Kurt Vonnegut loathed adverbs (a noun, word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group), slaying them at every turn, making me aware how often I use them.
That LY you don’t really need is like wearing too many jewels with your little black dress.
It’s hard to appreciate its elegance drenched in all that bling.
And LY has a slew of cousins that if you’re not careful, will move right in.
She has ALMOST finished
She is running VERY late.
She is walking TOO slow.
Of course, using one now and then is okay, since it may just be part of your charm, but I now see what an adverb junkie I totally am, by nature.
Hemingway, the king of clean prose, rarely used them. I’m rereading Movable Feast and halfway through, have come across one.
He did say, when beginning a piece, write the first true sentence you know, a tip I take to heart.
This all started with a series I discovered called, The Last Interview, and Other Conversations, a collection of writer’s last words.
They’re wonderful…short, poignant, insightful, as if Kurt and Ernest and a host of others, are sitting in your living room expressing how they felt about things.
Chewing the fat, just for you.
Hunter Thompson was another interview I liked. He said, the secret of good writing lies in good notes. As much as I absorb detail, I rarely write it down, never seeming to have a notebook handy, hoping I’ll just remember.
Nora Ephron, in the series said, whatever you’re writing has to have a beginning, a middle and an end.
That’s my idea of true success, when you can inspire from the ether.
What’s that Mr. Vonnegut? I haven’t snuck in that many adverbs?
I GLADLY would have, but I’m CAREFULLY and a bit AWKWARDLY trying to write, JUST like you.
Fat chance, I know. 
But a girl can dream.
SB
I like this. Don’t only a tribute to one of your heroes, also good advice.
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He’s surely a hero of mine. Wish I could call him. Hey Kurt…wanna have coffee? ❤️
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… and said with a twinkle in your eyes
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You always dream of your heroes.
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Wink wink
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Is that something in your eye Frank? 🙂
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Years ago I was a technical writer for a global high-finance magazine. I got paid by the word, so you better believe my sentences were concise.
I’m an adverb junky too. My first attempt at a novel is so painful to revisit. I had read that you shouldn’t use too many descriptors, so I limited myself to one or two in EACH instance, ha ha! If I had Kurt’s advice it would have been shortened by half.
I’m just comfortably sitting while slowly sipping and savoring my extra strong mocha before hurriedly rushing to frantically finish my minimalistic makeup and frizzy curly hair. Have a super wonderful great day, Susannah!
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I love how you look Skinny. Curly hair is so beautiful and Elizabethan.
As far as editing goes, always think of that Steinbeck story, how he sent some pages to his publisher who, after reading them, said to his secretary, “I don’t understand it, but what I’ve just read, sounds nothing like John.” The secretary says, “I cleaned it up. You know, corrected all his grammar.” And the publisher said, “Well, you just took the Steinbeck out of Steinbeck.” 🙂
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I find your prose delightful, Susannah. I know you are constantly trimming sentences, but don’t pare away too much! It would drain the color from your word pictures.
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It’s funny you say that because, I always put back a pastel or two once I trim it down. Your essay suddenly looks like it got a bad haircut. I appreciate being in the company of the word delightful. 🙂
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I love how you love these writers so.
And I must confess as to flouting . . okay, that might be a strong word . . not abiding to the grammar rules.
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Flouting…openly disregarding a law, rule or convention. I love that…we can form a group…me you and Dale called…The Flouters…Frank can produce. He’ll be our Bill Graham.
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Love it!
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The Flouters, I love that!
And of COURSE Frank will be the producer. This is perfect, SB.
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Yes, makes perfect sense. All we need are a coupla roadies and we’re good to go. Frank in a snazzy jacket with the collar flipped up will bellow…Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…THE FLOUTERS.
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John has to be involved. Roadies will just happen, you know it.
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He can maybe write our press notices.
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Poifect
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Perfect strength – you flout, fully. And you don’t give a damn…😉
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Isn’t flout one fine word. Mr. Imma did good.
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It is a wonderfully fine word 😉 Sorry… I couldn’t resist.
Mr. Imma always does good.
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And he doesn’t give a sh-t about adverbs. He’ll take Kurt on.
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Lookit you being all polite and not cursing 😉
No. He definitely doesn’t give a rat’s patootie…
He will (though he is as much an admirer as you are…)
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Simply love…a rat’s patootie. How funny is that?
