Am I alone in disliking poetic prose?

MadSquirrel · Aug 1, 2011

So this probably isn't a new thing, I've seen a few threads touch on it. I am a book blogger for YA and I have been deluged in the past months with poetic writing and prose that is lyrical and floral and purple. Maybe it's because during my two years as a creative writing student, my adviser and main teacher strongly argued against it. She taught me not to do it. So skip forward a few years after my escape from the world of government (for now) and it seems that YA has been taken over by lyrical writing and purple prose. It's heralded by YA readers (sometimes not by older critics), but it seems to be what really has sold in the past few years.

Does anyone have any opinions on this? Does this really sell these days? Are the days of minimalism gone?

And nothing against lyrical writers, I'm just personally not a fan. I just want to know more about this trend from other writers. And I will clarify that I am speaking about lyrical that turns into purple.

missesdash · Aug 1, 2011

Argh, I don't like it either. I have noticed it. my style is very sparse and ugly, so sometimes I wonder if I should describe the sunset more haha.

I'm a fan of guttural writing but that's really only found in contemporary.

Flowery is especially prominent in paranormal and fantasy. I think it's just because we're in a sort of romantic period as far as literature and film are concerned.

Becca C. · Aug 1, 2011

There was a thread here on minimalism in YA a few days ago.

I like both minimalistic and lyrical styles. I have favourite authors from either side of the spectrum. Myself, as a writer, I tend to write a hybrid of the two. I don't wax poetic for pages, but I tend to focus on intimate descriptions of certain details.

KTC · Aug 1, 2011

I don't like seeing poetic prose thrown into the same category as purple prose. They are not the same. Lyrical prose is not the same as bogged down over-descriptive purple prose.

DrunkenLilacs · Aug 1, 2011

I love it. I write it. I used to hate it, but ever since I started high school, we had to annotate in our lit classes and I started seeing so much meaning behind words and started to read between lines. I remember falling in love with THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET and its themes. I was just astonished how every single word can mean something, can foreshadow, can be a form of character development. It's just beautiful and it touches you in a way. I can read all writing styles, though. I don't like it when purple prose is overdone, like when it drones on. Just get to the point, man.

Ari Meermans · Aug 1, 2011

What Kevin said. I see lyrical prose as beautiful language hypnotically binding the reader to the story. Purple prose is flowery language that draws attention to the writing rather than to the story.

MadSquirrel · Aug 1, 2011

Yeah, I meant to separate lyrical prose from purple prose, but I've seen a lot more lyrical stuff become purple, too. But my main complaint is the prose that, in an attempt to become lyrical, begins to read like something in the Purple Prose Parody contest. Just clarifying.

KTC · Aug 1, 2011

Ari Meermans said:
What Kevin said. I see lyrical prose as beautiful language hypnotically binding the reader to the story. Purple prose is flowery language that draws attention to the writing rather than to the story.

This. I agree with this. Nicely put.

missesdash · Aug 1, 2011

I think it's also because minimalism is defined by keeping a psychological distance from your protagonist and subject matter. So in that way, both lyrical and purple are usually opposed to that.

Mutive · Aug 1, 2011

I rather agree with the comment in "How Not to Write a Novel" which says: "Very skilled writers will sometimes use baroque prose to good effect, but even among successful literary authors, the vast majority avoid flowery writing. Writing is not like figure skating, where flashier tricks are required to move up in competition. Ornate prose is an idiosyncrasy of certain writers rather than a pinnacle all writers are working towards."

KTC · Aug 1, 2011

I understand what people are saying here...and I don't like it when people use 50 words to say what would have been better said in 10. I'm a poet, though. I value every single word I use in poetry. Each one has a purpose and a requirement in a poem. I try to see my prose with that same poetic lens. I try to make every word count in my prose. And I've been told my prose is poetic...but I try to be extremely succinct too. I want every word to count in my fiction in the same way I want every word to count in my poetry.

mellymel · Aug 1, 2011

KTC said:
I don't like seeing poetic prose thrown into the same category as purple prose. They are not the same. Lyrical prose is not the same as bogged down over-descriptive purple prose.

I totally agree with this.

But I will say that I don't particularly care for poetic/lyrical prose. It's just not my thing. I don't care to read it and I don't write it. My style is definitely more of a simplistic approach and I don't mean I write that way to "dummy it down" or anything. I actually don't like poetry (thanks to my 11th grade teacher. Bitch), and so don't really care for that style when I read it YA or pretty much anything. Now, having said that, I did recently read a book that had "beautiful" prose and I will admit that I had a hard time getting into it, but the story was so good that I was able to let the prose fall into the background. I don't however think that the YA market is saturated in that type of prose/style. I personally am reading books all across the genres and I'm finding a wonderful mix of writing styles. I can read the lyrical stuff now and then, but if it was to become too prevalent for my taste, I'd be really, really upset. Fortunately, it's not and I don't think it will ever become "the norm". Different strokes for different folks and all that.

mellymel · Aug 1, 2011

yes, I think people are confusing the terms of Purple prose/flower prose with lyrical/poetic type prose. I actually asked Janice Hardy (author of Shifter and Fire from The Healing Wars series) to define this for me once. Here is the post if you are interested:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/09/rose-by-any-other-name-is-still-too.html

Smish · Aug 1, 2011

KTC said:
I don't like seeing poetic prose thrown into the same category as purple prose. They are not the same. Lyrical prose is not the same as bogged down over-descriptive purple prose.

