This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: Yellow Prose: From YKTTW
Dentaku: I never heard of "beige prose" outside of this article, so I doubt it's even a valid qualifier.
DomaDoma: How many phrases have had their origins on this wiki? Are they all invalid?
Dentaku: I don't think that many. But aside from that, "beige prose" is a pretty specific qualifier that doesn't even make a smidgen of sense. I mean, "beige"? C'mon, why not "mauve"?
ninjacrat: Beige is a pretty common indicator for 'bland' and 'undistinguised'. Funny thing is, the trope the tile made me think of was the opposite: authors who pour out endless porridgey veribage just to make an arbitrary word count.
Luthen: Yeah, my intuition: beige prose=long uninteresting stuff about unnecessary detail. Article's description=succinctness, something all writers should aim for. Maybe they're two different tropes (don't have time to check). Did this go through YKTTW?
Bein Sane: It was initially proposed as "Yellow Prose" (what with yellow being diametrically opposed to purple on the color wheel) but nobody seemed to get it.
Arutema: I'd call it Plain White Prose. Purple Prose is an excess of "color". Plain White Prose would be its absence.
Sabre Justice: Wouldn't Plain White Prose be a blank page? Anyway, this article needs some examples. Still, the shortness is a work in hilarity.
Arutema: "Monochrome Prose" perhaps?
Milskidasith: I vote against Plain White Prose. It wouldn't make sense; plain is an unnecessary adjective with that. Even then, White Prose doesn't make sense, because text is usually black. Beige generally implies dull.
Inkblot: ninjacrat, why do you want Hemmingway removed from the list of examples?
Matthew The Raven: The fact that Hemmingway wrote this way is a pretty good indicator that this isn't always a Bad Writing trope. We should make it a bit more neutral.
Dentaku: A simple writing does not have to be bad, as long as you use the proper words. It is also not related to whether or not a writer uses a lot of description. It's admittedly rather hard to pull off well, so most writers who try fail to some extent.
Camacan: Hmmm. Concision is often a good thing. Beige Prose sounds like a bad thing. Beige Prose sounds like it is dull writing (only) — it has no reference to being brief. Clear writing doesn't precluded extended descriptions. Brief descriptions can occur in bad writing. Needs trope repair shop work at some point.
