Purple prose is the name given to writing — or, well, prose– that’s just too flowery and too melodramatic for its own good. In other words, just way too much.
“Why would purple prose be a bad thing?”
Well, it clouds the meaning behind your writing and, frankly, doesn’t flatter the writer very well. By its sheer verbosity, purple prose can turn off your reader greatly– which is not a good thing to do if your reader happens to be your professor.
That being said, there actually is no ultimate, absolute definition of what constitutes prose, nor is there a definite list of symptoms. Figuring out whether you have in fact fallen victim to purple prose is often a subjective decision– one person’s purple prose may be another person’s vivid description. Unfortunately (or, fortunately, depending on who you are), this is largely a judgment call.
However, that is not to say that there aren’t basic ground rules to follow; this isn’t a free-for-all. (Sorry!)
So, here are a few things to keep in mind in order to avoid purpling your prose too much:
Avoid words that are too big and fancy. Obviously, there is merit to being erudite and eloquent. However, there is a difference between using a particular word because of its precise definition and using it because it makes you sound smarter. Be honest with yourself, your own writing style, and pay attention to the task at hand. It’s easy to spot when a student is using difficult words for the sake of using them– trust me, I know. Everyone has a particular writing style that is rather distinctive– much like someone’s speaking voice. So, when a student puts on airs, it’s much like someone you know well suddenly speaking in Muppet-voice. And it’s that much more obvious when unnecessarily difficult words are used where clear, simple wording would suffice.
Keep the urge to write flowery, overly vivid descriptions at bay. Descriptors are used to make the reader visualize what you’re describing. However, there is such thing as written sensory overload. Not sure what I mean? Well, here is an example:
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is an annual contest held by the English Department of San Jose State University. The contest challenges entrants to write the opening lines of the worst possible novels. Of course, each year’s submissions are hilariously bad renditions of “good fiction.” While they are opening lines to non-existent fiction (how is that for a double negative?), they are also excellent exercises in flowery writing, or purple prose.
This is the 2008 grand-prize winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest:
Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city, their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist breath through manhole covers stamped “Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N. J.”
Um, what?
First off, thanks for making New York sounds gross(er). Second, there are way too many descriptions–far more than what’s necessary. This, in all its flowery craziness, is an example of vivid imagery gone awry– this, my dear readers, is purple prose.
Avoid self-indulgent writing. Another clue to whether the writing is overdone is that it draws attention to itself rather than to the story. If you find yourself thinking, “By golly, that’s a lovely phrase”, then you’re in trouble. If the phrase is self-indulgent and is far more about your own cleverness than it is about your topic itself, then it has to go. This is, according to William Faulkner Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch*, is called “murdering your darlings.” In his series of lectures titled On the Art of Writing from 1916 (!), Sir Quiller-Couch wrote: “Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it–wholeheartedly–and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.” Nicely done.
Of course, that is not to say that you have to slaughter or even dump every phrase you are particularly pleased with. You are allowed to marvel at your own genius, yes. So, if there is a phrase in mind that borders on possibly too much, think: if the phrase serves your topic well, it stays but, if it doesn’t, buh-bye. It’s that simple.
*William Faulkner is frequently attributed to the phrase “kill your darlings” when, in actuality, it was Sir Quiller-Couch who coined it. The more you know.
http://theadvancededit.com/academic-writing/purple-prose-what-it-is-and-how-to-avoid-it/ (assessed on Aug. 18, 2015)
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Rick Riordan
Art by Pamela Colebourn
Have you ever met those people who can’t seem to stop talking about themselves, or what happened with their spouse, their kids, etc.? Yeah, that’s not storytelling. That’s called a cry for attention, complaining, and/or self-indulgence. It’s most apparent on Facebook and some blogs. Facebook is the master of self-indulgence. And if you go to a blog and the blogger talks about themselves more than things others might find interesting, it’s called a self-indulgent blog. Storytelling, by definition, is the art of telling a story to entertain someone else.
Of course, we all indulge ourselves in some form or another. We have a right to be happy. But that’s not entertainment. That’s not storytelling. It’s just us being part of the audience.
What’s an example of an entertaining story? Try: “You won’t imagine what I saw on my way back home the other night. I had to walk because my car broke down. All the lights were out and I only had the light from my cell phone. My battery was running low and I could only guess I was going in the right direction. Finally, just as I was about to walk into a lit street, there in the bushes, I saw…”
It’s got a few elements that grab attention: 1) suspense, 2) fear, and 3) dealing with a tricky situation. A self-indulgent version would be:
“Urgh, I had to walk home last night after my car broke down. Such a piece of junk. The entire street was blacked out too, it was so frustrating. My stupid phone kept dying and I just wanted to cry. My boyfriend wouldn’t pick up his phone either, he’s such a d-bag. So then, I was right about to get out of this horrible dark street…”
I’m already asleep. Please, save the punch line. Maybe it will knock you out.
What we have to try to do instead is to make our stories relevant to the person we’re speaking to. That way they’ll grab onto what they want to get from it, and at the same time absorb the rest of the details.
Writing for yourself is like telling yourself a story, and only yourself. There are a few ways to figure out if this is the case:
1) Did you have a person or a group in mind when you were writing the story?
2) Have you imagined how this person/group might react to where the story was going?
3) Have you written scenes in the story that you didn’t necessary want to write but knew the person/group you were writing for might enjoy them?
The key here really is: were you thinking of anyone other than yourself and your characters when you wrote the story? After all, your characters are really an extension of yourself. Yes, it may also be important to make sure they get the best development they can, but sometimes it may not be a wise idea to put them before your readers.
Do you write for yourself or for an audience?
