How can you make your story come alive? How can you make it jump off the page? One way is to avoid adverbs. What are they? Those words which tell us how we did something.

How did he drive? Fast.

How did she talk? Quickly.

   Instead of using these words dig in your mind for strong verbs. Instead of He drove fast, how about He sped? Change She talked quickly to She gabbled. 

   Here are a few reasons we use adverbs:

1. We’re being a bit lazy. It’s easier to just write She hit him hard instead of using something more expressive … She pounded her fist into his cheek.

2. We use adverbs because we don’t think people will understand us or what we are trying to convey if we don’t. Believe in your readers. Trust their intelligence.

3. We use adverbs because we doubt our writing. Believe in yourself. All words like slowly, quickly, sarcastically and powerfully can be avoided by jumping into the character’s mind and acting out the scene yourself.

Have fun and happy writing! Liane x