Comments on: We Puzzle Through Purple Prose So You Don’t Have To

By: KathyF

KathyF — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 18:33:35 +0000

I think she’s trying to alter the connotation of “purple prose” be claiming Melville and Mitchell wrote it. They didn’t. The purple prose I know and abhor involves clichÃ©s, like those quivering orbs you mentioned. The first author who wrote it was pretty clever, though, and could very well have been the Melville of her time.

But it’s a giant leap to defend purple prose by way of ranting about the trend toward shorter books. The alternative to shorter books isn’t necessary purple-ish books. I hope.

And no, I haven’t seen “cigarette” spelled “cigaret” either, but I have seen it spelled “fag.”

By: Tod Goldberg

Tod Goldberg — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 08:25:46 +0000

If it makes you feel any better…I had Lilly starting, too. I got a thing for ex-Oakland A’s. As for Brandewyne…well…I do like her author photo.

By: Booksquare

Booksquare — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 01:27:47 +0000

But Candy, that rough, blunt-tipped finger thing was almost exactly what happened to Ted Lil…oh wait, I probably shouldn’t get personal. It was ugly, especially since the husband’s pitcher started for the Yankees.

It’s not the books or limits on number of pages. It’s, in my never humble opinion, the fact that writers of a certain era really did bad things to the English language. While certain publishers advocate sticking to a specific word count, that’s no excuse either. I think writing in romance novels has grown progressively cleaner and more intelligent over the past ten years. Sure, it’s not perfect, but I’m particularly fussy on this matter. I did read your comments — actually, there were a lot of great things being said. When it became apparent that I’d exceeded comment length, I moved my thoughts over here.

By: Candy

Candy — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:00:49 +0000

I don’t buy that lush description is out of vogue because those greedy newspaper publishers forced journalists to keep a sharp eye on their word count. I elaborated on what I think are other reasons in the comments on Romancing the Blog. But besides all that, big books with many, many pages and words are still being published–and selling like hotcakes. Laura Kinsale’s Shadowheart was pretty big (over 400 pages, I believe, in teeny print), the latest installment of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is clocking in at 928 pages (or so I’ve heard) and the Harry Potter books are pretty damn thick, too.

Personally, I am dancing with glee that purple prose is mostly gone from the romance landscape. It’s hard to argue that one should take the genre seriously when descriptions like “her violet eyes darkened instantly with passion as his rough, blunt-tipped fingers pressed against her dewy gates of heavenly bliss” run rampant.

By: David Thayer

David Thayer — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 23:35:40 +0000

Ted Lilly was certainly lit up if not lighted up like a non-filtered cigaret.