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Paint over the Purple
Purple Prose seems poetic. It often always is distracting. Avoid it, if possible.
Binati Sheth
June 12, 2023
Paint over the Purple
Disclaimer: In this article about purple prose, I will use simplistic prose. Creativity has left this chat. Proceed with caution.
The English language is the definition of it’s complicated. One of these complications is purple prose or prose that chokes your work with its creativity. ::wink wink::
Purple prose is when your writing wears a diamond encrusted crown when it didn’t need one. The thing to remember is: Less is more. When you overdescribe things, you distract your readers from the story. They lose interest. Eventually, they stop reading.
Purple prose isn’t about using or not using hefty, bulky, voluminous words. It is about using them such that they elevate the prose (and not choke it to death).
When is your prose purple?
When you write something creative at the expense of clarity.
Nobody reads books for the sentences. Mostly, people read books for for the ideas and the experiences.
Let’s see a sample:
There is pride to be had where the prejudicial is practiced with precision in the trenchant triage of tactile terminations. This came to him via the crucible-forged fact that all humans are themselves animal, and that rifle-ready human hunters of alternately-species prey should best beware the raging ricochet that soon will come their way.
The purple can be eliminated by using simpler words.
Humans hunted responsibly like animals. Bob Honey thought to himself, “We are animals too… we should be prideful, thoughtful and deliberate in the act of hunting. If we get distracted, we’d be hunted just as ruthlessly.”
See the difference?
How to Turn the purple wine into refreshing water?
The purpose of writing is expression. Write to express (not impress). Make the writing serve the story or your key idea.
Eliminate the Purple
If the word doesn’t add anything to your prose; if the word is just a bit of flowery language - eliminate it or replace it with the appropriate alternative.
Purple comes in many shades. Each literary rhetoric has a type of purple associated to it. Academic writing has to have the fancier, niche specific terms. Commercial writing does not. One’s beige is another’s purple.
Localise it
Beige prose or understandable (regular) language that prioritises readability is localised prose. Most people aren’t inclined to spend their precious time dissecting suspiciously specific literary quirks. They will instead gravitate towards simplicity and entertainment. To turn your beige to purple, localise your work. Find a non-reader you know and trust. Have them comment on your prose. Whatever they lose interest in, try to make it simpler or eliminate it.
Pack the Punch instead of Punching Continuously
Less is more. Show don’t tell.
When the character who’s in every scene but doesn’t really speak much finally speaks up, you read every words they say. If you continuously tell instead of show, the readers will probably think to themselves, “Oh, this was so predictably meh! I am so not reading this author again.”
Make Ideas your Hill to Die on
Words are precious. Ideas are precious. Comparing words and ideas is unfair but required.
Let me just leave you with this advice: People read your books for your ideas; not your word choices. They read your book for the experience it offers. They read your book to be entertained. They read your book to get educated (with regard to something specific).
Select and Honour the chosen POV
The point-of-view (POV) you choose to narrate your story needs some form of consistency. The first person POV is the easiest to write; the omniscient narrator POV is the hardest. If you choose to write the latter, stay focuses and get your draft beta-read by multiple people. Listen to the feedback and colour over the purple.