After its presentation, the quickest and easiest way to reject a manuscript is to look for the overuse, or misuse, of adjectives and adverbs. (The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman)
I now seem to have green and orange everywhere!
- shadowed corner
- steady breathing
- cool evening breeze
- prickly warmth
- sleeping form
- stinging pain
- scaly skin
- move quickly
- lift gently
- tightly
- casually
- internally
- clumsily
To remedy these I can try to
a) find more unusual adjectives and adverbs
b) strengthen my nouns and verbs so that I don't need to add adjectives and adverbs
c) use comparisons
But not all of these adjectives and adverbs are "bad", right? I mean, come on. Sometimes you have to describe a noun with another word. And sometimes the only way to clarify how something is done, is with one of those pesky -ly words.
Am I right? Wrong? Banished to writers' purgatory?
