I’ve been thinking about it lately and I don’t think ‘Diamond Crier’ really represents my work since it took a turn for the sardonic.  Don’t get me wrong.  I do like that title but it better represented the work when it was more on the serious side.  It really is a trivial thing to be worrying about, especially at this stage of the game but as I read more and more agent blogs and how they talk about accurately portraying your work in your query, I can’t help but think on it (and convince myself I’m doing it as a means of preparation and not procrastination).  It’ll remain Diamond Crier for now, just for reference’s sake but by query it’ll have a title that more accurately depicts the story.

I’m thinking ‘Ugly Orange Dress.’  For now, anyway.  See, in the Diamond Crier world, they have a week-long festival called Western Wane that celebrates, for simplicity’s sake, the autumnal equinox.  It’s the end of the harvest, the sun becoming less and less present in the sky, the brightness of the western sky dwindles quicker . . . and so on.  During the public festivities there’s a particular method of dress that’s meant to mimic the setting sun.  No, not waning clothing!  The women wear full dresses in their sunset shade of choice while men wear matching vests, cumber buns, ties and other standout accessories.

If you haven’t checked out a sunset recently, these aren’t exactly subtle colors.  They’re very vibrant and very pretty up in the sky.  I’ll even say that I do like to wear orange and yellow tops.  The shirt I’m wearing right now could be deemed fluorescent salmon.  I like bright colors, especially in the summer.  But only in shirts.  Anything more and it’s a little much.  The women wear dresses that are head to toe vibrant, rich, single color pieces that while represent a sunset symbolically, look rather . . . ick on the person.  Well, most of them anyway.  They have choices of yellow, orange, deep red and violet (the latter two for the dark end of the set).  Before Sabina got to the Giver’s castle, her mother dressed her in yellow to “match” her hair.  Once she got to the castle it was a rich, pumpkin color orange.  Can you imagine that in a whole dress???

The thing is, that’s the point.  They’re not fashion statements (unless you’re of a much higher class).  It’s a symbolic ritual.

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