I picked up this theme from the pingpong thread and wanted to expand it, because it bothers me greatly.

Is one reader's purple another's delight? Or is purple always bad? I'm really not clear on this - seems subjective to me.
Or is purple the writer's ego protruding where it shouldn't - i.e being showy for no good purpose?

I like putting colour in writing, and love beauty, but hate showiness. Perhaps I'm destined to be on a tightrope.

I'm interested to know what others think.

Sometimes but not always.
Often.
In the opinion of the reader, often yes.
G

I think there's a large element of subjectivity in this one - one reader's spare and economical is another's bald, impoverished and cowardly, one readers' rich and precise is another's purple and showy.

But I think more readers will feel something's purple if it's second-hand, clichéd, or in some other way tired or ordinary.

That can just feel dull, or it can feel insincere: a writer who's busy pressing the right buttons, rather than responding truly and freely to a proper, original act of imagination and attention.

But I think more readers will feel something's purple if it's second-hand, clichéd, or in some other way tired or ordinary.

If that's purple, I think it should be renamed magnolia.

Based on the rich, showy shades of purple, as you see in Pre-Raphaelite paintings, I took purple writing as over-vivid to the point of pretentious.

A while ago I proposed a 'Purple' group with the aim of perfecting small passages, even down to sentences, where a beautiful flow of words was as important as meaning, as relevance.

It's important to me. But, no one else has shown an interest yet. Maybe I chose the wrong colour. Maybe scarlet would have been better. Or even gold.

Not sure if you can delete a proposed group and try again?

I took purple writing as over-vivid to the point of pretentious.

I think that sums it up pretty well.

A quick search turned up these three comparative passages, showing two stages of empurpling:

He sipped at his coffee as he read the morning's news. He rose a cup to his lips and took a sip, reflexively cringing at the coffee's bitterness. He kept the cringe on his face as he read through the morning's news. He wrapped a long, thin finger around the sturdy handle of the shiny black receptacle. Slowly, he hoisted the ceramic vessel to his pale pink lips. The steaming liquid rolled acridly around his sensitive tongue, evoking an involuntary reaction to the South American beverage's bitter taste. The liquid was a stark black, reflecting the pale glow from the screen of his rectangular computer monitor. His concerned green eyes darted from one serifed letter to another, drinking in each words meaning as purposefully as he drank in his coffee.

I think the second is more lilac, but still not great writing. It could work with better language/syntactical choices, perhaps. The third is deep purple. Too much concentration on details that don't matter - the sort of writing that at best distances the reader and at worst makes you laugh.

Good writers can use lots of description as long as the words are effective and appropriate for the scene. Which is a woolly statement, I know, but it's once again about style, purpose, voice . . .

it's once again about style, purpose, voice . . .

And context, I think.
Excess detail is sometimes a technique in and of itself. AAMilne frequently uses too much in WTP for emphasis of something other than what he's outwardly discussing.
In the abstract, most reasonable people would cut reams, in context, it just works.
G

Thanks for the examples, wordsmithereen.

Yes, the other aspect of purple - glorifying the insignificant.

And context, I think.

Yes, context, which in my head was covered under 'purpose'. And everything implied by my . . .

He wrapped a long, thin finger around the sturdy handle of the shiny black receptacle.

Oh, this did make me laugh! Especially "receptacle" - excellent case of thesaurusitis.

With my teacher's hat on, though, I'd distinguish between a writer who's honourably drunk on words and just hasn't yet learnt to hold their drink (or anything else), and someone who's doing the equivalent of the tired writer of trite category fiction, ticking the boxes of beautiful rainbows and rusty AK47s and death-defying tall dark and handsome strangers...

I also wouldn't say that purple (in the pejorative sense we normally use it) equals long. Henry James is never, ever purple: it's as much in what you chose to write (or can't help writing, or can't be bothered to try not to write) as how much you write.

<Added>

Crossed with lots of people, because I started writing this two students ago...

A purple patch is what jockeys have when they're on a winning streak. Purple prose is not so rewarding. It's strange how colours mean different things in different situations.

Good point - and there's royal purple and all the Roman connotations.

I wonder where it came from for prose. Although obviously the alliteration has a good deal to do with it.

To me, the phrase "purple prose" is suggesting the writer has misjudged things. It's too much, or too showy, or too naff, or too cliched. Too something.

A while ago I proposed a 'Purple' group with the aim of perfecting small passages, even down to sentences, where a beautiful flow of words was as important as meaning, as relevance.

You see, I wouldn't call that purple. I would call that literary.

I think perhaps you have the wrong idea about the phrase "purple prose", Alan.

If you want to change the name of your proposed group I'm sure you can email David and he'll do it for you. I must admit, I had seen that proposed group and wondered why somebody was wanting purple prose.

Perhaps call it Finesse or Literary something? Or another phrase which sums it up. But not purple IMO.

I think perhaps you have the wrong idea about the phrase "purple prose", Alan.

Had, debac, had.

Yes, the aim of the group is still the same though. I don't want 'literary' as it sounds - well, pretentious. I want it to be inclusive of all genres.

I think 'Golden prose' is good. If anyone has a better suggestion, I'm all ears.

Yes, I will email David. Purple will be pulverised.

Golden prose works okay, I think.

Purple will be pulverised

I'm deeply saddened.

I thought it was a bit tongue-in-cheek, and was actually tempted for a while from that perspective...

Honestly, don't we all love to indulge in the rampant purplitude of incandescent literary excess even if only on those scant occasions when one's muse is drenching one in full operatic floods that drive our creativity like the primeval yearning of a love-struck, pubescent diplodocus?

Just-Realised-It's-Friday-In Dublin