It Ain't Easy Being...Pink?

Here'a little excerpt from my recent holiday submission. Much of this part of the scene revolves around the color pink. Hopefully it gives a little peek into both of the characters, offers some description,...and it sets up some fun intimate conversations later on...involving more pink of course!

He stopped in front of her and smiled. “You’re the cutest snow-bunny I’ve ever seen.” He touched his finger to the tip of her nose.
The light contact sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine. She studied him in turn, then strove for a nonchalant tone. “You don’t look so bad yourself. Very James Bond,” she teased.
“Ha, ha,” he replied. His gaze skittered from hers. “Are you all set?”
“I think so. I’ve never done this before, so I might be missing something.”
“Let’s see. Pink snow pants. Check. Pink and white ski jacket. Check. Pink hat with pom pon ball. Check. Gloves?”
She made a face at his precise inventory. He better not ask about her long underwear. “In my pockets.”
“Pink?”
She put her hands on her hips, arms akimbo. “Is that a problem?” she sassed.
He winked at her. “Definitely not. Okay, so pink gloves. Check. Sunscreen and lip balm?”
“In a different pocket.”
“Super. Sunglasses or goggles?”
She held up her tinted glasses. “Check.”
“That’s the spirit.” He grinned down at her and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, then, it looks like we’re all set. My skis are in the rack outside, and we’ll rent you a pair when we get to the hill. Let’s go.” He put a hand in the small of her back and guided her toward the door.

It was one of those scenes that kind of wrote itself once I had a small glimmer of an idea. So, what do you think? Playful...or too much?

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

P.S. I'm out of town until Friday evening, so I'll check back when I return to comment on posts.

Until ne

Colour my World

I have to search for colour names. Wikipedia has a good list, but I’ve also searched paint colour charts, make-up and fashion sites, and hair colourant lists to find the right word(s) to describe the colour I can see in my mind’s eye. I do like the synonyms that show the slight differences: for yellow, there’s daffodil, flax, lemon and mustard; for red there’s fire-engine, ruby, crimson, scarlet etc etc. I’m reminded of the Johnny Cash song ‘Forty Shades of Green’ (referring to my beloved Ireland, of course). One time when I was in Ireland, we tried to make a list of 40 different shades! IMO the standard names for colours are the best, since everyone knows what they mean. No point calling the heroine’s dress ‘Dublin Bay green’ (anyway, Dublin Bay is usually grey!) or ‘Paris green’ if no-one has a clue what those descriptions actually mean.

Must admit I don’t like ‘ornate’ descriptions of colour. Cliches can be boring – how many times have we read ‘eyes as blue as a summer sky’? But contrived, long-winded or eye-brow raising similes can be equally irritating. A couple of examples describing hair – ‘as blonde as a buttercup in a meadow’ (does that mean yellow?), ‘as blonde as a dirty cloud’ (what? was she grey? But no, the writer was supposedly describing her mother’s blonde hair when she was young). Just as a matter of interest, did you know that, in early colonial times in America, Puritans used no similes or metaphors in their writing, because these glorified the writer, not God. Southerners, however, used showy language in literature much more freely. Maybe I was a Puritan in an earlier existence, since I prefer to keep colour descriptions simple!

I once read a story where the author had obviously decided to use every possible variation of blue for the heroine’s eyes – cerulean, baby-blue, azure, sky-blue, denim, electric, sapphire etc – so much so that I got distracted from the story wondering what shade of blue her eyes would be on the next page! As with many things, sometimes less is more!

Color Symbolism in your Writing

“Are you yeller?”

Bet from those three words you could tell me not only the connotation of ‘yeller’ but the genre in which this phrase would most likely be found. ‘Yeller”, or yellow, means a coward and the genre would be a western.

We imbue colors with different meanings. If you are green with envy, well, you desire what somebody else has. True blue, meaning loyal, is quite different from feeling blue, meaning sad. We associate red with passion and sin. That’s why Hester Prynne’s letter was scarlet and not purple, yellow or green. Black is evil and its opposite, white, is pure. In westerns, you can always tell the good guys from the bad by the color of their hats.

