For Heaven’s Sake, Stop Showing and Just Tell
It’s perfectly okay to use adverbs
Jake was seriously pissed off.
A perfectly fine line, complete with an adverb — the horror!
Many an expert on writing, including the go-to guru for all advice seekers, Stephen King, will tell you that this is a sin in the art of writing. The crime supposedly committed in the above sentence is that the author is telling rather than showing the reader that Jake is angry.
These experts also caution that resorting to adverbs is a lazy way to avoid using your words. Done correctly, writing is supposed to allow the reader to feel every emotion, sense every scene, essentially put them directly into the moment as though they are there.
To that I say…rubbish.
Whenever I see someone who has revamped a line so that it shows rather than tells, I can’t help but feel that I’m lost in the moment mostly due to the sheer weight of so many words crowding my brain.
There is a time and a place for such a thing, and I for one appreciate authors who use “showing” sparingly.
I’m an avid Stephen King fan, and I’ve made it a point to note when he uses an adverb (a triumphant aha! sounding in my head when I do). Despite how lengthy his books often are, even he doesn’t always take…
