“I’ve got so much honey,

 The bees envy me…” — Smokey Robinson

“I’ve never heard anyone so sincere since the Temptations sang ‘My Girl’ on Ed Sullivan.” — Ronald Gold in The Presidents Club, Chapter Six (which will appear on this site Sunday, February 10).

It took more than a year of work to get my first novel, The Tourist Killer, published. One lesson I learned from my mentor and also from Mark Twain and Stephen King is that adverbs are undesirable. Analogies and metaphors can be effective replacements for the “ly” modifiers.

In this case, rather than write that “the speaker made his points very sincerely,” the Temptations came through for me.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines sincerity with these three examples/synonyms:

Free of dissimulation – honest

Free from adulteration – pure

Marked by genuineness – true.

Smokey Robinson wrote “My Girl” with David Ruffin’s voice in mind. Robinson felt that if he could come up with the right lyrics, Ruffin could deliver them, and the rest of the Temptations could ad lib the background vocals, all of which would combine to produce a chart topper.

His plans proved to be prophetic.

The project took shape and “My Girl” was the first number one hit for the Temptations.

The lyrics were honest.

Ruffin’s delivery was pure.

The combination was as true as a bullet that struck the bull’s eye.

“My Girl” struck the hearts of lovers around the world.

httpv://youtu.be/ltRwmgYEUr8

FCEtier is author of The Tourist Killer. Please click on the book cover to read more about the suspense thriller or purchase a copy on Amazon.