LGBT Fiction Event Day 25 : Kate Lowell introduces All the Colors of the Rainbow! (Includes Amazon Gift Card)

 

LGBTQ anything is often associated with the rainbow. It’s an excellent allegory. There are so many different colors of non-cis, non-straight, non-heteronormative lives all blending on a sliding scale so that the rainbow really is the logical choice. It also represents the wide range of experiences and emotions that people with “non-standard” sexuality live through. From passion and happiness, to fear, anger, and loathing–it’s all in there.

When I was growing up, I was obsessed with the theatre. I started out practicing stage makeup, which is the art of using color and shading to make someone look both completely like–and entirely unlike–themselves in front of an audience. You highlight some parts of their face or body, outline others, and shade bits and pieces until you’ve evoked the character and the emotions associated with their role..

An interest in makeup gradually expanded to include stage lighting, which is another way using color, shadow and highlights to add emotion and direct the audience’s attention toward or away from something.

My critique group often accuses me of being over-subtle. I hint at things casually as I write past them, drop names, or words or descriptions into a scene, only to have it pop up again later, but changed forever by the context. It’s fun–kind of like putting Easter Eggs in a movie or video game.

One of the ways I do this is through the use of color. The colors that I paint the scene in help to unconsciously steer the reader toward the emotion I want them to experience. (I know, sneaky, huh? It’s the Irish in me.)

So, what do the colors mean? Here’s a quickie list. If you want a more in-depth treatment, there’s a book on color use in cinema called “If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die” by Patti Bellantoni. I’m sure there are others that are excellent as well, but the title always gives me a giggle, and so I like to keep it around just for that.

Red: A powerful colour, it evokes eroticism, passion, happiness

Orange: Not as strong as red, it’s a happy, enthusiastic, and creative

Yellow: The colour of joy and energy. Yellow is cheerful and optimistic–I used it at the beginning of Bite Me Tender to raise everyone’s hopes, so I could dash them later on in the book. (I’m mean like that.)

Green: Life, growth, fertility, safety. Brownish or yellowish greens can hint at decay. I dressed Gram in green in Bite Me Tender because of green’s association with both life and death.

Blue: Calm, wisdom, intelligence. It’s not a warm colour, but one associated with cool intellect and smart, no-nonsense people.

Purple: Royalty, luxury, power, and ambition. A lighter purple whispers of the positive side of the colour. A darker purple speaks of the use of power for negative goals.

Brown: Warm, reliable, safe, strong, natural. In Bite Me Tender, Levi has brown hair and brown eyes, because he’s a country boy at heart, and he keeps Glyn grounded.

White: Simple, pure, innocent, good. If you want a character to make your reader feel safe, particularly from illness, white is the way to go.

Black: Power, sophistication, formality, grief, death, mystery, evil. It’s a multi-faceted colour, cool and attention-getting. Black absorbs all other colours, and it’s in the dark that our fears most often prey upon us.

Now that I’ve spilled my secrets (the colourful ones, anyway!), how have you seen colours used in books, movies and TV to influence your emotions? Comment below, and Nix and I will enter you to win a $20 gift certificate to Amazon!

The prequel to Bite Me Tender is nearly done, but if you’re curious about Glyn and Levi (and Gram!), you can find Bite Me Tender (the book that I should have written second) here:

Levi is a werewolf. His boyfriend, and the love of his life, is a witch. After living together for three years, they decided to commit to each other and change Glyn into a werewolf. Levi hoped the pack would accept Glyn more readily as a wolf. Glyn hoped it would eliminate his erratic magic and erase the OCD it caused. One year later, they’re still trying…

Levi can’t understand why his bite won’t change Glyn and he’s running out of time to figure it out. His pack is being threatened by a larger one, he’s facing dissension in the ranks of his own ruling council and Glyn’s grandmother is poking her witchy nose into their relationship.

Under threat of a violent takeover, the council pushes another potential wolf at Levi, infuriating Glyn and adding weight to Levi’s own doubts. Council machinations divide the two lovers, leaving both men questioning their lives, their love, and what they’re willing to endure for each other.

Full moon is a time of power and change. It could be a disaster, or it could be the key to happily ever after. If they’re strong enough to take a loss and make it a win.

Loose Id http://www.loose-id.com/bite-me-tender.html

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-bitemetender-1268404-340.html

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Bite-Me-Tender-ebook/dp/B00EIIYQ6Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1376429654&sr=8-3&keywords=bite+me+tender

 

Kate is giving away a $20 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky commenter. 

Kate lives on the eastern coast of Canada, where her hobbies include shoveling snow, swearing at snow, praying for the snow to stop and, now, digging drainage ditches to keep the melting snow out of her basement. When not valiantly foiling the dastardly plans of Old Man Winter, she spends her time dreaming up passionate men who live in climes much warmer than hers. (Yes, she is desperately tired of winter and its aftermath!) She can be found chuntering on at her blog thebluntinstrument.wordpress.com or on Twitter @Kate_Lowell

For the Grand Prize Giveaway, I (Nix) will be giving away ten of my top LGBT books. These books will be gifted via All Romance as the books are available to readers on all the types of eReaders (you just need to sign up for a free account to access the books and you can send them directly). If you have any of the books and you win the prize, speak to me and I’ll see what else I can do. All of the posts have prizes atatched and a list of these can be found here

The books are (and there are substitutions available for people who have copies)…

• With a Kiss by Kim Dare (MM)
• Hot Head by Damien Suede (MM)
• By the Book by Scarlett Parrish (MM)
• The Dom With a Safeword by Cari Silverwood (FFM)
• Starfish and Coffee by Kele Moon (MM)
• How Sweet it is – Melissa Brayden (FF)
• Fatal Shadows – Josh Lanyon (MM)
• Faith and Fidelity – Tere Michaels (MM)
• How to Love – Kelly Jamieson (FMM)
• Cut and Run – Abigail Roux (MM)

Recently added

• Paperback Tread Marks & Trademarks by SA McAuley
• A eCopy of Bite Me Tender by Kate Lowell

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