The Weight of the Adverb

Prose Without Crutches

I spent the morning “weeding” a chapter. My primary target: the adverb. It is a seductive part of speech because it promises a shortcut. Instead of finding the perfect verb to describe a character’s walk, we simply say they ‘walked quickly.’

But ‘quickly’ is a ghost of a word. It tells the reader what to think without making them feel the motion. When we remove the adverb, we are forced to make the verb work harder. ‘Sprinted,’ ‘hurried,’ ‘dashed’—each carries a different weight and a different heartbeat. Trust your verbs to carry the story; they are stronger than you think.

The Monroe Minute
Find five adverbs in your current draft. Delete them and replace the surrounding verb with something more precise.

Until the next page,
Sloane S. Monroe

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Sloane Shay Monroe

I don’t write to idealize love, but to explore it honestly, with emotional precision and depth.