Member-only story
Suddenly, It’s Your Moment
No, not you, dear reader. I’m talking about you — suddenly!
According to horror writer Steven King, “the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Quickly, quietly, bravely, softly, intentionally and frantically are all lined up like cobblestones, pointing us towards the perilous graveyard of words never read.
Standing proud above the rest is the word suddenly. Suddenly takes a slow moving verb and changes it into a fast moving verb. He suddenly rose to his feet means the same thing as he leapt to his feet.
And according to King, it’s far better to just use the right verb in the first place than it is to modify a weaker one with an awkward -ly descriptor. For example, rushed sounds better than suddenly went.
Children’s books are riddled with the word suddenly. Suddenly, the fox turned and snapped his jaws at the gingerbread boy. Suddenly, the pumpkin turned into a beautiful coach. Suddenly, they fell in love, got married and lived happily ever after.
When I write, I try to go easy on the adverbs. I do my best to find fat, juicy verbs that don’t need modification. I try leave suddenly and its pals for the hardcover books full of dogs and talking teacups in my kids’ rooms.
But then in early March, everything changed. Within the span of a few days, schools and businesses were…
