Your view on adverbs.

#1
So, I am very guilty of scattering adverbs throughout my story like bird seed. 

My characters walk quickly, growl menacingly, and laugh heartily. 

I know a good writer avoids adverbs, at least that's what they always tell you. So I feel a bit weird knowing that I use them so often. But honestly I love adverbs and am not exactly sure why they are so looked down on so much. 

I wanted to here your guys' opinions on the subject, why you like them or why you hate them. 


On a side note, I probably have way too many comma splices as well. Hehe^^
Come Sevenfall  
Seren Ynys Online
Haven in a Dangerous World


Please, enjoy and visit me at my wordpress, https://comesevenfall.wordpress.com/

PM me if you see any grammar mistakes :D



Cakemen will eat cake!!!! For New Poland!

RE: Your view on adverbs.

#2
Simple. Because why would you use two words when you can use one?

From your example

Walk quickly< Paced. Growl menacingly< Snarled. Laughed heartily< Guffawed.

using a single word to describe something helps well with the flow and immersion of the story.
They said the world is ending.
They are wrong. Its only changing.
https://i.imgur.com/LqcYAhwt.jpg

RE: Your view on adverbs.

#3
I'll play the devil's advocate because I, too, rely a lot on adverbs.
The first reason doesn't really count, it's because as a non-native english user I lack a lot of vocabulary and knowledge of the usage of single words equivalents.
Adverbs help keeping my sentences varied when I don't have enough synonyms, and I would say alternating between one and two-words descriptions helps breaking the monotony.
I wouldn't know about how bad is breaking the flow of the story, as my own stories are largely based on deliberate gaps between speeches, atmospheres and whatnot, for instance a scene with something awful, described in a perfectly inapproriate light-hearted tone ; or the opposite. (see the next reason).

The second reason is that I find adverbs very efficient as a comedic device. I feel they can turn a mundane sentence into a funny one through overstatement and extreme description build-up, or by purposely creating gaps. Usually I put ill-fitted adverbs with some clearly "biased" actions, such as "he elegantly puked" ,"she was perfectly horrified", "he disgustingly waved at them", etc.
Well, sometimes I would write "he puked with elegance" instead. But I try to keep it varied.


Then again maybe it's because I conceive some of my english sentences through the prism of my native language (yeah bad idea I know), or maybe it's merely personal taste ?
So I'm by no means a reference on elegant writing and these things, in the end that's really just what I do without thinking much.

RE: Your view on adverbs.

#4
Adverbs, I like them, but only use them once in a while when I can't find a better precision verb to replace it
(basically repeating what TheManWithLongReach was saying)^^

Adverbs can get repetitive:
The adverb 'quickly', 'slowly' or 'slightly' shows up almost as many times as the word 'said'. Said is okay because it is considered invisible, but not the adverbs, they just get annoying.

Others are redundant, stating things like: "running quickly"
'Running' is an action that's already 'quick'. The 'quickly' adds no further meaning to the sentence and should just be omitted.

RE: Your view on adverbs.

#7
Avoiding adverbs is a good rule in writing to help keep the story concise and improve its pacing and flow. Of course, an excellent writer knows when to break the good rules and when not to. If in doubt about your own ability, follow the rules or at least consider them useful guidelines; other than that, hone your writing skills until you are no longer in doubt about what rules to follow and what rules to break.