Adjectives and Adverbs

When it comes to adjectives and adverbs, it's easy to make a lot of beginner's mistakes. The simplest rule is to avoid the overuse or misuse of adjectives and adverbs. Here are five reasons why:
1) More is less. A string of adjectives is distracting and harder to read.
2) You end up “telling” vs. “showing” the reader what is happening when you
use too many adjectives.
3) Adverbs can weaken their subjects. It’s like saying the verb isn’t strong
enough to stand on its own.
4) Beginners tend to use common adjectives and adverbs. They become cliché.
5) You end up using more commas than necessary which makes for awkward
reading.

So a good exercise to do with any of your writing is to go paragraph by paragraph and underline or highlight all of your adjectives and adverbs and then ask yourself the following questions:
1) "Is this really necessary? Can I just cut it out?"
2) "Is this word too cliche/common? Is there another adjective/adverb I could use?"
3) "What other nouns or verbs could I use in its place to strengthen the meaning?"

Try rewriting the paragraph now. You'll find that with practice you'll begin to naturally edit yourself as you write.