Have you ever heard someone talk about purple prose? When I first started branching out to learn more about writing outside of a hobby, I was flummoxed by the term. It seemed to have a negative connotation, but that’s all I knew. A little digging gave me answers, and I would like to share my explanation with you along with ways to avoid it.
Purple Prose
Purple prose is writing so extravagant and flowery that it draws excessive attention to itself while lacking substance. The last phrase is key: lacking substance. Many authors have flowery prose. The literary fiction genre usually depends on it, but it’s when the prose is empty that it turns into purple prose. Here is an example of acceptably flowery prose.
Marco pulls her to him in an emerald embrace, so close that no one distinction remains between where his suit ends and her gown begins. To Celia there is suddenly no one else in the room as he holds her in his arms. But before she can vocalize her surprise, his lips close over hers and she is lost in wordless bliss. Marco kisses her as though they are the only two people in the world. The air swirls in a tempest around them, blowing open the glass doors to the garden with a tangle of billowing curtains.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
As you can see, Erin alternates her flowery sentences with simple ones to make sure it isn’t over the top. Purple prose, on the other hand, consists of several long sentences, staked adjectives, lots of adverbs, too many metaphors or similes, and ornate language. See how I rewrote the paragraph below for an example.
Marco draws her thin, languid body to him in an emerald embrace, so close that no one curving distinction remains between where his three-piece suit ceases and her silk gown commences. To Celia there is instantaneously no single mortal being in the vicinity as he enfolds her in his toned, vigorous arms. But prior to her vocalizing her consternation, his full lips ravenously capture hers and she is spellbound in wordless ecstasy. Marco caresses her lips with his as though they alone are the sole existence on this celestial body. The hot air swirls in a tempest around them, blowing open the glass doors to the moonlit garden with a tangle of billowing velvet curtains.
Just writing that made me cringe so I don’t blame you if you did as well while reading it. The words are so excessive that a lot of the scene’s meaning is lost in a tangle of words. It makes the reader’s job much harder to follow the story. Let’s look at three ways you can avoid purple prose in your writing.
How To Avoid Purple Prose
1. Avoid Overuse Of Adverbs And Adjectives
The two most overused parts of speech in writing are adverbs and adjectives. New writers often feel like the more they use, the more descriptive their writing. That’s not always true. While both come in handy, too many makes the text annoying to read.
As a general rule, writers are told to avoid using adverbs. If you have an adverb, most often you could just pick a more descriptive verb. For instance, “talk softly” could be whispered, murmured, or mumbled. Obviously, there are times when adverbs are helpful, but I usually try to avoid them. If I have more than one a chapter, I see how many I can cut.
Adjectives are a little more accepted. You need them to describe most nouns, but you should avoid stacking adjectives. For example, “When the canary yellow, wood armchair was pulled out, it scraped against the white and gray, slick lanolin floor leaving a long, jagged, yellow mark on the floor.” The sentence is very descriptive, but so many adjectives make it clumsy to read. I aim to use no more than two adjectives with one noun and avoid giving every noun in a sentence an adjective.
2. The Thesaurus Is Not Your Best Friend
As writers, we have to come up with varying ways to say the same thing so we don’t appear repetitive. A thesaurus is good for avoiding redundancy, but there is such a thing as overusing it. Sometimes, in our search for a different word, we pick obscure or extremely long words that cloud the meaning of our sentence. We want to use different words but not at the cost of clarity. Erin’s paragraph that I altered above was mostly done by looking up synonyms and replacing her words with more complex or obscure ones. So when you’re writing, if you spend half your time in a thesaurus, you may be overusing it.
3. Aim For Substance
A lot of writers fear that their writing isn’t profound. They read literary classics and think they need to sound flowery to be considered a good author. That’s not true. While those books have their place in society, the average reader wants a good story—not good prose. You can weave amazing imagery in your book without writing in an obscure manner. Just read The Night Circus. Erin paints gorgeous scenes while using plain language.
When you write, focus on what you’re saying more than how you are saying it. Throwing in some flair isn’t a bad thing if that’s your natural writing style, but don’t force it. In the end, books become major hits because the substance not the delivery was amazing. Don’t believe me? Just look at Twilight. Many people think it is written poorly, yet it’s the bestselling Young Adult book to date. Just be true to your story and write in a manner that is comfortable for you, and you’ll do fine.
Final Thoughts
Purple prose can happen with anyone. Sometimes we get caught up in our craft and lose sight of the story. It’s okay if it happens, but be open to changing it if someone points it out. On the other hand, don’t go the opposite direction and avoid any descriptive writing. That’s called beige prose, and it can be just as off-putting as flowery writing. As always, seek balance. Give you readers enough details to understand your meaning and then let their imagination fill in the rest.
Thanks for reading!
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