![]() For her, “rhythm a contagious, engulfing atmosphere… that we ourselves have banished form our civilization … which the power to move our senses and our emotions, to heighten our sense of life” (Nin, Chap 3, location 1671-1677). Nin saw reading as not just a passive activity but one that makes the reader not only think (about the words on the page, the characters and what is happening to them, what is going to happen next) but also feel and react. The idea of rhythm in prose comes from Anais Nin’s book on writing, The Novel of the Future. Many readers read for entertainment and escapism (which is as it should be) and it’s hard to escape into prose that forces you to really think about what it is saying beyond just the words on the page (though not all poetic prose is intended to do this – some of it is just for the beauty of the prose itself).īut poetic prose is rhythmic prose too. It forces their minds to engage in a way that might not be as easy processed as a fast-paced story where they can inhale the prose because it’s basically a repeat of the kind of dialogue they hear in their favorite TV show or movie. Poetic prose forces readers to slow down and pay attention to the writing. The more highly technologized we get, the more younger generations have a lower tolerance for anything that doesn’t move at the speed of their browse button or the slider on a YouTube video. ![]() I understand that many readers these days might find poetic prose a turn-off. ![]() I prefer instead the term “poetic prose”. Why purple? Why not green or indigo or fuchsia? Why pick on purple? Also, this term, which describes lavish descriptions in prose, has derogatory connotations but descriptions (lavish or not) are necessary to make any story engaging and interesting. First of all, it makes no sense when you think about it. One thing I should point out is that I do not like the term “purple prose”. The writer quoted a short passage from a book she was reading and complained that the author should have been more direct and that the “purple prose” in the book had completely turned her off to the book and made her not care about the characters. Not long ago, I had an argument (well, more of a discussion) with another author in a Facebook group about purple prose. “The importance of rhythm in my estimation is a measure of the difference between a live book and a dead one.” (Nin, Novel of the Future, Chap 3, location1684) Photo Credit: Steel black and white sculpture of jazz players, upcycled: Max Pixel/ CC0 1.0
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