Sadly, many of the phrases associated with colors are clichés, and a no-no in our work. So as writers we must craft innovative prose to incorporate color symbolism into our creations.

Consider the following sentence:

In the light of the pale, wintry moon, her alabaster throat beckoned.

Pale, wintry, and alabaster are cold words and yet her throat beckons. Why? Because the POV character is a vampire and what he craves is the blood beneath her skin. Juxtaposing the cold words with the warmer word, beckoned, creates conflict and conflict, as we know, is good.

Another example, just for fun:

We expect a femme fatale to wear fire-engine red lipstick and an ingénue to choose sweetheart pink. But what if it’s the siren wearing the sweetheart pink lipstick? What does that mean? Is she trying to cover up her true colors? Aha!

Coloured words with Sound!

It occurred to me that as writers we tend to think in terms of satisfying a reader, but what of blind people (blind from birth) who rely on audio for entertainment? Now this got me thinking. Yes we can describe a characters appearance, for most blind people have great sense of touch and will identify character shape/figure even facial properties from descriptive prose: florid face = heat flushed cheeks, the latter better because easily related to. But, how can they identify the difference between, say a red or green dress? They can’t, they have no concept of colour but they do have concept of touch: heat, cold etc., and sound.

Example of entailing the three senses can bring something alive that would otherwise be a dead point in audio text: 

As she swept down the staircase her gown rustled like autumn leaves tumbling on a light breeze, its colour that of flame red. A little daring maybe, but why not? This was her last chance to make her mark. If Paul could walk away from her tonight, then it would be a failed mission. For that’s what it was, a mission, nothing more nothing less. Though an affair with Paul would please her no end, if . . . if she were not who she was. 

She paused by the hall mirror just to be sure the diamond necklace and matching earrings didn’t appear too alluring. After all, he was what he was too, and would see the diamonds long before registering the fact she happened to be wearing them. Strange how they always felt so cool against one’s skin, no matter the temperature inside or out, as if originally hewn from the walls of an ice palace. . .

See how easily a blind person can relate to the sound of "tumbling autumn leaves", can feel the "heat" of her "flame" gown, and sense the "coldness" of the precious stones around her neck.  That’s why as writers we have to think beyond colour of words to that of rending sound into the mix, and thereby provide more depth for those who cannot see the written word. ;)

Coloring in the Lines

To launch this week's topic, I went to my two WIP's and looked for stellar examples of describing color. I didn't find anything noteworthy.
I think it's because I am not a visual artist. I know people who are, and I marvel at their sensitivity to shades, tones, brightness, contrast, etc. When I search alternate color names for red, blue and green in a thesaurus, I'm quite clueless.
I know what I like when I see it. I fine-tune colors on product labels and color brochures by the back and forth no-yes method.
I like having the names of crayon colors printed on the wrapper. Cornflower is still one of my favorites.

Here's a passage from a WIP. My heroine has been magically transported to 1497 France. She has a new (old) body and is seeing her image in a mirror for the first time.

Angel gaped at her reflection. Her body curved like an hourglass, with a waist she encircled easily with her hands. The lace around the neckline of her smoke-blue gown accentuated full, round breasts. A silverwork girdle ringed seductive hips, and a small coin purse dangled from a matching chain. On her feet were low-heeled boots of soft, brown leather. Her hair was held back by carved jade combs that accentuated her eyes. The dimple in her right midcheek did not soften the imperious arch of her dark brows.

Welcome to Ericka Scott

Welcome to our Friday Friend, Ericka Scott, who is a multi-published, bestselling author of seductive suspense. She's written stories for as long as she can remember and reads anything under the sun (including the back of cereal boxes in a pinch). She got hooked on romantic suspense in her college days, when reading anything but a textbook was a guilty pleasure. Now, when she’s not chauffeuring children around, wishing she had more than 24 hours in a day, or lurking at the library, she’s spinning her own web of fantasy and penning tales of seduction and suspense. She currently lives in Southern California with her husband and three children. Her upcoming release, Wild Ghost Chase, being published by L&L Dreamspell, will hit the shelves in the next few months.

