: Re: Are paired adjectives bad style? I have the habit of using paired adjectives in my writing: The noise from the engine lulled her with its slow and monotonous rythim ... ... the

The double adjectives might be creating a sentence rhythm that feels strong while you write because it seems to "double bounce" in a smooth way â€“ in this case it's not a fast bounce that picks up speed, it is a slow bounce that causes the pace of reading to become deliberate, like when you take a deep breath and let it out. "One and twoâ€¦, ahhhh"

I'm going to start a writing war and say ADJECTIVES ARE GOOD (in general), but what might be catching your critical eye is that you notice it keeps happening, and maybe the 2 adjectives are not really as strong as a well-chosen single word, or maybe the double-bounce slow pace doesn't match the tone you are trying to achieve for the scene.

It's ok, that's what re-writing is for. If the double adjective helps you get through the first draft, and you change it on the re-write, that's a normal part of writing. The first draft will end up having these language rhythms and figures of speech that come out of habit and familiarity. Now that you have recognized your pattern, you can decide how to deal with it.

It works in the context of slowing down, of slow breathing, of a character reassuring herself that everything is fine. Obviously you will want to break that pattern or avoid it when everything is not fine. You could even attach the quirk to one character who speaks in these rhythmic patterns as a way to hypnotize or reassure, and then later when you break the pattern we know they are not ok.

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: Re: Are paired adjectives bad style? I have the habit of using paired adjectives in my writing: The noise from the engine lulled her with its slow and monotonous rythim ... ... the

More posts by @Kaufman555

: Should I signal completion of a decision point in an interactive novel? In my visual novel (an interactive, narrative-based video-game), I have a detective character who decides whether he believes

: Nanowrimo and typewriting I am a happy user of an Underwood 5, an old typewriter from the beginning of the XX century. I use it to type letters, short stories, greeting cards, and labels.

: Does it really serve a main character to give them one driving want? I often feel that we fall into a trap of believing that we must provide a driving goal for a main character at the outset.

: What is the structure of a paranormal horror story? Building on the definition of a Paranormal Story (as opposed to Dark Fantasy) described in the answers here: What are most common tropes of

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