Writing Forum

It wasn’t by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.



In another thread regarding this topic of Excellent Prose, a few participants mentioned the minimalist approach to prose craft, indicating that fiction writing is often best when it doesn't get in the way of the narrative, when it is streamlined and economical. I heartily concur. That's not to say I don't appreciate vivid language or a lyrical turn of phrase to express an idea, but it seems to me first and foremost the prose should do its job, meaning it should clearly convey a story to its audience.

One of the more famous and more honored minimalist in American Literature is Earnest Hemingway. If anybody out there is looking to write more like Hemingway, to achieve the sort of minimalist grace found in his writing, here is an article that might be helpful:

http://augustwainwright.com/how-to-write-better-according-to-ernest-hemingway/


"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."


Has anyone heard the term "Purple Prose?" Am I the only one who's been ignorant of this expression? Is that because my prose is several garish shades of mulberry magniloquent and everyone is just too dang polite to tell me about it?

Purple Prose, I have now learned, is unduly wordy and ornate, ostentatious and gaudy even. It's writing that should be avoided. However...

On learning that purple prose is something to be avoided, many people imagine a false dichotomy in which the only good prose is simple, straightforward and stripped-down. The first thing to understand when talking about purple prose is that it is not the same thing as prose that is complex, lyrical or experimental. Purple prose is writing that is unnecessarily wordy, uses metaphors and other figurative language badly and draws attention to itself in a negative way that detracts from the story.


The foregoing is from an online article found on the Nownovel website. I liked the author's point of view. Also, I was about to write that there should be a happy-medium we strive for, one found somewhere between garish purple prose and blandly basic prose. But on second thought, I don't think that's right. I think we should strive to avoid bad prose altogether, whether it be the type found on either end of the writing spectrum. But I do recognize, as we've already discussed elsewhere in this thread, that we are all individuals, each of us expressing in our writing a unique personality and distinctive point of view. Some of us like our prose to be more vivid and more weirdly expressive; some of us place more emphasis on plot, setting, and characters, and we therefore choose to tone-down and streamline our language, to write more documentarian-style, so to speak, wherein the narration might lack complexity and poeticism but still excites readers nonetheless.

Anyway, here is a link to the article I'm talking about covering purple prose:

http://www.nownovel.com/blog/purple-prose-how-to-recognize-it-and-tame-it/

Finally, I notice there are only a few of us participating in these threads regarding Excellent Prose. And that's cool. Others might be busy writing award-winning stories or flushing out their novels. I'm certainly not a FSFS member who believes it should be mandatory for everyone in the group to stand up, tell us who you are, and give us your thoughts on every subject discussed in these forums. However, if anyone, especially new members, is being shy because they don't really agree with what I or any others have written in here (or maybe you vehemently disagree on some points but just don't like being confrontational---unlike my favorite "Dark Literature" prose smith, Kat Hawthorne, who is every bit as opinionated as she is talented), please, please don't avoid providing us your perspective because it happens to be different or even oppositional to another's. This is how we learn---it's certainly how I learn, anyway. Opinions will vary, and most of the time there isn't a wrong one or a right one, just various ones expressing a wide range of viewpoints. Besides, I am very accustomed to being told I am entirely out of my mind---please feel free to join the crowd on that one.