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Stephen King on Adverbs

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After pontificating on the evils of adverbs to a remarkably patient fellow writer, I recalled this passage from, Stephen King’s, “On Writing,” (highly recommended) and thought I’d better pass them along to clear up any confusion I'd wrought.



The adverb is not your friend.
Adverbs … are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that usually end in -ly. Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind. … With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across.
Consider the sentence He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence (at least it’s got an active verb going for it), but ask yourself if firmly really has to be there. You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He slammed the door, and you’ll get no argument from me … but what about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before He closed the door firmly? Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, isn’t firmly an extra word? Isn’t it redundant?
Someone out there is now accusing me of being tiresome and anal-retentive. I deny it. I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.
To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day . . . fifty the day after that . . . and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it’s — GASP!! — too late.
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Quote by rumple
I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.


He closed the door firmly, then yelped. Once again he had forgotten to use the handle, and his hand was wedged between the door and its frame.


So if a crushed hand is hell, then yes, "Closing the door firmly", adverb and all, paved the way to it.

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"Stephen King: On Writing" ought to be a mandatory text for anybody who is serious about writing, even as a hobby. Along with King's fabulous wit and humour there are real gems of advice that will stand you in good stead when you sit down and put finger-tips to keyboard (damn, that phrase just doesn't have the same resonance or imagery as the out-dated 'put pen to paper'). If you haven't read it, I recommend that you do so. You won't be wasting your time...

As for adverbs? I find them absolutley, wonderfully, marvelously, addictively useful and amazingly descriptive
Active Ink Slinger
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I also "highly recommended" this book by Stephen King “On Writing,”

It help me out on my writing.