"Adjectives and adverbs are rich and good and fattening. The main thing is not to overindulge...Some adjectives and adverbs have become meaningless through literary overuse. 'Great' seldom carries the weight it ought to carry. 'Suddenly' seldom means anything at all; it's a mere transition device--'He was walking down the street. Suddenly he saw her.' 'Somehow' is a weasel word; it means the author didn't want to bother thinking out the story--'Somehow she just knew...' 'Somehow they made it to the asteroid...' When I teach science fiction and fantasy writing I ban the word. Nothing can happen 'somehow.'
Ornate adjectives are out of fashion. Nobody much is likely to say that anything is sesquipedalian, these days. But some conscious prose stylists use adjectives as poets do; the adjective's relation to the noun is unexpected, far-fetched, forcing the reader to stop and make the connection. This mannerism can be effective, but in narration it's risky. Do you want to stop the flow? Is it worth it?
I would recommend to all storytellers a watchful attitude and a thoughtful, careful choice of adjective and adverbs, because the bakery shop of English is rich beyond belief, and narrative prose, particularly if it's going a long distance, needs more muscle than fat."
-Steering the Craft, Ursula K. Le Guin, pp. 61-62
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