A topic covered many times, but we need to look at this more closely. Adverbs and adjectives generally get a bad rap, and it might be interesting to discuss the specific authors who notably do or do not use them.

Terry Pratchett uses a lot of adverbs, especially as dialog tags. "He said sulkily", "she whispered thickly", etc. I understand that he's primarily a satire author, but what is the take on this? It doesn't disrupt the flow of writing too badly for me, and with the pains most authors take to avoid adverbs, it's sort of refreshing to read them now in a mainstream author!

Gaiman uses a lot of adjectives, as in a LOT! One of the best lines of all time, IMO, is his very long sentence "American Gods", part of which was "the thick, custardy light", or something along those lines. Almost purple prose, but very, very well done.

Who else is well known, uses one of the two, or (besides King dammit!) avoids them completely? Yes, King is excluded. I don't care for his writing, and he certainly is not the only author who is worth listening to!

Rule one: I agree that you should not use tom swifties, but there's nothing wrong with adverbs as such. Adjectives... Well, it depends upon the adjective.

Pratchett does that? Huh, maybe that's where I picked it up from.

Pratchett also uses an incredible amount of dialog in his writing, I'd say at least half of his stories are dialog.

But when is it ok to use an adverb or adjective? When is it not ok? And if you don't use one, what do you use instead?