The evils of adverbs

I've had a pet peeve for years and didn't know it.

Adverbs.

A very well-known fantasy author--whom I will forgo speaking the name, as he's been an inspiration into the fantasy world, second only to Stephen King--wrote a highly successful novel a few decades ago now, and even to this day something irks me about it: his liberal use of adverbs.  If he got paid a dollar for each adverb, he could probably afford a decent-sized home.  I'm not kidding.

Here's the weird part.  The second book of the series had much fewer adverbs, with one exception: he used the word "wordlessly" in so many places that I almost wanted to throw up--I didn't, simply because it was a decent story.

If I ever get a chance to meet him--Mr. Famous Fantasy Author Who Will Remain Nameless--I'd like to ask him if the use of adverbs was ever pointed out to him.  The reason I say this is because the third book in the series had very few adverbs.

Okay, elementary students, what's an adverb?

Wordlessly . . . silently . . .. awkwardly . . . most anything with an "ly" at the end of it.

Strunk and White, in their classic book The Elements of Style said to eliminate all adverbs completely, and even called the use of adverbs lazy.  In a way, it's a way of "telling" the reader, instead of "showing" them.

If you find yourself loaded down with adverbs, try take as many of them away as you can.  Strike them all, if you have to.  Then, stretch your imagination and find ways of replacing them, if you feel the need.

What If

What if a young lawyer found out the firm he worked for turned out to be run by the mob?

What if a young orphan boy found out he was a wizard?

What if someone heard a knock at their door, and their ordinary simple life was going to be turned upside-down by a great adventure?

What if a school teacher found a portal to the year 1958, and set out to stop the assassination of JFK?

What if a teenage girl fell in love with a guy who turned out to be a vampire?

What if a farmboy found himself thrust into an epic battle of good vs. evil?

I don't think I have to tell you what novels/movies these ideas point to, but you get the idea.  What if questions are a great way of generating ideas for stories.

Here's my favorite: ever heard of the phrase from a movie trailer that starts with "in a world" - that's the creation of the late Don LaFontaine.  I use his voice to work through many of my what if's.

Try it.  See if it works for you.

Writing Prompt Wednesday - Episode #4

In a previous blog, I pointed out techniques in writing good descriptions.  Here, let's try our hand at it.

Pick five different places to sit for fifteen minutes, and write everything you can from your surroundings.  Use all five senses.

Then, once you're done, pick three to five descriptions and write a short scene using them.


Happy writing!

Ideas

Aside from publication, getting an idea for a story is one of most favorite parts of the writing process.

Okay, I love all parts of it, but there is a special chamber in my heart reserved just for ideas.

There is a great feeling when you come up with an idea for a story.  Where this comes from, I don't know.  It feels like, to me, as if a Higher Power--once again, I call this God--has tapped me for a special project.  I know how absurd that may sound, especially if the idea is filled with blood and gore, but the feeling is unmatched by most other feelings.

When I came up with the idea for Beholder's Eye I got a chill down my spine and spent the next five minutes throwing ideas down on a page.  This was odd for others to watch, because it was minutes before a class was starting and the fellow students around me were wondering what in the hell I was writing, for the instructor wasn't even lecturing yet.

Some ideas unfold and blossom right before my eyes while others take a lot of work to uncover.

My suggestion is to keep a notebook handy at all times and write down every single idea you come up with.  Who knows, you could come up with one idea, not have anywhere to go with it, and come up with another idea a month or so later that fits with the first one . . . and pow!

The stages of writing

I always say there are essentially four stages to successful writing.  Not all writers will go through all four stages, hence I used the adjective successful.  In a nutshell, here they are:

1) Getting an idea

2) First draft

3) Editing

4) Publication

When I mean that not all writers go through all four stages, it's fairly self-explanatory.  All writers have an idea for a story.  And that's where they stop.  They never get to stage two.

And if they start writing it, do they ever finish?

Once again, most don't.

If you can make it through all four stages, you are the elite of the elite.

Okay, Mark, what about self-published authors?  In today's ebook market, anyone can publish a book.  That's true.  But then we have to delve into the quality of the work.

And that's what will set you apart from the other hacks out there.

Write.  Every single day.  Work at improving your craft.  Excel.

Be great.

"Where do you get your ideas?"

This would be a fun experiment.  Take a simple concept for a book, and ask a handful of bestselling authors to write a story based on it.  I'll bet each author will come up with something different, even though the basic premise is the same.

I've read numerous interviews by Stephen King when he tackles the question of where an author comes up with their ideas.  He usually comes up with a humorous response to this, but in truth no one really knows where ideas are generated.  They just happen.  It's something that gets created when an idea starts to grow, almost like a crop.

Don't believe me?

Start with the basic premise of good versus evil.  Countless stories are these types of stories, from mythological epics to the fantasy wonders of today.

Then, let's say this is a good versus evil . . . in space.

Mix in a little swashbuckling pirate and western themes, and you get George Lucas's greatest creation: Star Wars.

Break down your favorite stories into pieces.  This may give you some insight into the creative process.  But I also believe that the key to this is . . . creativity.

New Year's Resolutions - why I don't believe in them

"I'm going to eat right."

"I'm going to write that book."

"I'm going to start that business."

"I'm going to take some college classes."

"I'm going to get out of debt."

"I'm going to lose ten pounds." (or twenty or thirty or fifty or . . .)

"For my New Year's Resolution, I'm going to ________________ "

Do any of these sound familiar?

If you answered yes to any of these or were able to fill in the blank, then you're like most people.  But, also, most people don't fullfill their resolutions.  Why?  Because they have a habit of not keeping with their resolutions and procrastinating.

That's why I say when I came to something I want to do--write in a blog, Monday through Friday, as a way to both promote my writing and give back the lessons I've learned to help other people achieve their dreams--I didn't start on January first.  I started in the middle of October, the moment I thought of it.

I listen to a lot of podcasts, as I've said before, and one that I had been listening to at the time was by career coach Dan Miller.  In the particular podcast, he said that he's been blogging for the past few years, Monday through Friday, and hasn't missed a day yet.  When I heard that, I said to myself, "That's what I'll do.  And I'll do it right now."

And I've committed myself to doing it every weekday.  I've even committed myself to posting a special blog on certain major holidays (New Year's, Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, at least, with some of the others thrown in the mix at times)

I have also committed myself to simply writing everyday--not just on weekdays but every single day.  This would be for my novels and short stories.  That resolution I've had for the past several years--with the exception of a few days here and there, I've pretty much kept to that resolution.

What's your resolution?

Better yet, what is it that you want to do?  Know what that is.  Start it.  Today.  Any day.  You don't need a holiday to give yourself permission to start (even though I'm posting this on a holiday).  I'm giving you permission.