“Upon Careless Gray Hills” is a great book!  Read it!

I object to "said" on the do not use list.

I had no idea "adjective" had regional variations in pronunciation.

Don't forget that dandelions can be white! They are yellow when they are young and waiting to be pollinated! They turn white after pollination.

Best advice for all writers: Try to be as informed as you can in order not to believe everything you hear or read! Find ways to learn new things every day, not just to make your writing more realistic and believable, but also to feel more self-confident.

Yes, you can say the field was full of yellow dandelions, because you can also say the field was full of white dandelions, a difference that can be used to indicate something you don't want to communicate plainly in your story.

If you want to be taken seriously, as a writer, don't say serious without the ly, where it is needed.
On useless words, don't say he put the boots on his feet or the gloves on his hands or tears in her eyes.  Where else would they go?
When I can't find the right word, I put <T> to look it up in the thesaurus later, whilst editing.  Getting the ideas down first is more important than stopping to rewrite, at least in the first draft.
A sentence should be as long as it must, to get the idea across. :)
Long sentences slow the pace down, while short sentences quicken it.
Mark Twain said, "Don't use a quarter word where a nickel word will do."
Cheers.
Jon in rural BC, Canada

“And, OF COURSE, rules are meant to be broken.”
“I do fully agree that none of these words on this list ACTUALLY add value to your writing.”

Look, it’s language - there should be NO forbidden words.

And, not using the word “said” is just stupid.

Congratulations on your book!

I'm sorry but 3:00 I have to dismiss this book entirely and the rest of the video was high-sodium grain of salt that it was even taken that seriously.
That is horrible advice that's a red-flag to anything else they have an arbitrary obsessive compulsion with.
I'm not taking an editor seriously if they ever tell me to not, or to rarely use "just", "so", "that", and "said".
This is even worse than that lie we were told about "Don't start a sentence with a preposition".
Writing is NOT reading.
Writing is like being an engineer. Reading is like being a mechanic.
Don't over-complicate it or forget to step in the shoes of a reader, or you'll make the mistake of creating something only writers & editors think is good.

Using adjectives to point out the exception or the exceptional. sounds pretty good. Steep cliff is redundant, but a shallow cliff or jagged cliff stand out.

On writing Well is such an awesome book I read at least once a week

The forbidden words make sense for academic or non-fiction writing but for fiction, I think it depends on the voice. If I'm writing from the perspective of a character, they will naturally use these words and that will make their voice come to life. I would also push back that they only serve as filler. Maybe when it comes to literal meaning, but I would argue that they can add a lot of subtext.
Consider the following sentence: "It was really quite sweet." Removing "really" and "quite" completely change the tone and implication of it.

Awesome video 😁

Was not expecting to get toastied by Stephen King today.

Hi Carson! I’m really curious about your book. I love stories set in isolated places, and I can already imagine this making a great film. I’m definitely going to read it. I even wrote to my local library and asked them to add it to their collection. Thank you for your priceless and timely advice. Wishing you a long and successful career, with many more books to come!

I acknowledge that this is a pedantic point. The word 'adjectives' contains the letter 'c' which is NOT silent. You even spell it in a pop up as 'adjetives' at 6:04. Maddening.

Also you should use 'fewer' not 'less' is the same context.

One of the worst writing tips I keep on seeing is to not use certain words (literally the first on this list) and I gotta say, I find that incredibly self-absorbed of people (not the host, I don't shoot the messenger). Like... what's the problem? You don't like a word? Move on. Let other writers use whatever words they want.

I think it comes down to what one considers to be excellent writing. For me it isn't about words, but about being able to make an image manifest in the reader's  mind's eye. If I can do that, I have accomplished my mission, no matter how many "justs" or "in facts" or "actuallys" I've included. The same is true in the reverse case. You may have written the most purple of all purple proses, but if you failed to immerse the reader in a place or emotion, then you have SIMPLY failed to write effectively. That's my benchmark.

People chucking out modifiers as being valueless is silly. It’s the pendulum swinging far too hard the opposite way. Yes it makes the sentences leaner and more assertive, but that’s not a be-all.

If you want to learn how to write efficient and effective prose, read screenplays. It's a medium that demands economy because you have limited pages to work with (usually 90, 100, and 110 with a lot of double and 1.5 spacing).

ETA: Also active voice. Passive voice works like adjectives: useful for effect, but drags if used often. Try writing without using conjugates of "to be" and "to have"

"I'm writing... ahem... trying to write good prose."

Don't sell yourself short.
You are writing compelling prose. Whether everyone likes it or thinks it's the best is not in your control because it's a matter of personal opinion.
Be confident.
You earned it.

Nah, some adjectives are good. 'A field of bright yellow dandelions' paints a more evocative picture than 'A field of dandelions.'
(Not to mention that many readers may not know all dandelions are yellow! Or even what one is.)
And calling it a steep cliff also evokes more feeling than just typing 'cliff.' Especially as you're likely writing in deep pov and I don't know about you but when I look at a cliff or hill, I think 'steep!'
Sure, many of us may overuse adjectives -- but that doesn't mean delete every one that isn't absolutely necessary.