Pacing and melodrama
I enjoy old movies, including silent movies from the 1920s. The Sheikh with Rudolph Valentino remains an old favorite. The 1950s films Sunset Boulevard and Singin' in the Rain juxtapose "modern" movie making with the overacting and melodrama used by the stars of silent films who had to convey emotion with their expressions and posture due to the lack of audible dialogue. Purple prose and overwriting in books substitute for overacting in those silent films.
Of the books I read over the past several days, one in particular made me cringe. The story's premise is common, especially for a 1970s or 1980s romance (which this is not): a nanny and the wealthy single father who employs her fall in love. This particular book contained page after age of overwritten, explicit content that evoked reactions not intended by the author.
All the best editing in the world cannot save bad writing. Purple prose lends to excessive angst and over-the-top melodrama. It's one thing to use angst, drama, comedy, action, romance, etc. to liven up a story and compel the reader to turn the pages with an eager desire to find out what's next. It's another thing to drown the reader in euphemisms and florid language or to wallow in woe-is-me until the reader has endured enough and decides against finishing the story.
Good stories don't proceed on an even keel as though all mood and emotion were removed. Those stories bore. Good stories rise and fall like great music. The pace varies: grave, lento, adagio, allegro, vivace, presto, etc. The action and emotion swells and recedes, the reader's heartbeat increasing or decreasing pace accordingly. Recession in action and mood allows the reader to rest and recuperate before the tempo increases again.
When language arts teachers and writers speak about even pacing, they refer to the speed at which a story unfolds. By their very nature, short stories tend to proceed at a fast pace. There's little room for speeding up and slowing down. Writers use action, dialogue, cliffhangers, and their choice of words to manipulate pacing.
Preferences vary with regard to pacing. Back in the days when reading for pleasure was a luxury afforded to the wealthy (who were educated), a leisurely, deliberate pace was acceptable. For instance, The Mysteries of Udulpho by 18th century author Ann Radcliffe stretched across four volumes. Horace Walpoles's The Castle of Otranto covers 29 pages in just the prologue.
Today's readers demand faster pacing. A significantly greater percentage of the world's population today read and read for pleasure. They wedge their leisure reading into bits of time during their busy lives: rail commutes, lunch breaks, etc. Their needs and preferences for fiction demand writing that keeps them engaged from one read session to the next, not writing that buries them beneath a deluge of purple prose, melodrama, and angst.
Every word counts.
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