THIS Is The Cancer In Your Writing

Adverbs are harmless, right?

Small and cute, they can illuminate dialogue, differentiate an argument, and contextualize an emphasis.

All true, when used properly.

Used poorly, they are a cancer that can threaten all you’re working so hard to build.

Proper use of adverbs may seem like a dull subject. But as an editor, I assure you adverbs are harbingers of endless drama; a fat and ugly symptom of diseased writing.

As a writer, you can’t afford for diseased writing in your brand or legacy.

You want your stories to flow like a mountain stream in spring, and your copy to soar with the wind of crisp, compelling persuasions. You want your words to dance with a lightness of foot and spring of step.

Impossible when your composition is fat with adverbs.

Make no mistake; adverbs have their place in the literary universe. Understanding that place is the essential point. It’s all a matter of hierarchy:

Adverbs are third in the pecking order of vocabulary. Per its definition, an adverb is “a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word-group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc.”

Nouns and verbs are fundamental, and thus the most important to language. Adjectives follow, serving as their right-hand aids in all expressive matters. Then, and only then, should adverbs be entertained, and only if (or some reason) the preceding vocabulary is insufficient in making its mark.

That last point is crucial. The largest crime in writing is spoiling effective text with a soiled overuse of modifiers. It’s lazy, unfit, unprofessional, inconsiderate and rude to your reader.

If you are serious about getting noticed as a writer or author of distinction, your pen strokes must be lean.

No exceptions. No excuses.

The length of your writing is free to fluctuate per the needs of your narrative. Just as a seven-foot basketball player can be as lean as a five-foot gymnast, a 500 word short can be as lean as a 50,000 word novel.

When it comes to slender writing, size doesn’t matter.

So, how do you make your writing lean?

Put it on a diet.

As diets go, total immersion is best. Are they the most challenging? You bet. But they work the best because they promote fast behavioral change.

Here’s the challenge:

Write your next 5,000 words with as few adverbs as possible. Make it bare bones. Keep it sharp. And light. If it reads heavy, then you know the adverbs have mutated and spread throughout your copy.

Note: these 5,000 words can be accounted for in any variety: a single article or chapter, a few chapters combined, several shorts strung together. The only two requirements are (1) 5,000 total words, and (2) 5,000 consecutive words (no water breaks!).

If you can last 5,000 words, your natural writing style will see great improvements. You can look forward to better writing flow and speed, improved precision of vocabulary, elevated articulation, “stickier” sentences, and more.

As a point of comparison, this article has 25 adverbs. At a total word count of 597, adverbs represent 4.19% of the whole. That’s a healthy (low) composition. Think of this metric like a person’s body fat percentage. While it will never be zero, less is best!

Time for you to go workout on your writing skills and transform your words into lean fighting machines. Fat copy and stories aren’t impressive to anyone. Chiseled ones are.