It's also a point to think about that action action action for the sake of it can be boring too if it doesn't have motivation and pace and tension and all those things. And description is not just about embellishing but can be worth considering to slow a scene to have a break from too much rushing, to create a lull as a character looks around and gets their bearings, or just some calm before the storm. Rushing along can become tiresome for the reader after a while. Everything needs rhythm and pace - even action movies catch their breath occasionally and stop to create some tension. Just another way of looking at it for those that like a lot of forward motion.

It is nonsense to think in terms of 'overwriting' and 'underwriting' for this presupposes something fundamentally important 'added' or 'left out' to a composition which, in itself, should be complete. If it is a draft, then fair enough.

In the editing of your work you will obviously look for excessive use of adverbs and suchlike, as well as your critical eye deciding that here and there your words do not explain, describe nor present a picture that you wanted to create for your readers, with the result that you change or add.

The aim of a good writer must be to produce work that requires the minimum of editing. It reads as you want it to be read... any alterations, changes etc should be simple tweaks.

However there are not many writers who are exceptional enough to do this, also we do not know what 'changes' were made, even by the 'best' writers, before their work was finally offered to the public. One can get some idea of this if one has editorial experience.

I think this comes down to improving abilities as the 'best' editor of your own work. This will reflect itself in improving your creative processes so that you will write with confidence and without the need for major changes. This will not happen overnight but it will happen.

Len

- It is nonsense to think in terms of 'overwriting' and 'underwriting'

People come to their drafts in different ways. I don't think it's nonsense to use these terms when they describe the difficulties I've been having with my own writing. With my first "underwritten" drafts it's the bigger picture I've started with, and the smaller details, quite naturally, are not there. They're added later.

Doing the opposit of that was something of an experiment. I know some published novellists who write that way, and I wanted to discover how this approach to writing might work for me. I found I spent as much time editing down, as if I'd written more conscientiously.

I think adjectives are rubbish and should all be herded into a dark corner and bludgeoned to death, although adverbs are even worse.

Possibly I'm exaggerating. Basic ones are alright (like the 'dark' corner in the sentence above. And they're inevitable (adjective) - but if you've become conscious of using them and it goes against the grain of your natural style, you've probably got some cutting to do.

Well, the response to my question has been better than I expected. It seems there are writers of two camps concerning the use of adjectives and adverbs.

I do remember that when I started writing chapter one, I had visions of myself creating long beautiful poetic descriptive paragraphs. But, when I tried writing this way, I felt like a fake. I felt like I was trying to be ‘literary’ writer, which I am not. I felt like I had this large roll of colorful lacy ribbon (adjectives and adverbs), and I was tying fancy bows around the objects in my scene. It felt wrong (for me), so I stopped. (And I used the word ‘felt’ too many times. Sorry, I'm too lazy to fix it.)

I will discuss it with my copy editor and see what she or he thinks.

Azel

Your work will probably be all the better for NOT using adjectives and adverbs. Far too many fresh writers think they have to be colourful. Purple prose should be chucked out along with clichés. An odd descriptive add-on gives impact, too many, strangle your work. - Anthony James Barnett.

I'm in the camp that hates the so-called 'rule' about cutting down on adverbs and adjectives. They are part of the language, aren't they? I scatter them all over the place. Sod it. I like them in things I read, they bring the boring old nouns and verbs to life. So I stick them in what I write, too.

Rosy

I agree, Rosy, but would advise using either adverbs/adjectives (which are 'tell' OR description (which is 'show', and not both - especially not both in the same sentence. <she sighed and winked, knowingly>

- NaomiM

<Added>

blasted rogue winkies - I'll go get my gun ;)

????? Eh? I don't get that, Naomi. What are adjectives and adverbs if they aren't description?

Rosy

You can't generalise, these thing depend very much on genre, and i would say that chick lit and fantasy for example, might seem overwritten to writers of other genres.

They are the sort of things which jump out at you from the page, but I suppose for every example I might throw up someone would find a place for, so I'll just have to leave it there.

- NaomiM

That's a shame Naomi, sounds like it could've been interesting. Sure you won't kick off?

Sorry, Juliet, it would mean quoting examples off the forums and that's not fair on anybody, and when one gets to specifics one risks sounding like a 'rules of writing' craft book, so I'll just have to leave it as a generalized comment.

My disagreeing genes are twitching. I suppose it might be unfair to randomly pick on forum work, even if it is there for comment. But, yes, people might get upset. Examples could be made up tho, or taken from published works...(or I could sling you some of mine and give everyone a laugh )

As for zee rulz. Someone told me once there are none, except don't bore the reader...would love to know what people think to that.

I did look in a few books, but couldn't find any examples - must have had damned good editors.
The only example I could think of, off the cuff, I used on Casey's thread in Private Members, but, taken out of the context of a full paragraph it was pretty meaningless.
It's the sort of thing that requires a full tutorial type explanation but then you run into the 'rules-shmules' bumpf