Writing Schedules and How to Break Them
I’m sure you’ve all heard the old adage “Write everyday”
How important is that?

In my opinion, having a set writing schedule is a vital part of becoming a professional writer Elizabeth George says in Write Away, her book about the process of writing, ‘a lot of writing is being willing to show up day after day, same time, same place’. My personal writing schedule is from Monday to Friday, 10 am – 2 pm, which roughly coincides with when my kids are in school. I also endeavor to write a minimum of 100 words (or edit 5 pages if I’m in the editing phase) on the weekends.

However, when it comes to “writing”, my definition is a bit more flexible. I think that any activity dedicated to improving my craft or opening opportunities for my career count as “writing”. Yes, even doing taxes counts as a career activity. Included in my writing schedule is time for these other activities:

· Reading
Theoretically, you should be writing stories in the genre you most like to read. I encourage this for several reasons. One is so that you know the expectations of your audience. The second is to keep up with trends. If you write paranormal romance, you “know” vampires and werewolves are in. But will that trend continue? And is that the only trend out there? Steampunk, were-creatures, and Greek gods & goddesses are also quite popular. Gothic romances have been ‘out’ for quite some time, yet there is still a small audience craving them.

For all that, I’m not advocating that you only read what you write. Knowing what else is out there – thrillers, horror, literary, cozy mystery, Noir detective – and incorporating the things you enjoy about those genres into your work adds depth and originality to your stories.

· Continuing Education
The importance of continuing to learn to write better cannot be emphasized enough. Magazine articles, books, online courses, and participating in critique groups all play a part in advancing an author’s career. As such, they need to be scheduled (sometimes crow-barred) in. I feel learning is as important as writing, and will sometimes dedicate a whole week to reading articles.

Critique groups are invaluable. Some authors only utilize beta-readers, as they don’t feel they have the time to take away from their own writing to look at someone else’s work. I think this is a bit short sighted. I learn as much, or more, about writing and what works and doesn’t work from critiquing. If the words I write after the critique are better for what I’ve learned, it’s well worth ‘losing’ a day or two of writing, which for me equates from 100-1000 words.

· Vacations/Sick Days/Personal Days
Having a set writing schedule (and sticking to it) is all well and good until LIFE intervenes. Even in a normal 9-5 job, one is required to take time off for vacations, sick days, and personal days.

The same should go for your writing career. Yes, there are some really prolific writers who take a computer everywhere and write constantly. Nora Roberts writes 8 hours a day every day and I’ve heard anecdotes claiming she even writes while riding in the limo from the airport to conferences. Be as disciplined as you can…if you can only write one hour a day, make sure your butt is in your chair and you focus on your career for that hour.

I’ll admit that this year, I set about writing a minimum of 100 new words every single day, whether I did any other career-related activities or not. That lasted for a whole month…then LIFE intervened, and I had to take an unexpected 10 days off. My payoff for five years of fairly disciplined writing was that when I returned, I was able to pick up right where I’d left off (well, after wading through over 1,000 e-mails) and have been writing every day since.

It’s my view that authors who “write” every day will see positive changes in their manuscripts and their career. It’s worked for Nora Roberts and Stephen King…it can work for you!

Ericka also loves friends, so come friend her at http://myspace.com/erickascott
She's also on Facebook at http://facebook.com/ericka.scott and Twitter @ErickaScott
You can find out more about her books at http://www.erickascott.com/

Many thanks for being with us today, Ericka - and for your very useful advice.  We wish you continued success with your books.

Elevator Pitch

In my RWA chapter this is what we call the brief synopsis of our books. Here's mine for a short story I recently queried to The Wild Rose Press.

A Christmas to Remember:

A cozy ski lodge. Two strangers meet and have a romantic interlude. One has a secret that could keep the fantasy from ever becoming real.


Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com