Lush and overwritten

[pjthompson]

So, what is the difference for you between lush prose and overwritten prose?

I’m not asking to be a smart aleck or because I have an ax to grind (I don’t), I’m genuinely curious what the breaking point is for any of you who would care to comment.

I know that one person’s lush is another’s overwritten and vice versa, so some of it is a matter of taste, but I’d still like to hear your thoughts on this if you’re willing.

For myself, yeah, I do sometimes hit a wall with some lush prose where I want very badly for the author to tone it down several notches. Usually for me it involves the use of a lot of two dollar words when simpler ones would flow better, but it can also involve a great deal of artery-clogging images piled one on top of another. Still, other people lap that kind of thing up like cream—arteries be damned.

There probably isn’t a consensus. But, please, discuss…

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Comments

[marshallpayne1.livejournal.com]

I will say that I'm reading The Drowning City currently and really enjoying your use of language. It's quite expressive and I'm not just saying that. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on Duncan. ;-)

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thank you. For me, TDC is very much on the spare side. I'll definitely agree the Hal's writing is very dense and often an effort to untangle, but it still falls in the feature vs. bug category for me.