Xitra_Blud
Sage
How do you feel about long prose?
I like long prose. I like long, beautiful and complex prose. I especially love when the author uses metaphors and similes. I like what many might even call, purple prose. I bring this up because my beta readers are always telling us to tighten our prose. Don't get me wrong, I think they are very good critiquers and I normally like their advice and apply it to my own work, however, I'm not so certain about the thing on prose. One of our members wrote what I thought were beautiful prose and I told him to keep at it, but everyone else in the group knocked him down for in it.
I honestly think that's an opinion based thing. Thing is, it's often about a person's voice and the mood of the story. Some people write short, to the point prose others may write longer more poetic prose. I personally favor longer, poetic, but I don't think there is anything wrong with either one. I think it is what you are going for in a story.
I do understand that some things can be overly described which I think, to anyone, that's frustrating, but it's not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to the older, more poetic style of writing. I also understand that some people over do it, but you have others who can do it and pull it off well. I believe if you can make it work for you then go for it.
I guess what I'm saying is, if someone's over writing then point it out to them, but to say that long prose is the "wrong" write for no other reason than the prose are just long, I think is bad advice.
What do you think? Are long, poetic prose bad?
I like long prose. I like long, beautiful and complex prose. I especially love when the author uses metaphors and similes. I like what many might even call, purple prose. I bring this up because my beta readers are always telling us to tighten our prose. Don't get me wrong, I think they are very good critiquers and I normally like their advice and apply it to my own work, however, I'm not so certain about the thing on prose. One of our members wrote what I thought were beautiful prose and I told him to keep at it, but everyone else in the group knocked him down for in it.
I honestly think that's an opinion based thing. Thing is, it's often about a person's voice and the mood of the story. Some people write short, to the point prose others may write longer more poetic prose. I personally favor longer, poetic, but I don't think there is anything wrong with either one. I think it is what you are going for in a story.
I do understand that some things can be overly described which I think, to anyone, that's frustrating, but it's not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to the older, more poetic style of writing. I also understand that some people over do it, but you have others who can do it and pull it off well. I believe if you can make it work for you then go for it.
I guess what I'm saying is, if someone's over writing then point it out to them, but to say that long prose is the "wrong" write for no other reason than the prose are just long, I think is bad advice.
What do you think? Are long, poetic prose bad?
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