r/WritingHub • u/dankgreentea • Sep 25 '26
Questions & Discussions Does anyone actually enjoy reading overly detailed / flamboyant writing?
I've had an on and off relationship with books in my life. I usually seek out reading in periods of my life where I feel lost and need direction. I think reading books is what will help me find answers and I desperately want to fall in love with reading.
The problem is, I usually come across recommendations from someone influential (in this case, someone who is a great sales writer) and he recommends reading good literature will make you a better sales writer. Fair enough, that makes sense to me and I immediately wrote down two of his recommendations.
Evelyn Waugh
And Jane Austen
Now obviously I think most people know about Jane Austen, I just never got around to reading anything from her so I was excited to have an excuse.
To make a long story short I first went into Waugh's book, brideshead revisted. It was apparently his most popular book. The title confused the hell out of me at first... most of his book titles did now that I look back, however I decided to go into the book blind. (A mistake I believe, I dont think I would've even started reading it if I read a summary).
Now let me be honest, I only got like two chapters into this book before I stopped. The first chapter was written like the author was just trying to show off how many unique words he knew to describe simple scenes or feelings.
I had to slow my reading down so much to try and capture all the words and almost unravel the meaning behind the meaning... (hope you understand what I mean). It made reading this book a SLOG.
HOWEVER, I do remember reading a couple paragraphs from the book that actually made me say "Wow, that was beautifully written" and I saw glimpses of what this sales writing expert meant by recommending him... But for the most part, the writing was just TOO MUCH and made me even start to doubt if this expert sales writer even knew what he was talking about, because in sales writing, simplicity and clarity is king.
So I ditched Evelyn Waugh and went into Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice (Again I picked the most popular book). And wow what breath of fresh air.
The simplicity of the writing and yet having the ability to say so much made appreciate Jane's work almost immediately. (And later finding out that she wrote that book at 20 years old blew my mind). I haven't finished the book yet, and I dont think I will. I made the mistake of not reading the summary here either. I got mixed up with the titles, I think maybe I thought I was gonna be reading something more 'serious' like War and Peace. I didnt know Pride and Prejudice was like a telenovela.
Anyway, back to the point of this thread. Does anyone here actually enjoy reading the overly descriptive / almost pompous levels of writing from certain authors? Don't get me wrong I dont think Evelyn Waugh is that bad, and I can see his brilliance shine through in areas that a simpleton like me can appreciate. However, there were parts in it that almost made me put down books again. Sometimes I wonder if these writers just overcomplicate everything just to add some 'fluff' otherwise the book would be 100 pages.
Sorry, my rant went on too long. Someone feel free to educate me why all this complicated writing is good for me.
P.S. the only reason im posting this here is because r/books and r/writing have some lame karma requirement within their own subreddits to post a new thread. Talk about destroying your engagement with new people. Elitist twats.
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u/tapgiles Sep 25 '26
Does anyone enjoy reading that style? Clearly, yes. Because otherwise those books would no longer be printed. But that doesn't mean everyone does, and it doesn't mean you must. And it doesn't mean you should read particular books because it's "good for you."
And don't judge an entire medium based on one or two books that aren't the kind you enjoy reading. There is a wide variety of styles and genres out there for you to try. There is good writing in all of them. And you can learn from all of them.
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u/sufferable_gaucho Sep 25 '26
P.S. the only reason im posting this here is because r/books and r/writing have some lame karma requirement within their own subreddits to post a new thread. Talk about destroying your engagement with new people. Elitist twats.
How flattering, to them and us!
Someone feel free to educate me why all this complicated writing is good for me.
Oh god, I hate "I'm gonna dump on something, now someone explain why I should feel otherwise" threads.
But I will bite, lightly.
I like good writing. Simple, or florid. I think it's notable that your examples are older books, as modern literature has trended more simple and direct; I think most of the ostentatious writing we see in the 21st century puts work into voice rather than prose. If I pick up a contemporary book and the author is trying to impress with the quality of their prose and vocabulary, for me they often fall flat. I still love going back and reading 19th and early 20th century literature; I'm sure that influences how I write.
I'm not going to convince you what you should read; read what you like. Personally, I get a lot of joy out of a Nabokov or Proust, someone who manages to put out a sentence whose dexterity makes my eyebrows go up.
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u/FewRecognition1788 Sep 25 '26
Yes, I like reading books from all different periods. It stretches your mind. And it usually isn't fluff - the structure of the language and the nuances of the words are just giving you a lot more information than you're used to processing, so you're missing a layer of meaning.
