Lovely Little "Ly"

As my writing has developed, I've discarded a few habits along the way. One of them is my reliance on adverbs. When I taught using the whole language approach, one assignment I remember was for my students to find adverbs in that particular day's reading. Of course I had chosen carefully (note the Lovely Little Ly), and sought out passages that fit my purpose.

Surprisingly (LLLy), I did notice one thing. The novels I selected to work with student lessons had fewer and fewer adverbs as the publication dates became more recent. Finding "ly" words became increasingly (LLLy) more difficult.

A blog by a fellow author clearly (LLLy) explains the devaluation of the "ly." Take a look at Joan Edward's blog on writing and see what I am talking about. I read her blog faithfully (LLLy), and this post really struck home with me.

Not that she's claiming putting "Ly" on permanent exile is the answer. There is a time and place to insert the perfect "Ly" adverb when it fits like the missing part of a five hundred piece jigsaw puzzle. It's the snick a writer hears when that one well chosen word completes the intended image.

But in this blog she's pointing out the value of sentences constructed to give the reader the full picture, not the short cut version with an "ly" stuck on the end of an adjective. 

I made a comment on her blog reacting to a humorously (LLLy) written comment by another reader, and because of that, I won Joan's lottery. In fact, in honor of Valentine's Day, and because she is a wonderful person, all of us who commented were offered the same reward, a critique of a thousand word snippet from our own personal manuscripts that would flesh out those LLLy's and give the sentence a new life. 

I know exactly which thousand words to send: The final few pages of my work in progress. Reading back through it I realized there weren't as many of those pesky "Ly" adverbs after all, so I inserted a few to add to the verbs the old fashioned way. Hopefully (LLLy) she will give me a new awareness of how to revise and make those vivid verbs come alive without the "Ly" crutch.

I'm looking forward to seeing what she suggests. Thank you, Joan!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen