Dellie asked Michael J. Sullivan:

This question might be a more personal choice between authors but I know that is Stephen King's books about writing, he says adverbs "pave the road to hell" and in a few of my creative writing classes that adverbs are weak writing. I was wondering if you find this to be a steadfast rule across all writing or if its case by case, or in modern writing does it matter less the use of adverbs? Thanks for your answer!

Michael J. Sullivan So my first thought is Stephen King has a fair number of adverbs in his books (even the deadly -ly ones) ;-). And to be clear, I'm a huge Stephen King fan.

Here's the deal. When trying to help people learn how to write, we make certain statements, that on the whole, are good, sensible advice. Why? Because early on, there is SO MUCH to learn, that you need these overly (adverb) simple rules to provide a framework. But as you continue to write, and you learn more, you'll learn to know WHEN to break the "previous rules."

I tend to think about it like this. Remember when you were first learning how to subtract and you were told you can't subtract a higher number from a lower one? Well, that was the rule for you at that time. But then you go up a grade and the teacher shows you that the line of numbers doesn't go from 0 to infinity it goes in BOTH directions (from minus infinity to plus infinity). Once you learn this little piece of information, low and behold you CAN subtract a larger number from a smaller one.

So, yes, when most people start out writing, they vomit -ly adverbs everywhere, which makes their writing seem amateurish. Hence the reason we make the rules like "don't use them" -- we know you'll do so anyway, but maybe you'll use them less often than you would have if we didn't give you the rule to begin with.

The other reason for the rule is -ly adverbs can be a crutch that leads to another "rule," which is show don't tell. Consider the following:

"Brett knew someone had broken in, so he slowly entered his apartment."

But that is lazy writing. It's best to do more showing and less telling.

"When Brett noticed the slight indentation in the door frame's wood, he proceeded with caution.

As with all things in writing, it's the execution that is the most important aspect, and early on, it's difficult for a writer to have the keen critical eye to know when they have overused their adverbs. That's why King made that blanket statement. To me, the more important thing is to continue to read from professional authors and get a feel for when and how they use various techniques and try to see if your work is matching their bar or falling below.

I hope this helps.

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