Heehee! Though my brother swears by King's book on writing. Maybe he preaches better than he practices.
And Darth, yeah, I know when I write I do a pass and take out a bunch of the adverbs and adjectives and there are still too damn many. They sneak up on you. That's what editors are for; alas, Rowling has now reached that level of fame and fortune where editors are deemed to no longer be necessary - a pernicious practice that should be beaten out of the publishing industry with a very large stick.
The thing about the publishing industry is, from the outside we can't tell how much is publishers feeling so-and-so doesn't need editing any more, how much is the rush to get a book into print (as with JKR), and how much is authors reaching a point where they can tell their publishers how much editing they will or won't accept and the publishers rolling over and letting them do it because of the amount of money these authors are raking in for the publishing houses by that point.
I don't know -- I might be willing to compare the best of King to the best of JKR and see who comes out on top. At the very least he's been at the game longer.
Wow--I'd never noticed there were that many in that paragraph. Wow.
Mira's right that they can sneak up on you if you're hearing a voice in your head or seeing how the person is saying something and you want people to get it right. But still it's just something she either needs to train out of herself or the editor needs to take care of.
Playing devil's advocatefuriosityNovember 14 2004, 17:40:58 UTC
Discerning readers can figure out how a character is saying something, without having to read the enclosed adverb. Readers who are fans of the series and are very familiar with the characters also don't need the adverbs. That leaves about 90% of the population. That's who the adverbs are for. That's why JKR and Stephen King sell so well. :P
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... y'know, I think I might enjoy the book a lot more if I imagine all of Harry's lines in the Professor's voice. Hmm...
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(Which is my way of saying 'I agree, nice post!', btw.)
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As opposed to recycling the same story over and over and over?
Stephen King offering criticism of Rowling's writing is like McDonald's bitching about the fat content of a Whopper.
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And Darth, yeah, I know when I write I do a pass and take out a bunch of the adverbs and adjectives and there are still too damn many. They sneak up on you. That's what editors are for; alas, Rowling has now reached that level of fame and fortune where editors are deemed to no longer be necessary - a pernicious practice that should be beaten out of the publishing industry with a very large stick.
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Mira's right that they can sneak up on you if you're hearing a voice in your head or seeing how the person is saying something and you want people to get it right. But still it's just something she either needs to train out of herself or the editor needs to take care of.
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