# The Line Between Purple and Beige



## Mindfire (Dec 7, 2012)

So let's talk about Purple Prose. And also Beige Prose.

Opinions on them, and what exactly "counts" as purple or beige, are pretty varied. Some might say that purple prose is _any_ poetic, archaic, and/or heavily descriptive writing, while beige prose is any writing that doesn't bear those qualities. Others might say that these labels only apply when the use of dense or sparse writing is ineffective or poorly done. Some might say it's black-and-white, others might say it's more of a continuum. What's the consensus on this forum?

*Other questions: *What end of the spectrum do you tend to lean toward, purple or beige? Are there certain contexts where one is more appropriate than the other? What's the key to doing dense or sparse writing well?

*Tropes Related to Purple Prose:*
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
Meaningless Meaningful Words
Mills and Boon Prose
Said Bookism
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom
Wall of Text

*Tropes Related to Beige Prose:*
Minimalism
Brevity Is Wit


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## Devor (Dec 7, 2012)

I think the difference nowadays tends to be that the narrative voice in modern writing blends more seemlessly with the character's voice, so that the creativity of "purple prose" is shuffled into the character's observations rather than the narrator's embelishments.

I think the ways we describe them sometimes does a disservice to both styles.  Beige isn't neccessarily flat; narrative voice isn't neccessarily pretentious; one isn't neccessarily more effective; there are extremes and well-done works on either end of the spectrum.


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## Anders Ã„mting (Dec 7, 2012)

Like a lot of things, I think this is a matter of execution. There's nothing wrong with expressing yourself poetically, rather Purple Prose is when you do so to the point of harming your own narrative. As the article points out: "The sacrifice of Utility on the altar of Eloquence is an essential feature of Purple Prose." It becomes a problem when it makes the text more difficult to read as opposed to more pleasant.

Likewise, terseness is often desirable in writing, but Beige Prose is being terse to the point of the narrative losing all character and flavor.


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## psychotick (Dec 7, 2012)

Hi,

For me it's a continuum, and moreover the goalposts as to what's purple and what's beige, seem to be shifting. What was considered normal and even good writing once upon a time is too purple for many of today's readers, and similarly what is considered good, tight wrighting these days would not have passed muster a century ago. Tastes change.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Leif Notae (Dec 7, 2012)

I write so beige I might as well be a camel. This is the pleasure of writing script style...


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## tlbodine (Dec 7, 2012)

In my opinion, the goal of good writing is to make itself invisible.  A well-written passage should convey its ideas so clearly to the reader that they translate into images, thoughts, ideas, emotions.  If the reader at any point becomes aware that they're reading words on a screen or page and loses track of the story, the text has failed.


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## Steerpike (Dec 7, 2012)

tlbodine said:


> In my opinion, the goal of good writing is to make itself invisible.  A well-written passage should convey its ideas so clearly to the reader that they translate into images, thoughts, ideas, emotions.  If the reader at any point becomes aware that they're reading words on a screen or page and loses track of the story, the text has failed.



I disagree. That's a hallmark of success if that is what you're going for, but many writers intentionally use a more obstrusive language as part of the story itself. How the story is told becomes as important as the telling. This is harder to do well, but if done well it can be very effective.


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## PaulineMRoss (Dec 7, 2012)

tlbodine said:


> In my opinion, the goal of good writing is to make itself invisible.  A well-written passage should convey its ideas so clearly to the reader that they translate into images, thoughts, ideas, emotions.  If the reader at any point becomes aware that they're reading words on a screen or page and loses track of the story, the text has failed.



I agree with this. For me, the best story experience is completely immersive, so that I actually lose track of time. The less the writing intrudes, the better. It doesn't mean that it has to be completely beige, exactly, but it should be appropriate to the story being told, with not a word out of place. This is why typos are such a disaster, because they jerk the reader straight back to the real world.


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## tlbodine (Dec 7, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> I disagree. That's a hallmark of success if that is what you're going for, but many writers intentionally use a more obstrusive language as part of the story itself. How the story is told becomes as important as the telling. This is harder to do well, but if done well it can be very effective.



Ah, but you misunderstand -- if the form reflects the story, then it succeeds in communicating its point.  For example: A story written about a person who's insane, and the narrative form is intentionally confusing to mirror the state of the narrator's head.  That serves a purpose, and when it's done well, the device still feels "invisible" in the sense that it doesn't distract from the story.



PaulineMRoss said:


> I agree with this. For me, the best story experience is completely immersive, so that I actually lose track of time. The less the writing intrudes, the better. It doesn't mean that it has to be completely beige, exactly, but it should be appropriate to the story being told, with not a word out of place. This is why typos are such a disaster, because they jerk the reader straight back to the real world.



Precisely.  And typos are the *worst*, man.  Once I find one typo in whatever I'm reading, I'm instantly distracted and will start looking out for them elsewhere.  It's like when you notice a continuity error in a movie and suddenly EVERYTHING stops making sense and you can no longer take the movie seriously any more.


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## Steerpike (Dec 7, 2012)

tlbodine said:


> Ah, but you misunderstand -- if the form reflects the story, then it succeeds in communicating its point.  For example: A story written about a person who's insane, and the narrative form is intentionally confusing to mirror the state of the narrator's head.  That serves a purpose, and when it's done well, the device still feels "invisible" in the sense that it doesn't distract from the story.



