The language of colors

I haven't had much time to write lately, and although I've had a couple of ideas, I haven't really had the time or the motivation to sit down and do anything with them.

The thing about writing is that it requires a lot more than just thinking of an idea and spilling it out into words. I am not one to labor over the precise words to use; generally, I just write in whatever voice is natural to me. Still, it often takes me so much effort to even put ideas into coherent sentences. Half the time I have a concept but not a plot, or a character but no driving force or flaw.

I have discovered that a lot of the time I don't think in words, which is probably what makes it so hard for me to translate my ideas into them. When people ask me to give me synonyms or ask what a word means, I often know exactly what it means and I will picture it or a response to it, but I will be absolutely incapable of explaining that to the other person. A lot of what I picture is color, especially in the context of music. My itunes playlists have titles like "blue-gray" "violet," and "jellybeans." I could not for the life of me explain to anyone else why I associate certain colors with certain songs, although there are a few general trends I could point out ("blue-gray" is mostly songs in minor keys, and "jellybeans" is very upbeat), but what makes something violet as opposed to blue-gray?

When I write, I have to channel all these grays and blues and greens into something that would make sense to anyone. It's a challenge, but when I finally get across what I meant to say, it's very fulfilling. It has taken me a while to learn how to say what I want to say without being to blunt about it; when I first started writing short stories, I wrote straight out exactly what my characters were doing/thinking/feeling  (that was before I knew about the golden "Show-not-tell" rule). I'd like to think I've improved since then, but I suppose old habits die hard because a lot of the time I just spit out what is happening instead of painting pictures and leaving gaps for the reader to color in.

I think writing these blog posts is a way for me to channel my thinking juices and get out of the completely analytical calculus-physics-chemistry routine that has become my day-to-day life. So even if no one is reading, at least I am writing, and that is enough.

Idea machine!

I have a couple of ideas stewing around in my head, so please let me know if any of these sound interesting. Sometimes I need a little push to get started on a story, and someone's nod of approval can go a long way to making that happen :)

• Ipseity - (n) selfhood, individuality
• We often judge people and characters by their names - we don't mean to do it, but it happens. When you're naming your characters, you very rarely decide to name the gangster "Walter Beauville" or the shy new girl "Jackie Quinn". The greatest irony of all is that people don't even get to pick their own names, but they are judged for them anyway (those poor children of celebrities!).
  Where am I going with this? I'm thinking of a story that takes place in a world where children are referred to by their surname (with a 1,2,3 tacked on at the end to differentiate between siblings) until the age of 12. Then, they all go through a naming process, where they are assigned names based on their personality/potential for greatness/etc. I'm thinking that this would create jealousy of people with "better" names, disappointment if you don't get the name you think you deserve, incredulity if you are given a name you don't think you deserve, etc. This also raises questions concerning whether people are bound by their perception of themselves/others' perception of them or if they can overcome the limitations that others perceive in them (their name) and become greater than anyone expects.
• Reflection
• This idea is still really fuzzy right now but I'm thinking of a kingdom where there are no mirrors/shiny metal objects/etc by decree of the queen. I'm trying to work with the concept that the people in this kingdom are the dark and cruel side of humanity, but their reflections are their good sides; they don't know this good side exists because there is nowhere for them to see their reflection. The reflection is then not simply a mirror image but a mirror person if that makes sense. Also the queen and a few others don't have a reflection because they are just evil. Which implies that there are mirror people without people in the kingdom because they are only good. I don't know where I'm going with this yet, but I'll work on it.