Be wary of going too far and turning a good sentence (or scene) into an overwritten mess.
The term purple prose has been around as long as I've been writing, and chances are you've heard it too. You'll also hear folks say "the prose is too flowery" or it feels "overwritten." People know it when they see it, but how do you spot it in your own work? And more importantly--how do you fix it?
If you're unfamiliar with the term, purple or flowery prose is so filled with adjectives and adverbs, similes and metaphors, that it screams "Hey look! I'm fancy writing" and distracts you from the actual story. You often need a thesaurus just to read it.
Overwritten text is trying too hard, either trying hard to sound "written" or trying to explain too much. For example, one sentence that uses fifteen words when three is enough. Or explaining every single step in a task that doesn't need it. If you ever thought to yourself, "Yeah, I get it, he was angry, move on" then you probably read an overwritten passage.
(Here's more on Avoid Overwriting – Subtle is More Sophisticated)