Yes, I think that's right. A great example, in my view, is Nabokov's _Lolita_, where you have an unreliable narrator who engages in all sorts of word play, puns, and the like in his telling of the story. The words of the writing itself stand out, and the reader will often pause in reading to mull over a certain set of words or look for the puzzle in a phrase. The writing itself is part of the brilliance of the story.

A more recent, and more unconventional work is _House of Leaves_, where the author actually uses font, colors, shapes of sentences, the distribution of words on the page, reverse text in little boxes meant to suggest mirrors, and so on in the telling of the tale. But all of these techniques tie into the story and what is going on with the characters, and the reader will again stop to mull it over. He also employs footnotes (and indeed has an entirely separate narrative going on through the footnotes). So, it is an overtly intrusive style of writing but an effective one (in my view).


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## Philip Overby (Dec 7, 2012)

I'd never even heard the term "beige prose" until now.  In some instances, I write in a minimalist style, while others I write a bit more poetically.  I've always interpreted purple prose to be writing that is unnecessarily poetic to the point of being melodramatic.  I think it works for some writers (especially in older times), and I also think that some fantasy writers erroneously may think this is the way they have to write fantasy.  I think fantasy can be written all sorts of different ways.  I think purple or beige prose just seems to be the extreme end of either style.  

I don't think _any_ poetic writing is purple.  Just when it's overwrought to potentially distracting from the story.  I've always heard the term purple prose used in a negative way.  However, if you're a more utilitarian reader, you may appreciate authors to just get to the point.  Here are examples of what I think is purple vs. beige:

Purple:  The enticing allure of Rosaline's carotid artery rhythmically thumped as the crisp night rapidly turned to a nocturnal dream, an ever-changing dance of sanguine waltzing across Lanier's muscular hydrostat.

Beige:  Lanier longed to taste Rosaline's blood.  

Maybe one is better than the other, but if I ever feel like I need to get a dictionary to read something, then it's probably reached the point of being too purple.


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## Shockley (Dec 8, 2012)

I tend to do a mix. Actions, simple thoughts and dialogue are very beige; complex ideas, completely new/invented concepts and the odd scene setting tend to be purple.


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## wordwalker (Dec 8, 2012)

tlbodine said:


> In my opinion, the goal of good writing is to make itself invisible.  A well-written passage should convey its ideas so clearly to the reader that they translate into images, thoughts, ideas, emotions.  If the reader at any point becomes aware that they're reading words on a screen or page and loses track of the story, the text has failed.





tlbodine said:


> Ah, but you misunderstand -- if the form reflects the story, then it succeeds in communicating its point.
> ...
> And typos are the *worst*, man.  Once I find one typo in whatever I'm reading, I'm instantly distracted and will start looking out for them elsewhere.  It's like when you notice a continuity error in a movie and suddenly EVERYTHING stops making sense and you can no longer take the movie seriously any more.



I think this touches on one key to it. There are umpteen things that go into the right style, but then *consistency* matters. The more one phrase is further on the purple scale (or an important phrase is blander) than the rest, it risks doing the same thing as a typo or error: making you notice that thing instead of the whole.

Moral: if you take risks with a style, understand them enough to keep doing it.


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## Kit (Dec 8, 2012)

Phil the Drill said:


> Beige:  Lanier longed to taste Rosaline's blood.



Oh come on, you can go more beige than that:    He wanted her blood.


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## Mindfire (Dec 8, 2012)

Kit said:


> Oh come on, you can go more beige than that:    He wanted her blood.



I agree with Kit, Phil. That wasn't quite true beige.


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## Ireth (Dec 8, 2012)

This gives me an idea for a game. Someone writes a purple paragraph, and the next person has to make it as beige as possible, then write a purple paragraph of their own. Or the other way around could be fun too. ^^


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## Philip Overby (Dec 9, 2012)

I need a lesson in beige, I guess.  

That's a good idea, Ireth.  It could be a fun challenge to do.


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## Kit (Dec 9, 2012)

I've been deliberately inserting some "He wanted her blood." type sentences in my writing. I find that the blunt and unadorned can be a good thing... especially when delivering something surprising or of great import. That short sentence gets your attention, too.


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## tlbodine (Dec 9, 2012)

The short sentence definitely delivers a punch when it's in a sea of longer ones.  I see people over-doing it, though.  Especially with fragments.  A couple fragments here and there can help tweak your pace, but oh dear god they grate on my nerves.  I personally prefer the artful run-on to the paragraph of fragments.  

Then again, one of my favorite literary heroes is John Steinbeck, so....


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## Fiarene (Dec 9, 2012)

I definitely lean towards Purple Prose rather then Beige, because that is what I like to read. Also, I love words and so I love to play with them and make shapes and colours and sounds with them. I find Cecilia Dart-Thornton's writing thrilling because of this, though it took some adjustment to see past all the flowery words and into the story, but once I passed that threshold, I really enjoyed it.
In my opinion, there is no definitive 'right' or 'wrong' way to write - anything can be done well, even if it is considered a common writing 'faux pas'. It only takes one writer to do it well to disprove the whole concept of it being 'wrong'. ^_^ That being said, I could really do with some shorter, blunter sentences in my writing! ^^"


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