Friday 1 April 2011

Gearing up for run season - and the MGA!

I went for my first outdoor run of the season last week, and boy did it feel great! The sun was shining, and despite the snow-covered ground, I really started thinking about spring.

Grandpa keeps saying, “it’s right around the corner.”

But so is the deadline for the Martyn Godfrey Young Writers’ Award.

I’ve figured out who my character is now. He’s about the same age as me, but I’d say he’s a lot more shy. And he’s scared to run, which is kind of funny because when I was doing some research on yellow, I found out that in some cultures, it’s the colour of cowardice and deceit.

Not that Fred (that’s the temporary name of my character until I figure out something better) is deceitful. He’s just…scared. Of a lot of things, but mostly running. In my rough draft, I even say he’s “yellow.” I’m thinking about giving him blonde hair and then a funny nick name.

I don’t know what you’ve been finding out about the colour, but here’s some information that might help you with your story.

•    Yellow is a warm colour that has conflicting symbolism. On the one hand, it’s happy and cheerful – like sunshine. On the other, in Egypt, it’s the colour of mourning. Something to keep in mind if your short story takes place in another country.
•    Yellow is also considered a colour of hope. For many years, women wore yellow ribbons as they waited for their husbands to come home from the war.
•    And of course, because yellow is so bright (like neon sometimes), it’s the colour often used for hazard signs and some emergency vehicles.

My Grandma loves the colour yellow, and not just because of her giant canola field. She has a garden of daisies and she always tells me that they are her favourite flower because the centres are yellow – like the sunshine that warmed up my run this week.

Hope your weekend is filled with yellow – the cheery kinds, of course!

- Chase Superman Duffy

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