"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops." Stephen King, On Writing.
The above is one of the most quoted "rules" Stephen King identified in his book on the craft, On Writing. From my experience in writers' forums, it also seems to be the most misunderstood. Nary as month goes by without someone typing "... but I checked [insert random famous title here] and they use many adverbs!" In most cases, I suspect the problem is those asking haven't read Mr King's book, and many desire to take such rules as literal absolutes. The complaint is so frequent I decided to write a blog post on it, rather than keep typing the same answers ad nauseam.
Remember: this is my opinion and interpretation. If you see it differently, I'd be happy to chat about it in the comments or on my FB page.
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