Not banning adverbs, just helping you avoid the icky ones.

1. Swap the adverb, not the meaning. Instead of: “He whispered angrily.” Try: “He hissed the words between his teeth.”

2. Replace “said” only when it changes tone. Not every line needs flair! But sometimes: • mused (thinking aloud) • snapped (tension) • muttered (quiet frustration) • chirped (bright and quick)

3. Alternatives to ‘almost’ that aren’t icky. Objects: brushing against, bordering, adjacent to Actions: poised to, ready to, about to States: akin to, resembling, not quite Misc: a whisper from, at the cusp of, within reach of

Example: Instead of: “She was almost smiling.” Try: “A smile hovered at the edge of her mouth.”

Punctuation as a Writing Superpower

Punctuation is mood.

1. Em-dash = drama or interruption. “The decision — reckless as it was — already felt final.”

2. Semicolon = linked thoughts. “The storm hammered the walls; inside, her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.”

3. Colon = emphasis or explanation. “He wanted only one thing: answers.”

4. Ellipses = hesitation or fading thoughts. “I thought I saw someone behind the shed, but…”

To balance things out, here are a couple of points to consider when using aforementioned advice:

Not all adverbs are bad. Some add layers of meaning (“Killing me softly”), some add tone or humour (She surveyed the blade protruding from his side. “You’ve got a knife stuck in your ribs,” she commented unnecessarily.)

Are the additions necessary? If you can delete words and the meaning remains the same, you might have bloated your writing instead of adding to it. “He whispered angrily.” => “He hissed the the words between his teeth.” ==> “He hissed.”

The Almost-Point has to do with Clarity: if you're using Caveats or Similes (almost, nearly, as if, etc.). If you CAN be clear, be clear. (If you find it hard to get out writing, this is best addressed during the editing + revision process!)

Again, some of OP’s advice is good—if balanced appropriatly. A lot of it has to do with tone and style, and a lot less with actual craft. So I hope my additions can help navigate those ominous rules of writings.

We have a multichapter fic, 2/3 posted!

sweet return is a Harry POV where he returns to Hogwarts, in search of a place he can call home.

Fics and Art will go live on 2/21! 💕

For more information, please check our @hagfestcollection socials on IG, Tumblr, and Bluesky, or message @thelostriversong or @halfbl00dprinc3ss for details!

Artist credit: @arishatistic

Turns out it’s herding cats. Half of them are on fire, and the other half are narrative choices I don’t remember making.

I genuinely do not understand this fandom sometimes.

Ron fans will forgive him anything. Abandonment. Jealousy. Rudeness. Betrayal. All of it gets washed away with one single scene of him standing in front of Harry in the Shrieking Shack and suddenly he’s the pinnacle of loyalty, the true hero, the moral compass of the story.

Fine. Whatever.😑

But then the same people turn around and reduce Harry Potter to a brainless emotional support prop who would apparently be a drooling troll without Hermione. And that’s where it stops being opinion and starts being nonsense.

Yes, I love Hermione. I truly do. Reminder I am an hardcore Harmony Stan. And yes, I see her as Harry’s only real partner on every level that actually matters. But the way people defend her by flattening Harry into an incompetent idiot is not pro-Hermione. It’s anti-Harry. And it’s lazy and offensive.

Harry is not academically gifted in the neat, polished way Hermione is. That does not make him stupid.

This is a boy who read his schoolbooks before his first year even started. A boy who was completely absorbed by the Half-Blood Prince’s textbook because he understood it intuitively. A boy who figured out that Hagrid’s dragon didn’t appear “by accident.” A boy who stabbed a diary with a basilisk fang on instinct and destroyed a Horcrux at twelve. TWELVE! But sure, tell me again how he’s “useless.”

He navigated the Triwizard Tournament under constant threat of death. He oriented himself in tasks designed to kill him. He taught other students DADA because he understood it well enough to explain it, adapt it, and make others better. He planned and executed a break-in at Gringotts, one of the most secure places in the wizarding world.

But sure. No brain activity detected.😡😡😡

And don’t even get me started on the “Harry is useless except for Expelliarmus” crowd. That take alone tells me people skimmed the books with their eyes closed.

This is the same thirteen-year-old who drove off an entire swarm of Dementors with a fully formed Patronus. One of the most advanced defensive spells in existence. And then later taught it to others. Successfully.

This is the same fourteen-year-old who dueled Voldemort and survived.

Expelliarmus is not a lack of imagination. It is a statement of intent. Harry is not trying to kill Voldemort. He is trying to protect Hogwarts. To protect people. To stop the cycle, not continue it. If you think that makes him weak, then congratulations, you completely missed the point of his character.

And the claim that Harry is a doormat, a weak person everyone walks over, is honestly the most unhinged of all.

This boy lost his parents, his godfather, his childhood, his sense of safety, his privacy, his autonomy. He was abused, isolated, manipulated, lied to. And still, he did not turn bitter. He did not become cruel. He did not decide the world owed him blood.

That takes more strength than most people will ever have.

Every single keyboard critic who calls Harry weak would break within days if they lived even a fraction of his life. It takes immense inner power to continue seeing good in people after everything he endured. To forgive those who didn’t deserve it. Yes, even Albus. Yes, even Ron.

And finally, the thing people seem most desperate to downplay. Harry walking into the forest. Alone. Knowing he would die. Letting Voldemort kill him so others could live.

That is not weakness! That is not stupidity! That is not passivity!

That is strength in its purest form.

If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand Harry Potter.

Let Your Heart Hold Fast is next!

We've got another WIP on our hands! Healer Harry and Auror Hermione. You'll love this first chapter, trust me...

Fics and Art are due 2/7 and go live 2/21. (this is a date change!) 💕

For more information, please check our hagfestcollection socials on IG, Tumblr, and Bluesky, or message @thelostriversong or @halfbl00dprinc3ss for details!

Artist credit: @arishatistic