In the ongoing discussion of Podcastle's latest story "Hotel Astarte" (
http://forum.escapeartists.info/index.php?topic=1585.0), several people have used the phrase "overworked prose." While I think I get the basic gist of what they're saying, I wanted to check to see what people actually do mean when they use that phrase. It could be I'm getting an altogether wrong impression of what it means.
To wit, I gather that it means something along the lines of the story using language in a way that makes it very apparent the writer was trying to impress us with her or her mastery of the language.
But I could be very wrong.
Eh, while we're at it, I'm sure many of you could provide concrete examples.