Catherine Stine's IDEA CITY

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Saturday, April 28, 2012

Y for Yellow

One day left for A to Z. Today is Y Day, and I pick YELLOW. It's one of my favorite colors, representing energetic forces, optimism, fire and sun. I realize that in both of my latest novels the sun is a player.
In the novel I just completed, the main character, who I'll only call by her moniker, Sungirl, actually throws a Yellow Party. She's been an outcast but has a new chance to blossom, after coming to Brooklyn, and a new school. Here's her watching classmates make their entrance:

"Little by little, people filter in. From the vantage of the pagoda, I watch their yellow dresses drift over the green of the park and cycle in to the party like so many sunny finches coming to roost. Guys too, with funky yellow jackets, piss-elegant mustard ties, cheesy faux gold sunglasses and hats. One guy is even wrapped in yellow crime scene tape! Still another dude is jumping around in a felt banana costume. It’s exhilarating! I’m filled with a heady sense of pride in my creation.
“Does your party have to do with the sun?” asks the boy wrapped in crime scene tape.
“Well, duh, she’s Sungirl,” Tory answers for me."

In Fireseed One, my YA thriller set on earth in 2089, the sun has become so intense that a dome has been constructed in the sky to filter out the damaging rays. Here's a snippet:
"I decide to take my father’s old Sail Tern for a change. There’s something to be said for old-fashioned boats you have to help steer. The wind’s just right. It whips up frothy peaks to keep me going at a rapid clip, but not enough to make the Tern pitch. The sun pulses hard against the dome-capped sky. Each strobe shifts the tint of the waves—teal, ultramarine, brown, and then back to teal. Just one day of sun so far, but thankfully there’s a MagiCool antiradiation dome in the sky over the whole of Vostok Station, constraining its fury."
And Fireseed's very last paragraph goes back to that sun image. No spoilers though. You must read it for yourself. In both tales, these sunny scenes turn dark and terrifying. But the sun serves as an early beacon of hope.

Yellow, essential photonic bliss. What does yellow mean to you? What's your power color?


On a wonderful side note, the eBook version of my YA thriller, Fireseed One is finally (as of Sunday morning) on sale at Amazon, iTunes and B&N for only .99!!! Anyone looking for a good spring read that will keep them up at night? Plus, we just received our 20th 5-star review. Thanks, reviewers! Link to eBook on Amazon here.

20 comments:

  1. I love me some yellow. Radiance, optimism, healthy & strong identity/will chakra. Joy!
    My power color: cobalt blue.

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  2. Yello is definitely a powerful colour. I'm partial to a little orange myself.

    mood
    Moody Writing

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  3. Cobalt blue, yes, the cadmiums and cobalts (radioactive ones!) are truly brilliant. Orange is like life itself.

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  4. yellow is probably my favorite color--it represents, warmth, happiness, blessings and more--great post!

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  5. It's van Gogh's sunflowers that come to mind when I think of yellow, or my sister's kitchen, when she painted yellow to offset the depressing Pacific Northwest rain! Do you suppose these impressions are both connected in some way? Sungirl will be a new adventurous, yellow image now, thank you!

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  6. I also love the color yellow and have painted living room walls that color in three different houses. Not sure what my power color is, maybe red?

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  7. Great snippets! Yellow is a happy color for me. A spring color, a pleasant surprise color. My color is blue. More to the twilight shade of it.

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  8. Jo, are you asking of the Pacific Northwest rain and yellow are intertwined in your memory? Or Van Gogh's flower...
    Yes, Sungirl is cheery and also very dark, kind of like the extreme dichotomy of depressing rain and yellow light!

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  9. Yellow means summer; the lemon lilies are blooming. My power color is green--green as a forest, as an emerald, as Ireland.

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  10. Welcome, Susan, yes green is one of my other "power" colors.

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  11. I agree! I love yellow. I was just reading a book the other day that said pandemonium is definitely the color yellow. lol Thought that was cute.
    A yellow party sounds great! And your snippet is very cool. :)

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  12. Yellow is such a warm and happy colour. I do love it.

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  13. I'm partial to yellow. It's warm and welcoming. I'll go with your choice!

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  14. Love yellow, but I hardly ever wear it! I think I'm too pale. Looks great on my sister though who has lovely olive skin. Great excerpts!

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  15. Yellow just feels warm and refreshing to me.

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  17. I do like yellow and would wear a yellow tie to work when the situation dictated. But overall my favorite color is blue. Very soothing to the eyes and the soul.

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  18. I love wearing yellow. And orange. I feel like orange gets neglected as a color.

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  19. Orange is a power color like no other!

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