Stephen King told me not to use adverbs

[Jay P Lang]

Man is it just me or does The Gunslinger have more adverbs then fat women under a bingo sign? Its terribly difficult to laborously read completely when quickly and speedily looking searchingly for the voice of the roughly editted shortly drawn sentences.

The story is good so far but its a slow ride.

[Bryan James]

Man, is it just me[?]

Yep. And Nope.

~BJS

[pathoftheturtle]

In the revised edition, King cut lots of adverbs out. Are you reading the original?

[davemelnick]

Given, it is a slow start, but has a very quick pace (page-turner) the last few chapters. :grinning:
Man is it just me or does The Gunslinger have more adverbs then fat women under a bingo sign? Its terribly difficult to laborously read completely when quickly and speedily looking searchingly for the voice of the roughly editted shortly drawn sentences.

The story is good so far but its a slow ride.

[Deme]

The story is good so far but its a slow ride.


It'll get better near the end, and into the next books, for the most part.

[DancingCorpse]

I have to confess i found The Gunslinger very difficult and idk the word to use, like navigating through a swamp! I don't hold anything against SK because the rest of the series is fantastic and of course it was very early on when he wrote this, but i usually find the first one very hard to get through. It has it's moments certainly, the mountains for sure, and it is a decent novel in itself.

[taipeidryad]

My 1st attempt at The Gunslinger was unsuccessful, and it was a couple of years before I tried again. The second time began a journey that took almost a decade to complete. Drawing of the 3 and I got on the plane to Asia, first couple of years, I was ... busy, didn't read much, except for numerous trips to Thailand, several to Hong Kong, and one to Korea, Roland always came on those trips.

[Doc Wilson]

I found the Gunslinger such hard going that I had no interest in reading the rest until the series was finished and I was out of other stuff to read. Lucky for me the second volume made up for it.

[tyciol]

I never notice things like adverbs. It's been a while since I read this so it might be interesting to have another go through and see if I notice something like this.

It's hard to picture how a book can be better be eliminating adverbs though, wouldn't the verbs be bland without them? Maybe I have an inclusionist 'more is better' personality. Perhaps I originally read the revised and didn't see them to get annoyed by them?

[*Iris*]

I' ve read The Gunslinger translated, so I can't really say my opinion about these harmful :tongue: adverbs. I don' t know what I would have done if I had the English book in my hands, but I probably wouldn't have noticed it in purpose -except if I wanted to be educated from his writting (in which I intend to do it in practice very soon - I' ve already read the On Writting)

But, I' ve heard that many people who read The Gunslinger, complaint about its slow pace and that they had no interest to read more. Personally, I was surprised from The Gunslinger because it was deferent from the others. It seemed like it was no St. King who wrote it (I want to believe that it was not translation' s fault :tongue:-I'm just kidding, translation was just fine *no, no I was not the translator*:biggrin2: ) and I don't mean that it was bad. It just made me wonder things, and it I din't lost my interest in it. The end of the book triggered my curiosity about the continue of Roland's story :smile2:

[Fran D'Amico]

The gunslinger is a hard read.It seems long and hard because his journey is long, and hard and he is tired, could ya not feel it?

[Ebdim9th]

I sometimes feel it might actually be the best of the series, but I love the others too much to say that. I don't remember the adverbs being a problem in that one.

[KyleKarabekian]

I take it fat women under a bingo sign have lots of adverbs. And he does use a lot, but nothing too hard. I got through the book easy as any other book I've read. He did revise it, have you read the revised edition? The other books aren't the same like that.

[JamesMWatts]

I never notice things like adverbs. It's been a while since I read this so it might be interesting to have another go through and see if I notice something like this.

It's hard to picture how a book can be better be eliminating adverbs though, wouldn't the verbs be bland without them? Maybe I have an inclusionist 'more is better' personality. Perhaps I originally read the revised and didn't see them to get annoyed by them?

Adverbs generally tell more than they show. And the writing world, showing is always better than telling. Show your reader your story and don't tell them about it.

[catnoel]

I tried the Gunslinger many years ago and did not like it....I did not understand it and took the book by itself instead of the begininning of an epic journey.......flash forward....it makes more sense now with the other tower books..... hang in there...it gets way better and actually you will probably want to read it again ......once you read the last book.....

[JamesMWatts]

Oh, I love the Gunslinger, as all of the Tower books. King used a lot of adverbs in that one, but he was younger then. He admits mistakes of his youth in On Writing, which is the importance of that book. For other writers to learn from his mistakes. King has been in the business for a long time, and any advice he gives I believe should be heeded. I hope to one be as respected an author as he has become. Probably never as good, but respected would be nice.

[Parbreaker]

I agree that "The Gunslinger" is chalked full of adverbs. I read "Bag of Bones" before DT I and the difference was stark. It is mentioned however, in both "On Writing" and in his revised introduction to the Dark Tower books "On being Nineteen" that the first book had way too many adverbs in it for his taste. He mentioned that he has grown as a writer and did remove quite a few from his revision, but they are still abundant. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book.

[Connie Reader]

Let yourself fall into it, the rewards are great.

[bobledrew]

Keep in mind, the Gunslinger is an extremely early work, begun in 1970, when King was in his early 20s. His style quite likely has evolved a great deal since then.

[blunthead]

Stephen King told me not to use adverbs...

sK did not say not to use adverbs, of course. They are necessary for enhancement, as I see it, like a shadow in a painting can better define the object. I think what sK has seen in his students' writing and perhaps his own is adverb abuse, the bad habit of using adverbs in place of saying what you mean. It is to avoid the work of finding the right, most appropriate word; to avoid thinking. It is a trap posing as the real thing, like any bad habit. I used to be an adverb abuser myself and have noticed the unfortunate practice in others.

I must say I have yet to notice adverb abuse in anything Steve has written. I have read The Gunslinger. One day I will reread it, and see if I agree with you.