandfather, who was not eage...