Purple is this year's black.

[alyse]

I can't figure out whether the shine has gone off my infatuation with Stargate fanfiction or whether it's just the weather - that sort of dull, cold feeling I get at this time of year which makes it difficult to summon up any enthusiasm for anything beyond curling up on the couch next to the radiator with a blanket and a book. Anyway, there was a time, about a year ago, when I would try to read anything that came across the mailing lists. That sort of new bloom as it were. Now I find myself getting bored with stuff that isn't bad, per se, but lacks something. In other words, the stuff I would have classed as mediocre in the sense of being readable but not much more than that, and which 12 months ago I would have read, is no longer enough to hold my attention for two whole parts.

With the story that I'm reading (or trying to) at the moment I think the problem with the text is that it's flat and lifeless, to me at least. It's all about Jack and Daniel suffering angst post a mission, complete with nightmares etc (which is a fanon cliche, true enough, but that's a rant for another day), but instead of being angsty it's just... dull. It's all telling me what they're going through and never showing me, at least not in the kind of language which makes me appreciate the supposed suffering. Which led me to some strange thoughts.

I know that we, as writers, try to avoid what could be termed 'purple prose' but what do we actually mean by that? To my mind it's one of those things which is easily identified when it's used to excess, a bit like an ageing maiden aunt who insists on dressing in loads of frills. It's easy to spot when she flounces into the room and can't sit down because of them. However, isn't it just as bad to go too far the other way? No frills at all? How... dull.

My mum is sixty-four next week. She wears tops that are cut lower than I would be comfortable wearing. She has recently (since her 60th birthday) acquired a couple of tattoos. She dyes her hair blonde and it's cut in a short bob. She wears sexy dresses and high heels.

Sounds like a nightmare, right?

You could not be more wrong. She's got that thing that many people (me included) would kill for. It's called 'style'. She never, ever looks like mutton dressed as lamb. She never looks anything other than what she is - a mature, confident, stylish woman. The blonde rinse is subtle and suits her, she looks as good in slacks as she does in a dress, and her tops, spaghetti strapped though they are, are comfortable as well as stylish, for all that they're marketed for younger women. I simply cannot see her dressing the way that people who are her age are supposed to dress. Ever. Cloth hats? Tweed? Twinsets and pearls? Comfortable, shapeless trousers and jumpers? Shopping trolley? Please. She's sixty three. She's not old. ::g::

So who says you can't dress things up a little? Who says you always have to play it safe? Tack some frills on that top, damn it. Add a chain. Put a flower in your hair.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm all for spicing things up a little, throwing in a little colour, purple or not. Same with the fear of said - yes, it can be grating if 'said' is never used (as a recent discussion on one of the crit lists talked about) but isn't it just as bad if you go too far the other way?

He said, then she said, then that other person in the corner said, then Jack said and then Daniel said and then Al yawned and fell asleep with her face on the keyboard.

Variety. It's not just for salad bars. Yes, don't overdo the purple prose, don't overdo the avoidance of 'said' but for God's sake, splash some colour about. Just a little. Plant some damned flowers in your prose. Please? You might even like the results.

Vivo de la púrpura!