NAMING MY STORY

When I write creatively, the title of the work usually comes to me early in the story and does not change. When I finish the piece, the title is just right. With my latest story that was not the case. When I realized no title had manifested itself while the story was in progress, I knew something was wrong with it. I laid it aside to think about that and resumed reading the novel by Joanne Harris, THE GIRL WITH NO SHADOW. The girl in that story had her colors. It seemed no one could see the purples and reds about her person except perhaps other people without shadows like her. Unwittingly, or perhaps unconsciously, I had given my character similar colors, several shades of purple (but no lavender), but not at all used in the same way as the other girl's colors. Innocent as I was, I decided to delete all those colors from my story and did so in about four minutes. 

Instantly the right title came to me! A perfect title. You see, the girl with no shadow was a witch, but my girl was no such thing. In fact, she was a good person who wanted to do things right and went out of her way, literally, righting things.

Why do I say no lavender? My maternal grandmother, over a century ago, wore black and white, and gray, and lavender. Of those four colors, only lavender spelled "old" to me. I do not like it to this day. But orchid is a lovely color. I wear it and I am not a witch.