Stomping out -fiers

Modifiers- adjectives and adverbs

In his book, The First Five Pages, literary agent Noah Lukeman writes that one of the first things editors look for as a reason to reject your manuscript is “… the overuse, or misuse, of adjectives and adverbs.”

Adjectives modify nouns, and often more than one adjective is used to describe the noun. 

The strong, unpleasant, odor assaulted his nostrils. 

When a stronger noun is used, the adjectives are not needed, and the sentence is more compact.

The stench assaulted his nostrils.

Adverbs modify verbs.

He proudly and purposefully walked across the stage. 

Compare this with a sentence using a stronger verb:

He strode across the stage.

In a nutshell, strong nouns and verbs “show,” while adjectives and adverbs “tell.” And we all know what editors and readers prefer that we do most of the time.