It is a word that is used too often by people who try to emphasise an object, person or action within their work. When writing, it is difficult to try and avoid using the word ‘very’, but it can sometimes seem the right way to get your point across.
Using this word can appear lazy and amateurish, especially when there is a vast array of alternative words that mean the same thing. This is a collection of alternatives that I have put together and would encourage anyone to try and use where possible instead of their ‘very’ counterpart.

Every writer knows the feeling. You have an idea — maybe a character, a world, or a fragment of a scene — but when you . . .
There’s a delicious, tingling moment in every novel-in-progress where the story goes from blank space to spark. It’s the whisper of a character you don’t . . .
Every writer eventually meets them: the villain who should be terrifying… but somehow lands closer to awkward karaoke act than dark overlord. On paper, they’re . . .
Dialogue is one of those slippery beasts in fiction. Get it right and your characters breathe — they walk into a room, speak, and suddenly . . .