WIP Challenge: Day 20, Tuesday

[enemytosleep]

Another day has come and gone, so now it's time to check in. \o/



How many new words did you write today? Did you reach your goal? Were you editing instead? Researching? Or was today a day of rest?

...and today's discussion topic:

Purple prose: many fandom writers have gone there before, either by rookie mistake or by simply not knowing better. Have you ever written anything purple? Please feel free to share any advice you might have on avoiding this for any newbies out there (and feel free to share your own purple prose too, if you want!).

Comments

[enemytosleep]

This isn't quite purple (maybe some violet, haha), but I have an old FMA fic I wrote where I really tried Way Too Hard. XD I think it's obvious from this that I spent a lot of time in parochial school listening to old priests. Have an excerpt from this old fic (btw, Ed is very vocal in series about being an atheist, if that makes his talkingi to a priest like this any more weighty):

As if he could read Edward's thoughts, the priest spoke again. "St. Paul says that 'the demands of the law are written on the hearts of men.' We are all born with the ability to decipher virtuousness from immorality. Even if we choose not to have faith, we are still held accountable for our actions. But God does reward good men. He understands that at times we will doubt, that at times we will stray. It is your acknowledgment of those sins and your remorse that are the key to true happiness."

"But we've acknowledged what we've done wrong! Why must we keep paying for it?"

"We do not always know the plan God has for us. As the Lord's Son tells us, 'It is a paradox and a challenge. The challenge forces us to step back and ask ourselves: What am I made of? What does my life stand for, and am I going to retaliate, or act selflessly.' Do not consider the cost if you are to be truly happy, for it is the sacrifice itself that makes us better men."

"In exchange for my brother's life I was sent here. If you want to call it remorse for my sins so be it." Ed clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He didn't believe for a second that his latest exchange was sinful in any way. He knew the consequences and made the sacrifice of his own accord. Maybe it was a punishment, maybe it wasn't. He didn't care. He just wanted to find a way back to them. "I won't give up. I will find a way back somehow...I just hope that he's there when I arrive...and that he doesn't forget me."

"I cannot say whether or not you will be remembered upon your return, but I can tell you that another person's memories are not yours to control. We are living on the brink of war, with the hope of great social change. The things we do and see in these times may be better off forgotten. But do not let go of your own memories, and should you reach your destination someday, those will serve as a catalyst to recall anew those times passed. In the meantime, I advise you to scrutinize your morality, and determine whether your actions follow your heart's conscience, or whether they are fueled by selfish desires."

Ed's shoulders slumped as he exhaled deeply, looking defeated. Maybe he was being selfish. It was Equivalent Exchange after all: his body and soul for those of his brother. Who was he to question this existence, or to try and reclaim that which he had given up?

[enemytosleep]

Oh, and:

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #3 (due Mar 24): No new words. Re-watched some scenes to try and find the right tone for this piece. Current word count: 654

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #5 (due Mar 24): No new words. I have an idea for a little drabble that may or may not happen depending on available writing time this week. Current word count: 0

Help_Japan (due 18 years ago - 750 word min): No new words. I promise to give this love after the Yuujinchou exchange stops eating my brain. O.o Current word count: 3,666


I was afraid this might happen this week. T_T No writing last night again. I'd love to wrap up the piece I'd started for the Yuujinchou exchange (650+ words drafted last week), so *shame* for 3 days of nothing and fingers crossed I can get this finished soon.

[sharpiefan]

I've got the document open. That's got to count for something, right? *hopefuls*

How to avoid purple prose... Use simple words 'wordy' rather than 'verbose' for example. Don't string three million adjectives together at once. Show something, rather than tell us about it. Terry wiped damp palms on his trousers as he looked at the officer sounds better than the officer made Terry nervous.

[enemytosleep]

*Sensei's paw twitches*

XD Hope you get something written while it's open!

[samecgh]

Yeah, I slacked. I didn't write yesterday and decided to play video games instead. And I just wrote a paragraph.

Ummm.... not sure. I would need an outside eye to look over my old fics and go, "You did that here, here and here."

[enemytosleep]

Kitty smackdown for you! XD Hope you can find the mojo soon. ♥

[dhae_knight_1]

Well. A little over 500 words back in the universe where Jack doesn't like Beth. Hotch is acting weird, Jack is happy and Reid is about to pull some seriously self-sacrificial idiocy. Can we trust Jack to save the day by metaphorically Gibbsslapping Reid? I think we can... ;-)

[enemytosleep]

\o/

[krait]

Advice I still struggle with, but find useful when trying to combat my own purple-prose tendencies:


After you've written it, distance yourself and read it. If every element of your sentence has an adjective, go back and choose better nouns.


That's the pithy version. In reality it's a layered process, and includes things like:

* Likewise, if every verb is accompanied by an adverb, go back and choose better verbs, and possibly also better nouns.)

* Consider metaphors.

* If you can't eliminate, consolidate: choose the one adjective you think the sentence can't live without, leave it, and then remove the rest. Come back in a few days and see if you still can't bear to remove it.

* Can the characters say something to convey the same idea, allowing you to remove it from the text?

Et cetera. Obligatory obvious disclaimer: personal writing advice is personal. I developed it to match my own acknowledged weaknesses, which are DescribeEverything!Syndrome and CannotWriteDialogue!Disease. People whose prose shades purple in other ways will need different advice. (Maybe we could trade weaknesses for a week?)

