In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* Adverbs
* Two Mentorship Slots Open
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“I only write when I’m inspired, so I see to it that I’m inspired every morning at 3 a.m.” my take on a quote widely attributed to Peter DeVries but probably from William Faulkner
Adverbs
I had a question about adverb use from a writer. In full, she wrote
What are your thoughts on adverbs? [Such as] smiled sinfully, laughed defiantly, grinned confidently, [or] smirked arrogantly
As humans we “smile” a lot for different reasons, so I use that description often. If my character smiles, I don’t have a lot more visual descriptions. “Corners of mouth turned up” is the way I can describe a smile without saying smile, but then I fine my critical voice showing up trying to figure out a better word for smile. I feel the adverbs give some description of the type of smile. Your thoughts?
My response
Adverbs serve a purpose or they wouldn’t exist. If they’re rarely used (only when truly necessary), adverbs are all right. But only if they’re rarely used. Most writers who use them “rely” on them, and that’s never a good idea.
Adverbs should never be used in a tag line (he said, she said). Your examples were all brief descriptive narratives and stand-alone sentences, not tag lines.
Still adverbs should only rarely be used in descriptive narrative. That said, you can characterize the smile in other ways than by using adverbs.
The addition of unnecessary adverbs is a kind of author intrusion.
In your examples, with the addition of the adverbs, you (the writer) are telling the reader what he should infer from the smile, the laugh, the grin, and the smirk.
It’s always better to simply describe the action itself, then step aside and let the reader see or hear something else directly from the character that characterizes what you described.
For example,
for “smiled sinfully” you might write
- Bob smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “So, you wanna get a cup of coffee sometime?”
for “laughed defiantly” you might write
- Susan laughed. “You’re kidding me, right? You honestly think I can’t do that?”
for “grinned confidently” you might write
- Mark grinned. “Trust me, it’s a snap. No problem.”
for “smirked arrogantly” (okay, in the first place, ‘smirked’ denotes arrogance anyway), you might write
- Igor smirked. “I think maybe you can climb the tower this time and I’ll wait in the warm, dry lab and flip the switch.”
See what I mean?
Two Mentorship Slots Open
One writer asked whether the mentorship includes feedback on a story.
My response? Of course it does. I’ll answer any questions you ask, and if you provide me with an example (e.g., an excerpt from a story) I’ll provide feedback as part of my response. This is all about you and your writing.
Then she said she was gonna sign up. (grin)
And yes, I’d probably offer a general critique on a ‘whole story’. The critique would point to generalities, like (for example) “I can’t see the character. What’s he wearing? What’s she look like?” or “I can’t see (hear, smell, feel) the setting. What’s going on around the character or behind him?” etc. This would hopefully lead to more specific questions, and then I could go into depth with a response.
Another writer who’d already signed up asked whether the mentorship includes writing assignments.
That depends on the student. If I note a particular “discrepancy” in your work, I might give you an assignment to help rectify that. Of course, the completion of any assignments are only suggested, not mandatory.
Otherwise my general “assignment” would be to “Pick a character with a problem (might be an untied shoelace or a locked door or a bird who just dive-bombed his or her car or a bullet that just hit the doorjamb next to him). Then drop the character into a setting, and just write what happens: the character’s reaction and any dialogue, etc.”
What we do during the mentorship is all up to you, folks. You’re paying me for personal instruction to teach you what you want to learn.
Again, the response in “Adverbs” above and the four-part series that begins with Setting, and Characters’ Opinions, Part 1Setting, and Characters’ Opinions, Part 1 is the sort of in-depth stuff you can get from a mentorship with me.
As of this morning, I have two slots still open.
Several writers have expressed interest. Your first $30 payment locks in your mentorship. If you’re interested, visit either Substack or the Journal website for the particulars.
Two writers (LN and ED) actually applied but haven’t sent a payment yet. You can start the mentorship whenever you want. But your mentorship is locked in and the clock starts ticking on the first month when you pay your $30.
If you’re interested but all the slots are gone before you actually sign up, I’ll add you to a waiting list, again first come, first served.
When another slot opens later, either because one of my mentorship students changed his mind or because a mentorship is completed (it can run for as little as one month, depending on the student’s needs), I’ll let you know and you can decide then whether to sign up.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
AI Didn’t Replace My Editor—It Made Her Indispensable
Introducing Food Allergens to Baby Great info. Not about writing, but potentially important.
What makes a place seem ‘haunted’? Psychology, setting, and the power of suggestion.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 920
Writing of Blackwell Ops 49: Wesley Stark
Day 1…… 2381 words. To date…… 2381
Day 2…… 3283 words. To date…… 5664
Day 3…… 2934 words. To date…… 8598
Day 4…… 2305 words. To date…… 10903
Day 5…… 3356 words. To date…… 14259
Day 6…… 2295 words. To date…… 16554
Day 7…… 3271 words. To date…… 19825
Day 8…… 2660 words. To date…… 22485
Day 9…… 3120 words. To date…… 25605
Day 10…. 2141 words. To date…… 27746
Fiction for October………………… 51301
Fiction for 2025…………………… 629839
Nonfiction for October.…………… 15370
Nonfiction for 2025……………….. 225480
2025 consumable words………… 847750
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 15
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 119
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 306
Short story collections……………………. 29