The Return of Tom Swift

[davewitley]

June expatiated:

> Can't resist this bait, or is it deliberate provocation?  There 
are 
> a number of people who know my opinions about adverb use in 
dialogue 
> attribution only too well...(did they put you up to this, she 
asked 
> suspiciously)

Honestly, no, it wasn't baiting.  If you've posted over on the main 
list about this I'm afraid I've missed it.

> Sorry JKR - I hate it.  I only forgive it because it's you and I 
> will tolerate it so I can hang with the likes of Snape, Lupin and 
> the rest of them.

When I read OOP aloud to my son I really noticed this habit.  On 
many, many occasions I interpreted the speech, came to the adverb, 
and had to go back and re-read in a different tone of voice.  I 
didn't like it at the time.

I think it's an interesting question whether this adds to or 
detracts from the story.  JKR kept overriding my interpretation, but 
maybe there's a point to that.  I am not sufficiently good or 
experienced a writer to know if she could have written the dialogue 
slightly differently to ensure that the appropriate tone of voice 
would come out of the printed words.

> So said June, acerbically, and maybe arrogantly.

This is all very interesting, but I hope it won't prevent you 
enjoying the Swifties, which are, after all, nothing to do with 
realistic dialogue and everything to do with feeble puns.

David