I love Dean Koontz. I own many of his books and two of them are on my Top Ten list. But I wish I could go back in time and bitch-slap the rocket surgeon who gave him a gilded thesaurus after he started consistently hitting the NY Times Bestseller List. More words and purple prose do not make one's writing better, and it saddens me when one of my favorite writers inadvertently misleads an entire generation of writer-wannabe's. Less words = more impact.
That's not proof that it's good writing - just proof that someone uses it, which is hardly surprising. Another problem is - different ways of writing would suit different genres. "eyes rolled up in his head" (which, btw, sounds weird in the extreme for me and certainly not a phrase I'd use) might fit where the tone of the story and type of story is say, 1. for a younger audience (which Potter is - it's officially YA) and 2. perhaps a story that's got caricatures that reflect reality but is not in itself meant to be realistic. I'm not sure how to put it - but Harry Potter is filled with caricatures and cliches, but it works in its own coherent world due to the nature of it. As an example, do you think "eyes rolled up in his head" would work in works like The Hobbit? Not in a million years. And The Hobbit is also written in a very fairytale-like manner - but a different sort. Or just think, what about language like in I dunno, one of Kafka's works and insert that into a teenage romance novel? Also, there's fine line between really good, beautiful writing and writing that simply sells. Potter is the latter example, although there're some books that manage that fine line and manage to sell AND be beautifully written (Hunger Games would be one such example for me, I loved Collins' writing). Complicated or elaborate does not equal "good". And even normally good, lovely phrases could stick out like a sore thumb if you put it into the wrong sort of story. The tone of the story very much determines what kind of writing should be in place. For example, the trashier writing that uses a tonne of adverbs - say, Sophie Kinsella's work - works perfectly for the genre she's writing in, and if you're trying to write a mindless rom-com that's meant for a laugh and nothing more (and there's nothing wrong with this kind of work - people need to laugh), then I'd say learn from her. But if you were trying to write a murder mystery and you're writing things like "Oh my God I can't believe this is happening!" then I might advise you to rethink. Likewise if you were writing a mindless comedy and you start coming out with phrases like, "Time and space stopped as a flush of gold swept the cloudless sky, the sun exploding in a final burst of glory," - I'd tell you to rethink lol because that's really not mindless comedy material. It's like this. Pepper might be a very good and essential ingredient in cooking, but try putting that in ice-cream and you'll have an empty restaurant. Or perhaps this infamous clip would explain it better for me To quote Joey, "Custard? Good! Jam? Good! Beef? Goooood!" Each of those ingredients in and of themselves might be perfectly good - but not in combination - and unless you learn rather than just copy and paste (a little like in the clip where Rachel just blindly followed a recipe), you won't know which combinations are good. I'd encourage you to read some authors who are known for their simplicity (someone help me out here with some recommendations) - just to see for yourself that it *does* work, and that sometimes it in fact works *better*. Not because you cannot write in a more elaborate style if you wished - I'm of the elaborate school myself, actually - but first you must learn to write simply and *then* build yourself up. Once you know the essence of what makes writing work, you can add all the sauces and sprinkles to your heart's content, because then you'll choose the right ones that best serve to enhance your voice, not smother it. In any case, if you push ahead and ignore all the advice here, your readers won't be as kind as those characters in Friends. They'll say "It tastes like FEET!" to your face. What you do with your own writing has zero effect on any of us here, it's your name and your time and your effort on the line. There's no reason for all of us to say any of this except that we genuinely think you may be approaching things wrong and wish for you to get better. So don't just ignore us even if it sounds unpleasant.
