Aspiring science-fiction authors receive one piece of advice above all others: Forsake the adverb, the killer of prose. It’s terribly, awfully, horrendously important. But why? Really, ...

Consider, for instance, the use of adverbs ending with “–ly” (e.g., ponderously, snarkily). From high-school grammar teachers to writing gurus, the advice is to eschew the use of these words.

Daddy, you always wake up at that hour. Not in my time zone, but in the deceased’s time zone, at that hour. N Daddy, a new daddy showed up like the way you whisper inside my crying. N His close ...

I don’t use adverbs. I try to make the verb do the work.” As someone who spends her days fixing bad writing, I can tell you there’s gold in those words, especially the part about adverbs.