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Introducing Purple Prose Society

From the President
- Deborah Grace Staley -



The Society of the Purple Prose is a loosely formed organization of writers who came together as a result of pre-convention seminars presented by Romantic Times Magazine.
Founded in 1994 by Tori Phillips, the group began after the Romantic Times Convention held in Nashville, Tennessee.
That first pre-convention seminar on How to Write a Romance Novel was taught by the late Suzanne Barclay and had a few unpublished writers in attendance who have gone on to become multi-published, award-winning authors, including Tori Phillips (Harlequin), and Gwynne Forster (BET and Genesis).

In later years we picked up others who were already published or went on to publish: Karen Lee (Leisure), Ammanda McCabe (Signet), and Linda Lea Castle (Kensington and Harlequin).
We also have folks published in novellas and short stories: Betsy Morgan and Deborah Grace Staley. And we can't forget our resident poet, Marlene Million.

Tori Phillips began the group in response to a need to keep in touch. She found that many of the people in that first group were sending her letters which plotted their progress toward publication. So, she took the information and put it in a newsletter so everyone could be informed and could offer their support to one another.
The group name came about from an overwhelming love of the color purple by its members. And, of course, the "prose" came from the fact that, well, that's what we write!
It has nothing to do with that derogatory term which means to write flowery prose.

Since 1994, we've grown from a handful of green writers to more than sixty strong, picking up new members from RT's pre-convention seminars, the industry, and seminars the group has presented at RT conventions as well as at local RWA chapter conferences.
The group still operates as it did in the beginning. A quarterly newsletter is sent out to the members in SASE's they provide. We did add an e-mail loop so we could better keep in touch.
Because of her demanding writing schedule, Tori had to turn the reins of the group over to Deborah Grace Staley, who tries to keep the group moving forward, and Patty Harrison, who brilliantly produces the newsletter, now called, "The Purple Plume".

Although we've had a few organizational changes, we still support each other in the same way. We try to get together at the RT Conventions, but it's not unusual for us to travel to visit each other in our homes from time to time.
This is a close-knit group of caring, giving writers who genuinely want to see each other succeed. In short, it's a soft place to fall.
There are no politics, nor bickering, just pure support.
My unbiased opinion is -- and I think the other members would concur--that this group is the best thing that ever happened to us!

Thanks for visiting our web site! Look for us in your local bookstores in the romance section.

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