Dirty Laundry
Blog. Twitter. Face book.
As soon as I hear the words, my mind goes blank. What do I say? And who will care? If I have nothing spectacular to say, should I say it anyway? Does anyone really care how many loads of dirty laundry I did today, or how many pages I wrote? What about edits?
Electronic media has taken over. A writer’s writing day is filled with getting words down on paper: the WIP, the blog, Face book updates. Interactions with colleagues, virtual and otherwise. Reading others’ blogs, visiting favorite sites, networking with others.
Building a platform, one word at a time. A hard job, but I can do it.
Twitter? A bird of another color. “Nothing earth-shaking going on here worth tweeting,” I say. “Three loads of laundry down, four to go,” Tweet I. Someday I hope to have something fabulous to report. In the meantime, mundane will have to do.
Building a nest, one tweet at a time.
A hard job, but I can do it.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Color Your World
Color Your World
What colors do you choose when you write? The usual spectrum doesn’t do justice to good writing. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. Brown. White. Black.
Branching out into other common color descriptions doesn’t help: maroon, emerald, aqua, chocolate, charcoal, and the like.
How can you punch up your prose? Consider tying the color to your subject matter. Does your hero love the ocean? Green could become seaweed. Does he love motorcycles? Silver might become chrome, or nickel-plated.
Is he into hockey? White as ice? Black as a puck? Red as a nosebleed on center ice?
How about your heroine? Does she love to bake? Brown becomes cinnamon or nutmeg or toast. White as coconut? Yellow as saffron?
Maybe she paints—a huge array of color names are in a paint box. Alizarin crimson instead of red.
Consider color descriptors that fit your story. Carnal red, for example, in erotica. Lab coat white for a doctor story. Pull up the environment in your imagination and go for it.
Good sources for unique color descriptors:
-Raid your spice drawer and cupboards.
-Cruise your household. Walk the neighborhood.
-Clothing catalogs.
-Art supply catalogs.
Take a clipboard, write down what you find, and blend with your prose. Make your reader say “I love that description!”
What colors do you choose when you write? The usual spectrum doesn’t do justice to good writing. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. Brown. White. Black.
Branching out into other common color descriptions doesn’t help: maroon, emerald, aqua, chocolate, charcoal, and the like.
How can you punch up your prose? Consider tying the color to your subject matter. Does your hero love the ocean? Green could become seaweed. Does he love motorcycles? Silver might become chrome, or nickel-plated.
Is he into hockey? White as ice? Black as a puck? Red as a nosebleed on center ice?
How about your heroine? Does she love to bake? Brown becomes cinnamon or nutmeg or toast. White as coconut? Yellow as saffron?
Maybe she paints—a huge array of color names are in a paint box. Alizarin crimson instead of red.
Consider color descriptors that fit your story. Carnal red, for example, in erotica. Lab coat white for a doctor story. Pull up the environment in your imagination and go for it.
Good sources for unique color descriptors:
-Raid your spice drawer and cupboards.
-Cruise your household. Walk the neighborhood.
-Clothing catalogs.
-Art supply catalogs.
Take a clipboard, write down what you find, and blend with your prose. Make your reader say “I love that description!”
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