2/12/2024 0 Comments Lyrical writing v s purple prose![]() Impressive prose won’t cover up a messy plot or weak characters. Mastering story elements IS good writing.Your average reader is not looking for “literary.” ![]() Which is to say, the reading level should not be super high. If you want to write a popular piece of genre fiction (mystery, thriller, romance, fantasy, etc.) and even hit some bestseller lists, your novel should be readable by the majority of the population. Here’s a fun fact: the average American reads at a 7th to 8th grade reading level. Most people read at a middle school reading level.And if your dream is to write genre fiction, here are some things to keep in mind: Unless you’re writing literary fiction or poetry (or you want that Pulitzer Prize, dang it!) you should not be overly anxious about this mythical idea of Good Writing. They begin to fill their manuscripts with purple prose under the assumption that being more “literary” means being better. But it’s a problem when writers believe that in order to write a “good book” they need to sound like an MFA graduate, when often this cannot be further from the truth. Some of this attitude is simply snobbery, classism, and the typical backlash that follows any popular book or movie. (Never mind that you just spent three pages describing what the grass looks like in the morning sunlight, as if that is even remotely interesting.) Character and plot development takes a backseat to poetic prose, and if something is loved by the masses, it cannot possibly be Good.Ĭue the berating of every popular author of the last decade. If you can spin a poetic, lyrical phrase and use jaw-dropping metaphors, you are deemed a Good Writer. This idea of Good Writing basically boils down to the belief that prose is the be-all and end-all of being a good writer. But here’s a hard truth that any teen in a literature class can tell you: sometimes what’s touted as Good Writing doesn’t necessarily make a good book. Good Writing is Hemingway or Melville, or any of those other upper-crust authors who are loved by highly educated people. Good Writing wins Pulitzer Prizes and is studied by MFA students. She’s just really good at creating characters and plots.”įrom our teen years onward, we are often schooled in what “Good Writing” should mean. The other day I was browsing through an online writing group I’m part of, and someone posted a question about what makes “good writing” and why so many popular books were apparently “bad.” In response, another commenter cited a wildly popular YA series, and said something to the effect of, “The author isn’t even a good writer.
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