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Sounds so much better than the original, dontcha think? 😉
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Yes, I do. Makes them all cute. 🙂
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You know me a ‘lil bit mebe? 😉
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You’re no secret once your cat’s outta the bag.
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Guilty!
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I sentence you to changing all the litter for all the cats in your neighborhood for 30 days.
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Judge Susannah. Bringing the just to justice!
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JUST…THE BIG BERTHA OF ADVERBS
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Just saying . . . 😉
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Oh Mr. Imma, was just pullin’ your tail.
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Of course you were, 😉
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Mebbe… a tad… 😉
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I am guilty, so guilty of this. And, to be honest, I never really paid attention to it but well, now feel, I just might have to!
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Neither did I until Kurt came along with reading The Elements of Style that’s like getting busted for porn by your parents. Omit Needless Words…Really? No joke?
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Damn him! And yet… Ok, ok, I’ll try to reign it in. Sometimes.
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sigh. Rules were made to be flouted. 🙂
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They are. Makes life way more interesting, dontcha think? 😉
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Yes, definitely.
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I live and thrive on adverbs and adjectives, prepositions and semi-colons. Mr Vonnegut would hate my writing. I do like his son’s writings-Vonnegut Jr.(or are then one and the same)?
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One and the same. Jr was his given full name, but he never used it as an adult, as far as I know.
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Well, the book of his I read, um, don’t remember, had 119 chapters, had Jr. in the author’s name on the front.
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I’m certain it was him. Probably one of his first books.
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I think I mentioned Vonnegut is my favorite writer. I might have also mentioned that I was fortunate to win a “write like Vonnegut contest.” it had to be an original story written as Kurt would write it. I was so taken back since it was judged by a group putting together a Kurt Vonnegut tribute. I did apologize to Kurt but loved that I won. I enjoyed this post today.
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I forgot about that. And so it goes…:)
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Was wondering since you won, what you won, unless it’s an intrusive question. You must have been over the moon John.
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I was over the moon, Susannah. It was such an honor. The prize was a copy of the tribute book “So it Goes.” It is a collection of stories by a number of authors seemingly demonstrating Kurt’s influence on their writing. It is edited by Max Booth III. Quite honestly the stories were a little disappointing but as Kurt would say, “And so it goes.” The sad thing is in our move, the book has been lost with a number of others. Maybe it will show up in an obscure box and then again , maybe not.
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I hope so. Wow, that would have pleased me too. I remember reading they had a memorial service for him at The Algonquin. How apt. 🙂
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How apt indeed.
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I read that he felt, he wasn’t appreciated as much as other writers. That made me sad. He was so great. I do know, there was a petition to rename his street Vonnegut Way, but it was turned down. They did it for Katharine Hepburn a couple blocks up, but not for Kurt. Sigh
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His work was genius. I certainly wish I could have met him. (If only for a few minutes) Maybe in the next life.
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Me too. Would have sat at his feet, hanging on to every word.
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Which would have embarrassed him to the point of offering you a smoke.
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He did smoke a lot, didn’t he.
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“Just” is one of my favorite words, I think because it has a calming effect as in, “I didn’t mean any offense, I was just curious.” I know I should avoid using the word, but I just like it.
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I use it too to emphasize. What listening to him or anyone’s advice I respect does is just make me aware of my tendencies. I’m not the best editor catching errors or typos right away. Kurt clearly was better at that. He taught writing a lot, so…and so it goes, as he said. He also said, welcome to the monkey house, so we need to take everything with a lightness of heart as well. 🙂
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This advice is difficult to do though I (really) like it.
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It’s all good. 🙂
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Guilty! Adverbs are some of my favs. I use the Hemingway app to keep my flowery writing toned down.
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He was such a great writer. I’m now rereading The Sun Also Rises and it never pales, doesn’t matter how many times I read it. 🙂
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He’s one of a kind, Susannah!
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Yes he is.
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I enjoyed this, Susannah. Overusing descriptive words is easy…I get carried away. It pays to double check, right? Recently read a piece concerning the usage of ‘this’ and ‘that’…good lesson. Here’s to enjoyable lessons from the master writers as well as The Flouters!!! Coming Attraction!!!
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Yes, flouters is the word of the day.
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