Why the massive hate for adverbs in dialogue tags? Can it ever be done "right?"
I'm not talking Tom Swifties ("They had to amputate them both at the ankles," said Tom defeatedly), or about qualifiers that could be turned into stronger verbs ("Said suggestively" from the thread title should be "suggested") but about cases where the adverb actually adds something to the sentence.
For example,
"You know I love you," he said coldly.
is miles away from
"You know I love you," he said softly.
And while I think "softly" could be omitted from the second one, I feel "coldly" adds something to the first example that would be hard to replicate with a different verb or by changing the dialogue.
But anything, anything other than "You know I love you," he said lovingly.
So. Adverbs in dialogue tags. All bad? Or can they work in certain cases?
I'm not talking Tom Swifties ("They had to amputate them both at the ankles," said Tom defeatedly), or about qualifiers that could be turned into stronger verbs ("Said suggestively" from the thread title should be "suggested") but about cases where the adverb actually adds something to the sentence.
For example,
"You know I love you," he said coldly.
is miles away from
"You know I love you," he said softly.
And while I think "softly" could be omitted from the second one, I feel "coldly" adds something to the first example that would be hard to replicate with a different verb or by changing the dialogue.
But anything, anything other than "You know I love you," he said lovingly.
So. Adverbs in dialogue tags. All bad? Or can they work in certain cases?