[enemytosleep]

If we could trade off, we could then write the perfect balance of description and dialogue and all that. XD

But! I love all the tips and tricks everyone's posting. :D

[krait]

If we could trade off, we could then write the perfect balance

I know -- it would be awesome! We could organise it for all the writethisfanficcers -- "Okay, everybody, pass your weaknesses to the writer on the left. Great. You have 24 hours to write before we all pass to the left again. Go!" :D

[ty_writes]

Today is the first day I've been able to write anything since this month started, which is weird cuz its spring break.\

I finished two stories today and am currently one my third one, but I got distracted and now have seriously lost track of the story. It's gone from an intorspective piece to a story about a man thinking his chair causes him impotence. (my mind is a scary place)

--

As to purple prose, I really don't do it. My weakness is that I have a tendency to not give enough description. My old beta would mark portions of my story or leave notes to describe stuff (houses, environment, chairs, clothing)

[enemytosleep]

Woo, awesome writing! And haha, that is some introspection!

[lilly_c]

Mostly did editing today, ended up changing direction and pairing entirely on the fic that I was working on. Quite like the pairing though, shame I never wrote it when I was heavily into the fandom. Should have that posted in the next couple of days.

I probably have in the past and maybe (occasionally) still do it but I'd have to have someone else read through all my fics to find it.

Oh loving the wee graphics btw :)

[enemytosleep]

Nice, editing is good! Hope you can keep moving forward with it. :D There are a lot of good tips and tricks up in the threads now re: prose and how to structure it, which is awesome (I love that we have such a wonderful pool of talent and experience to benefit from).

Glad you like the graphics!

[insignia]

I'm slacking so much lately. I did squeeze in about a hundred words just before midnight, but I still feel like I'm failing completely :-/

[enemytosleep]

*kitty smackdown* Stop slacking! XD

But seriously, I've had several days of no progress myself, so I know that feeling far too well. :| Sadly, I don't think I will get anything done tonight as I still have so much to do offline, but I'm really going to try tomorrow to set aside some writing time. We can do it!

[insignia]

Yes! I won't disappoint the kitty again! \>__</

[enemytosleep]

I'm totally trying to squeeze out 100 words right now so I've at least written something tonight. T_T

[bay_alexison]

Well yesterday didn't get any writing/editing done as I needed to get some housework stuff done. I did however got emails from both the artist I'm writing for in god_tier and another person I had been betaing his Pokemon fic for plot, so I kept communicating with them. XD

As for today, just got back home but before I left for work I may or may not started an outline for a possible story for pokemon_bigbang. Bleh dang plotbunnies coming when I have other projects I need to focus on. @_@ Later tonight I plan to get started editing Chapter Six of my FMA Big Bang story. Beta A only had send me half of what she finished so far (on late Saturday late actually) but said she'll send me the rest along with some of Chapter Seven tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll be able to knock out a couple pages at least (I'm slow at editing XD; ).

I remember I would use purple prose quite a lot, but then after getting advice on how to say more with less words I ended up with less description, only to get criticized for not getting any description at all. XD I'm still trying to find middle ground even after writing for several years already.

[enemytosleep]

Good luck with all your projects! You've certainly got a full plate. ^^;

I used to worry about sounding like a "professional writer," and would consequently over-stylize my work. As the years have gone on I feel I've gotten a lot better about relaxing and writing more naturally. I'm still far from perfect, mind you! There have been a lot of good tips and pieces of advice posted already. I'm definitely loving the collective knowledge of this group. :D

[linaewen]

I wasn't slacking, honest! I took a break today, actually. I was really tired for some reason!

[enemytosleep]

*Sensei's paw twitches*

LOL, like I should talk, I've had 3 going on 4 nights of no writing at all. XD We all need a break now and again, hope the rest was a good one. :D

[snowynight]

I only write 300 words today. And not on my current wips. But at least they are words.

Like the above poster, I think I often go in the opposite of not enough description. If I did purple prose, I need an outside eye to point it out.

[enemytosleep]

Woo, 300 words is a lot more than I managed! \o/

[roane]

I FINISHED! Yay! "Denial", #3 in Defence Mechanisms is finished and posted. Whew.

I think I tend towards purple, but I'm okay with it. I love lush, descriptive language, and if it gets a little violet sometimes, I'm good with it. :)

[dhae_knight_1]

Go you! :-D

[terabient]

Congrats on finishing! :)

As a reader I tend to enjoy writing that gets a little purple, myself, particularly if the setting or characters are supposed to have a strong sensory impact.

Although, I admit the phrase 'purple prose' is one that sometimes confuses me, because it means different things to different people. When I think of purple prose I think of writing that is trying to be highly ornate or descriptive, but fails and becomes dull. But sometimes 'purple prose' gets extended to any kind of prose that isn't direct.

[enemytosleep]

I agree the definition of "purple" isn't always clear - and I agree again that I tend to view it as ornate prose that detracts from the writing and/or pulls the reader out of the moment because it's so overwhelmingly flowery as opposed to being overly descriptive.

[enemytosleep]

Awesome! \o/ You have been a fanfic machine!

Hee, own that lush, descriptive prose!

[terabient]

Got an hour free to write...and then I wasted it staring at a blank screen with the least-timely case of writer's block possible. Didn't even want to check the word count, it was so depressing. :c

[dhae_knight_1]

That occasionally happens to me when I feel like I have to write RIGHT NOW, for some reason. I think that being creative and being on the clock is very hard to combine. I don't have any good advice, other than finding a way to trick your brain into thinking you have all the time in the world?

[insignia]

Hah, my brain is the opposite; it keeps thinking I have all the time in the world, so there's no need to hurry! X-D

[dhae_knight_1]

That's... pretty much exactly the problem I'm having with my thesis right now... XD

[enemytosleep]

Aw, it happens. I hope you can get some words down soon!