-The Story Addict
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One of the greatest mysteries of all time is the power of storytelling. Films, books, music, advertisements, comics, and animation are just a few formats we use, but what makes a story worth telling? This blog is my personal take on storytelling based on stories that transcend time and keep us wanting more.
Featured Quote
“My cousin Helen, who is in her 90s now, was in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She and a bunch of the girls in the ghetto had to do sewing each day. And if you were found with a book, it was an automatic death penalty. She had gotten hold of a copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’, and she would take three or four hours out of her sleeping time each night to read. And then, during the hour or so when they were sewing the next day, she would tell them all the story. These girls were risking certain death for a story. And when she told me that story herself, it actually made what I do feel more important. Because giving people stories is not a luxury. It’s actually one of the things that you live and die for.”
— Neil Gaiman (Creator of Hugo, Coraline, and Stardust)
Featured Quote
“My cousin Helen, who is in her 90s now, was in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She and a bunch of the girls in the ghetto had to do sewing each day. And if you were found with a book, it was an automatic death penalty. She had gotten hold of a copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’, and she would take three or four hours out of her sleeping time each night to read. And then, during the hour or so when they were sewing the next day, she would tell them all the story. These girls were risking certain death for a story. And when she told me that story herself, it actually made what I do feel more important. Because giving people stories is not a luxury. It’s actually one of the things that you live and die for.”
— Neil Gaiman (Creator of Hugo, Coraline, and Stardust)
https://addictivestory.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/self-indulgent-storytelling-on-writing-for-yourself-versus-writing-for-an-audience/ (assessed 08-18-2015)
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人物貢獻編輯
錢先生在文學研究和文學創作方麵的卓越成就。特別是在科學地揚棄中國傳統文化和有選擇地借鑒外來文化方麵，具有重要的啟示意義。
[12] 錢鍾書以一種文化批判精神觀照中國與世界。在精熟中國文化和通覽世界文化的基礎上，錢先生在觀察中西文化事物時，總是表現出一種清醒的頭腦和一種深刻的洞察力。他不拒絕任何一種理論學說，也不盲從任何一個權威。他畢生致力於確定中國文學藝術在世界文學藝術宮殿中的適當位置，從而促使中國文學藝術走向世界，加入到世界文學藝術的總的格局中去。為此，他既深刻地闡發了中國文化精神的深厚意蘊和獨特價值，也恰切地指出了其曆史局限性和地域局限性。他既批評中國人由於某些幻覺而對本土文化的妄自尊大，又毫不留情地橫掃了西方人由於無知而以歐美文化為中心的偏見。錢先生對於推進中外文化的交流、使中國人了解西方的學術以及使西方人了解中國的文化，起了很好的作用。
[12] 因為伯父沒有兒子，按照慣例，錢鍾書一生下來就過繼給了伯父。他剛滿周歲“
抓周”，抓到一本書，因而取名為鍾書。鍾書四歲，伯父教他認字。六歲，送入秦氏小學，不到半年，因為一場病，伯父讓他呆在家不再上學。後來進私塾，伯父又嫌不方便，幹脆自己教鍾書。上午伯父出去喝茶，給一銅板讓他去買酥餅吃，給二銅板讓他去看小人書。鍾書經常跟伯父去伯母娘家，那有一個大莊園，鍾書成天貪玩，耽誤些功課，伯母娘家人都抽大煙，總是半夜吃夜餐，生活無規律。一回來，父親見鍾書染上許多壞毛病，大罵，但他總不當著其他孩子的麵罵。鍾書十一歲，考取
東林小學，而伯父不久也去世了。盡管父親負責他的學雜費，但其它開支無法彌補，沒有作業本，他就用伯父曾釘起的舊本子；筆尖斷了，他就把竹筷削尖替用。鍾書十四歲考上桃塢中學，父親在清華大學任教，對鍾書的作文始終不滿意，他從此用功讀書，閱讀了大量的書，漸漸地他可以代父親寫信、寫詩，父親的臉上終於露出了得意的笑容。
[13]
代父寫序
錢鍾書18歲時考入美國聖公會無錫輔仁中學。他常為父親
錢基博代筆寫信，由口授而代寫，由代寫信而代做文章。
一次錢鍾書代父親為鄉下一家大戶代作墓誌銘。偶然間，他聽見父親對母親稱讚那篇文章，這是錢鍾書第一次聽到父親稱讚他，高興得簡直要跳起來。楊絳晚年回憶，錢穆的《
國學概論》1931年由商務印書館出版，他請錢基博為之作序。錢基博就讓錢鍾書代筆。序寫好後，父親一個字也沒有改動。《國學概論》出版時，沒有人看出這篇序是一個剛滿20歲的年輕人代寫的。
[14] 錢鍾書的記憶能力無疑是超凡的，他精通多種語言，能背誦無數的詩詞和文獻，能將經史子集隨手拈來、頭
頭是道，比起今天電視上外強中幹的學術超女超男來判若雲泥。
[15] 錢鍾書學富五車、才高八鬥，被譽為是“博學鴻儒”、“文化昆侖”。
[16] 錢鍾書還是個幽默大師，他健談善辯，口若懸河，舌璨蓮花，雋思妙語，常常令人捧腹。錢氏的健談雄辯大有孟子、韓愈遺風，在中國社會科學院幾乎無人不曉。
[17]
Have you ever met those people who can’t seem to stop talking about themselves, or what happened with their spouse, their kids, etc.? Yeah, that’s not storytelling. That’s called a cry for attention, complaining, and/or self-indulgence. It’s most apparent on Facebook and some blogs. Facebook is the master of self-indulgence. And if you go to a blog and the blogger talks about themselves more than things others might find interesting, it’s called a self-indulgent blog. Storytelling, by definition, is the art of telling a story to entertain someone else.