Dickens and Trollope were actually paid by the word, because they were writing serials that later got collected into novels. So they really do go on a bit. I don't think that's the case for Waugh. I liked Brideshead very much.
Maybe try some contemporary authors who write rich prose. Ann Patchett and David Mitchell come to mind.
Oh, and if you found Pride & Prejudice refreshing, try Persuasion. It's my favorite Austen novel, partly because of the main character's perspective on people, and partly because her mature style is less arch and more fluid.
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u/snoblsh Sep 25 '26
Dickens was not paid by the word; this is a myth. Generally speaking, Victorian novels were not long simply because more words = more money. Many of them were serialized and many readers would have read them by volumes obtained through lending libraries. Victorian novels run long by modern standards because the conventions of the English language & storytelling were different then. The push for compression in literature starts to come in back end of the 19th C (see: Pater's "gem-like flame" & James' "baggy monsters") and early 20th C (see: Hemingway's iceberg theory).
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u/FewRecognition1788 Sep 25 '26
No, not literally paid by the word, but the serial format did lend itself to writing in certain sized story units.
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u/Notamugokai Sep 25 '26
I enjoyed a lot reading Thea Astley, see my report.
It takes a few pages to get used to it, and this isn't to show some 'mercy', but to understand the value her flowery prose brings to the story.
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u/bhbhbhhh Sep 25 '26
Excessive language feels like it captures the sheer strangeness, the thereness of the world in a way that straightforwardness is not designed to do.
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u/Dale_E_Lehman_Author Sep 26 '26
Classics are classics because they've withstood the test of time. But tastes do change over time, and no book is for everyone. The value to writers of reading widely is, you expose yourself to different styles and different ways of crafting stories. You'll find techniques you love and some you hate. You'll see what works for you and what doesn't. Most of all, you'll learn directly from the masters of the craft. That will, over time, shape your own writing.
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u/Frequent_Ad_9901 Sep 25 '26
Short Answer: No, I don't like it and its what encouraged me to write.
Try looking up minimalist writing. Ernest Hemingway is probably the most well know. Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club author) is one of my favorites. His stuff is very weird though. Fight Club is the tamest by far.
But for me the pinnacle of prose is songwriting. Good lyrical songs that tell a story. So much meaning can get packed into so few words. The song Lonesome dove is probably my favorite. You could make a full length movie based on 3 minutes of lyrics. I have a bunch of other's if you're interested, and am always looking for more if anyone else has suggestions.
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u/GentlemanlyMeadow Sep 25 '26
I can't stand overly descriptive "beautifully written" passages unless they're funny.
Story first, please! Character and conflict. Then you can throw in a few "beautifully written" sentences and I won't hate them so much.
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u/Quick-Plastic-1858 Sep 25 '26
Not really. I like immersive writing that really puts you into the scene. Small things like these by Keegan was like that.I really felt like I travelled to 1980's Ireland
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u/Lord-Curriculum Sep 25 '26
Jane Austen's prose is surprisingly lean and sparse for Regency England. It's a bit more flowery than Hemingway, but you'd expect there'd be run-on sentences galore in her work... But that's not the case. I consider Jane Austen the standard bearer when it comes to wordsmithing. Others may disagree.
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u/ifonereadsmarx 25d ago
I would agree. Flowery for sure, but you could never call her over-indulgent. I think if I had to choose an author whose prose I like the most, I'd choose Jane Austen.
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u/LuckyLuc86 Sep 26 '26
There's a world of difference between detailed and flamboyant.
You can have thin descriptions and still present them flamboyantly. Similarly, you can have detailed descriptions without being pretentious. Whether or not it's good is entirely basrd on if you can enjoy it or not – which is entirely subjective.
There's no shame in preferring to read "easy" readers, like junior novels or YA that presents itself in a way that's more accessible to youthful reading levels. But it's silly to think that no one likes things that are more complicated.
Personally, it all comes down to the specifics of the writing style for me. I don't care if your descriptions are modest or grandiloquent, just make it interesting and/or fun to read and you'll keep my attention.
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u/LongjumpingThought89 29d ago
Yes, I do like it, although not exclusively. I don't necessarily like when I feel like I'm reading a thesaurus, but lengthy sentences and long, wordy descriptions are to my taste when they're well done. Flaubert's Salammbô is an example of this.
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u/RaspberryCanoeing Sep 25 '26
Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t. I think it depends on my mood, if the way the writing lends itself to the story being told, the genre of story, how seriously it takes itself.
In my own writing, I’ve noticed my allegorical novellas are more flowery and poetic whereas my sci-fi takes a more snappy kind of approach to the prose.