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Adverb and Weak Verb Checker for Fiction
Paste a scene. River comments on the adverbs and weak verbs a stronger verb could replace, offers options in your voice, and leaves the rest alone.
Paste a scene, chapter or short story and River puts it into a document exactly as you wrote it, then leaves comments in the margin on adverbs and weak verbs. Each comment points to one phrase, says briefly why a different verb could help there, and offers two or three options that suit your voice. Where simply cutting the adverb is enough, the comment says so. Your text stays untouched, and you decide which suggestions to take.
This is not a rule that bans adverbs. Many adverbs carry meaning a verb cannot, and plain verbs often belong in quiet sentences. River flags a word only when a stronger choice exists. That means an adverb that repeats its verb, an intensifier such as very or really in front of a word with a sharper cousin, or a vague verb in a moment the reader needs to see clearly. Dialogue and a narrator's habits of speech are left alone.
It is for fiction writers, memoirists and anyone revising narrative prose who wants a focused pass on verbs before a wider edit. Choose how picky River should be: only the clearest cases, or everything worth a second look. A tight passage gets few comments, because comments are never padded to look thorough. Nothing else in your prose is touched, so you can run this pass alongside your own revision or a critique partner's notes.
When an adverb is worth changing
Adverbs are not mistakes. The trouble starts when a verb leans on one. "She walked slowly" asks two words to do what trudged, dawdled or limped does in one, and each of those says something different about her. When the adverb repeats the verb, as in "whispered quietly" or "shouted loudly", it can simply go. When it adds something the verb lacks, as in "answered honestly" or "walked backwards", it is doing its job and should stay.
Weak verbs are a question of placement. Went, got, looked and put are fine in transitions, where a showy verb would draw attention to a moment that does not matter. They cost more in the moments readers most need to see: a fight, a discovery, a first touch. The same goes for "was" and "was walking". They state a condition clearly and often belong; a flag makes sense only where an active verb would sharpen a key moment.
Dialogue follows different rules. Characters talk the way people do, with really and very and so, and cutting those words can flatten a voice. Adverbs in dialogue tags are another matter: "she said angrily" after a line that is already angry repeats the line, and an action beat or a plain "said" usually works better. A first-person narrator's verbal habits can be characterization too, so River judges them by voice rather than by any fixed rule.
How it works
Paste your passage
Paste a scene, chapter or story, or drop the file, and choose how picky River should be.
River reads first
It learns your voice, point of view and tense before marking anything in the passage.
Review the comments
Each comment names one phrase, says why, and offers options you can take or ignore.
Revise your way
Make the changes yourself, or ask River to apply only the suggestions you accept.
What you get
- Your passage placed in the document exactly as written, with comments pinned to specific phrases
- Two or three replacement verbs per comment, chosen to fit your narrator's voice and register
- A plain note when cutting the adverb is enough and no new word is needed
- Adverbs and plain verbs that are doing real work left alone, without a comment
- Characters' speech left as written, with only adverbs that repeat a dialogue line flagged
- A short note at the top naming your recurring patterns and what already works
Common questions
Are all adverbs bad?
No. An adverb is worth keeping when it adds something the verb does not contain: "answered honestly", "walked backwards", "smiled for the first time in weeks". It is worth a second look when it repeats the verb, as in "whispered quietly", or props up a vague verb a sharper one could replace. River comments only on the second kind and leaves the first alone.
What counts as a weak verb?
A verb is weak only in context. Went, got, looked, moved and put are fine in a transition, and a showy replacement there would draw attention to nothing. In a moment the reader should see clearly, such as a fight or a discovery, a specific verb shows how the action happens. River flags vague verbs in those moments and suggests plain, precise options.
Will this change my writing?
No. River copies your passage into the document exactly as you wrote it and adds comments in the margin. Nothing is rewritten unless you ask. If you agree with some suggestions, you can make the edits yourself or tell River which ones to apply, and it will change only those words and leave everything else as it was.
Should I cut every very and really?
Not automatically. In narration, "very tired" is often weaker than exhausted or wrung out, so River suggests a sharper word. In dialogue, and in a first-person narrator who talks that way, those words can be part of the voice, so River leaves them. The test is whether a better word exists for this sentence, not whether the word appears.
What about adverbs in dialogue tags?
"Said" is usually enough. When the line itself already shows the emotion, an adverb in the tag repeats it: "'Get out!' she said angrily." River flags those and suggests cutting the adverb or using an action beat instead. When the tag adds something the words do not, such as a line said quietly that reads as loud, it stays.
How long a passage can I check?
Paste anything from a single paragraph to a chapter. River works through about 5,000 words in one pass, says where it stopped if your text is longer, and continues when you ask. A short, focused passage gets the most useful comments, because River can weigh each verb against the scene around it rather than skimming.
Adverb and Weak Verb Checker for Fiction
Describe what you need, add any files you have, and your workspace opens with the work already underway.