Craft of Writing - Adjectives

Wishy-Wasy Adjectives

1. A definition

According to the reference books, there are six different types of adjective in the English language. These are:

a. Numbers
e.g. Seven

b. Quantity
e.g. Some, more than, enough

c. Quality as an attribute
e.g. Blue, large, pungent

d. Possessive
e.g. Hers, our

e. Interrogative
e.g. Which, what

f. Demonstrative
e.g. This, that, those

Writers of prose need to add another type of adjective to this list, as a sub-set of c. above:

g. 'Wishy-washy'
e.g. popular, enthusiastic

2. What on earth am I talking about?

Too many writers use adjectives to describe a character or a setting as quickly as they can. And it's fraught with dangers. Specifically:

a. Show don't tell

It's a lot quicker, and lazier, to tell us about a character in one word. To use the examples above, you might think it's cool to say a character was popular. This fits exactly the attributes you have outlined for the character.

Yet every book on the subject will state that this is 'telling' and readers want to be shown. Demonstrate the character's popularity - it is far more compelling to read and it brings the person to life.

b. It's a label
Using adjectives makes it so much easier to stereotype. We hang a couple of labels on the character and they lose all roundness.

c. It's too abstract
Too many adjectives are abstract in their meaning. What exactly does 'popular' mean? Does it mean popular with everyone, or just a select group. Does the popularity apply to all age ranges and cliques, or just a specific set?
Your definition of popular might not be the same as the readers, which leads me to a true story.

I once had to mediate between two managers, as one believed the other had conned him into taking on a poor performing employee. Manager A stated that he needed someone flexible and Employee X was nothing of the sort. Manager B argued that Employee X was the most flexible person he'd ever managed. Whatever you threw at her, she picked up and ran with. Manager A stopped for a moment. No, he finally said, flexible means coming in to work and going home as and when required. After a couple of minute's debate on the subject, they realised their error. Flexible is an abstract adjective and can also have more than one meaning.

And even if we agree on the meaning, it is sill open to interpretation. Which is why, as a writer, the use of wishy-washy adjectives is a no-no. What you think you've conveyed may not be what the reader has understood.

As I was always taught:

"I know you believe that you understand what you think I said (wrote), but I am sure you realise that what you heard (read) is not what I meant."

Adjectives should be concrete. You should ideally be able to use one of your senses to identify them - or they should be so narrow in their abstractness that we know what the writer mean.

Salty butter is precise, tasty butter is not.

But when it comes to characters, it still begs the question, why don't you simply show instead?

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