Prose checks › Adverbs Free
Prose check: adverbsAdverbs: cut the lazy ones, keep the rest.
Everybody tells you to kill your adverbs. Published novels didn’t get the memo. Falcontext finds the -ly adverbs in your fiction, in the narration, and compares you with real books, not with a rule of thumb.
Which ones should go?
Two kinds.
Filler: simply, actually, really, totally. They can usually just go.
Props: the ones holding up a weak verb, where a stronger verb would do the job alone.
How many adverbs in fiction is too many?
Here’s the thing. Published novels use a lot of them.
In English fiction from 2000–2019: about 10 per 1,000 words. Across the 38 published books I measured, the middle one had 13.5. The most had 28.9.
Some editing tools aim for about one per 300 words. Every published book I measured used more than that.
So Falcontext’s green line follows real novels instead.
Where these numbers come from.
How Falcontext checks adverbs in fiction
Guidelines, not rules. The count is there so you notice your adverbs, not so you hunt every one down. Keep the ones you love.
- Finds
- Words ending in -ly in the narration, the ones you use most first. Time words like “recently” and “finally” aren’t counted, nor names, nor dialogue.
- Traffic light
- Up to 10 per 1,000 words
- Up to 18
- More than 18
How to fix one
- Swap the verb. “Said angrily” → “snapped”. “Ran quickly” → “sprinted”.
- Cut the filler. “She was really tired” → “She was tired.”
- Keep the ones that change the meaning. “She almost smiled” isn’t “She smiled”.
Adverbs on dialogue tags (“she said softly”) have a check of their own: dialogue tags.
Adverbs wait for pass 4 of the self-editing guide: once the sentences work, you go through the words themselves, the ones you use most first.
What’s the adverb you just can’t quit?
Really, actually, basically: the -ly ones are filler words too. Filler words vs filter words.
Questions about adverbs.
How many adverbs should a novel have?
There’s no fixed number, but published English fiction from 2000–2019 averages about 10 -ly adverbs per 1,000 words. Falcontext’s light is green up to 10 per 1,000 words of narration, orange up to 18 and red above.
Does the adverb checker count dialogue?
No. Characters may talk however they talk, so only the narration is counted. Time words like recently and finally are left out too.
Is the adverb checker free?
Free, on your whole manuscript. No account needed.
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