Cut adverbs whenever possible from "summary" of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition by Renni Browne,Dave King
Adverbs pepper the pages of many manuscripts. They seem like a writer's best friend, always there to add a little extra oomph to a sentence. But the truth is that adverbs can weaken our writing rather than strengthen it. When we rely on adverbs, we miss the opportunity to choose a strong verb that can do the heavy lifting on its own. Consider the sentence: "She walked quickly." The adverb "quickly" tells us how she walked, but it doesn't paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind. If we replace "walked quickly" with a single verb like "rushed" or "darted," suddenly the sentence comes alive. The reader can see the action in their mind's eye, rather than being told about it indirectly. Another problem with adverbs is that they can indicate lazy writing. Instead of taking the time ...
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