Ari Meermans said:
What Kevin said. I see lyrical prose as beautiful language hypnotically binding the reader to the story. Purple prose is flowery language that draws attention to the writing rather than to the story.

QFT.

Ashes Oh Ashes · Aug 2, 2011

Thanks for the article, Mellymel. It's a good read.

scarletpeaches · Aug 2, 2011

missesdash said:
I think it's also because minimalism is defined by keeping a psychological distance from your protagonist and subject matter. So in that way, both lyrical and purple are usually opposed to that.

By whom?

No writer who actually distances himself from his protagonist will write a book I ever want to read.

missesdash · Aug 2, 2011

scarletpeaches said:
By whom?

No writer who actually distances himself from his protagonist will write a book I ever want to read.

Haha well it's an acquired taste. But thats the pretty standard definition. Chuck Pahlahniuk is an example. And Brett Easton Ellis. They are definitely not for everyone. And some take less distance than others. But long paragraphs describing how a character "feels" are found in minimalism.

timewaster · Aug 2, 2011

MadSquirrel said:
Yeah, I meant to separate lyrical prose from purple prose, but I've seen a lot more lyrical stuff become purple, too. But my main complaint is the prose that, in an attempt to become lyrical, begins to read like something in the Purple Prose Parody contest. Just clarifying.

Maybe it's a US thing?
Most of the Uk writers I know are pretty spare. Having said that I have been accused of lyrical writing myself which is interesting as I am more often accused of jumpy, bald prose. You can be lyrical without being wordy - 'lyricism' is more in the rhythms and the word choices.
As others have pointed out 'purple prose' is something else usually overblown overwriting; you can be lyrical without overwriting and I think it can be an attractive quality. ( Well I would wouldn't I : ) )

Bartholomew · Aug 2, 2011

Just chiming in to disagree with the idea that any particular style of writing must necessarily be distant from its characters.

Undercover · Aug 2, 2011

If you wanna write a novel that's heavily inundated with prose, be my guest...but there will be alotta peeps that just won't get it.

I like prose too...it's my sweet feeling when I read it or write it, but I don't wanna scare my readers off into confusion or worse they put down the book cause, ummm they just don't get it.

Balance is the key in writing prose. Some pubs want it more than just a commercial write.

Torgo · Aug 2, 2011

Lmc71775 said:
If you wanna write a novel that's heavily inundated with prose, be my guest...but there will be alotta peeps that just won't get it.

I like prose too...it's my sweet feeling when I read it or write it, but I don't wanna scare my readers off into confusion or worse they put down the book cause, ummm they just don't get it.

Balance is the key in writing prose. Some pubs want it more than just a commercial write.

Just to clarify, prose = everything that isn't poetry.

Mharvey · Aug 2, 2011

It's great as long as it doesn't draw attention to itself... if it does, then I become very aware I'm reading a story and any points for clever wordplay I might give to a writer is probably offset by breaking my immersion.

My two cents.

Undercover · Aug 2, 2011

Torgo said:
Just to clarify, prose = everything that isn't poetry.

Bingo. IF you wanna write a story, then do just that, if you wanna write a poem, do that too. IF you wanna write a story of a poet, then you can add poetry in your story. What it all boils down to is what you wanna write.

inkspatters · Aug 2, 2011

I like lyrical prose. I also like minimalist styles (I disagree that minimalism is necessarily psychologically distant, although I think missesdashes is right to point out that most minimalism is usually averse to having characters sit around thinking. I just don't think that necessarily equates to distance from the characters). And I even like "purple" prose if done well (Oscar Wilde).

I also disagree with the idea that lyrical or poetic prose = flowery and purple.

mellymel · Aug 2, 2011

okay, wait, can someone define lyrical, cause now I'm thinking that I tend to be slightly lyrical in my minmalist/simplistic style of writing. If lyrical is more about rhythm and not necessarily about being "poetic" (which I think now is something else?) then I myself write that through the use of fragment sentences to give a certain effect or to emphasize a particular feeling. It tends to give a sort of rhythm to my work. I think? Ha. I just write. I don't usually think about HOW I write. Strange?

Also, could someone who has read Raw Blue tell me what style of writing that would be considered?

Am I alone in disliking poetic prose?

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