My One, and Only One, Application of Purple Prose (and why and when and how to break the writing rules)

Purple prose is overly descriptive, ornate, flowery, overdone language that draws attention to itself and pulls the reader out of the story, the danger of relying on many adjectives and adverbs (instead of verbs) in both scenes and narrations.

 

Sometimes, however, I think it's okay to use purple prose (What??? Gasp!) when the writer understands it's a tool and has a reason for employing it. I did that, once in Visage.

 

I needed a succint bridge between two parts of the story, as Melissa's life was going to abruptly change after marrying Jenson College's top music professor, John Simotes. Underscoring that change would be their sex life.

 

Now keeping in mind the story is for young adults AND the fact I wanted something that neatly summarized it, while making that transition both sudden and seamless, I decided the of metaphors in purple prosey style would accomplish it very nicely.

 

The result:

 

 

Although Henry’s opinion that John Simons would rather touch a piano than a woman might have been true, John Simotes excelled in both women and music, perhaps because his approach to them was identical. He treated Melissa with the same methodical finesse as he would a new composition piece. John carefully studied Melissa’s movements, and, with an uncanny instinct for tempo and beat, as well as the nuances of her flats and sharps, played every note and chord to perfection. What annoyed Melissa was the way John treated her like a beginning piano student. He provided step by step instructions, monitored every move, and assigned practice lessons. That said, John never failed to bring the piece to its proper conclusion and always waited until he experienced Melissa’s applause before he himself took a bow, even if that first required an intermission on his part. No exceptions, not that Melissa didn’t try.

 

“We don’t have to do it your way all the time, you know,” Melissa had once grumbled. “It’s okay for me to make a suggestion or two.”

 

“I know how to do this, Melissa.”

 

She could not argue with his logic. Although she longed for him to soften his stance and approach their time together as a duet rather than a solo performance to a captive audience, and a few verbal expressions of affection would have been nice, too, Melissa, deep down, could not resent John’s mechanical, often silent approach to lovemaking. He achieved remarkable results.

           

            Just once did John relinquish his role of maestro...

 

 

Yeah, this is where we'll end it. ;)

 

The point is, all writers need to understand the basic rules about writing in order to weave compelling stories and perfect their craft. The point also is, all rules can be broken (at some point or another), IF writers first comprehend the rules AND understand those rules are merely tools to a satisfying end and then treat them as such.

 

So when writers read, "agents don't like prologues" and "past tense is better than present tense" and "never change your POV in a story, scene, chapter, etc.," know the reason for the maxim, and then, if you decide to go against it, make sure you have a solid reason for it and then write it in such a way to be the fantastic, thumb-your-nost at the rule-maker exception.

 

Just remember: you can't effectively break rules you haven't learned.