Ah, got your attention. The title actually refers to choices--ones that Cinderella makes and ones that the story writer makes for her. I was Internet shopping for a ballgown to wear to this year's Romantic Times convention. I found one I loved, which reminded me of Cinderella. It comes in four colors, and each color created a different Cinderella personality in my mind.
Pink Cinderella would be young, innocent, virginal. Under her dress might be long white stockings with a pretty, flowered garter. She'd definitely wear underwear and a bra. She would behave at the ball. No corner gropings for her, no clandestine rendezvouses. Pink Cinderella is a delight, a carefree spirit who laughs easily.
Red Cinderella is a vixen. She is assertive, and sometimes aggressive. Under her dress is a man's delight, and hers, too, if she wants to get frisky and even lucky during the ball. She is willing to risk, she lives life fully and wants to experience it all, even the dark side. She wears red to flaunt convention, demand attention, yet can use the bold color as armor to ward off suitors if she so chooses. She might have a condom tucked in her garter belt because she has to protect herself, including her heart.
Blue Cinderella is an enigma, a conundrum. That bold color draws attention to her, yet it's not completely unconventional like red. Blue wants to stand out from the ordinary. She's a deep one, hiding disappointments and hurts that have molded who she is. Equidistant between Pink and Red, she may seem extroverted one moment, yet shy the next. She has painted toenails under that dress--probably red--because even thought she's part tomboy, the color makes her feel feminine.
Some of the other dresses I looked at had cream-colored choices. Cream Cinderella doesn't take risks. She wants the house in the suburbs with 2.5 kids. She's like a thousand other pretty women on the red carpet who've let convention dictate their actions, who've let someone else's ideal dress them. She doesn't realize another shade would work with her skin tone to make her beauty shine and make people gasp with wonder. She'll marry an average man and live an average life. She'll be happy, but readers won't want to read her story.
Readers will want Pink Cinderella to have a Chinese throwing star strapped to her thigh or to decide on a trip to a Fifty Shades kind of experience. Or maybe Pink is a police detective in disguise.
Readers will want Red Cinderella to have robbed the villain's bank to reclaim the orphanage's stolen money on the way to the ball. She'll fall for the hunky lawman who arrives to arrest her. Or she's really a Pink taking a walk on the wild side.
Lest we not forget Blue Cinderella, readers will want her to overcome her past hurts, to walk through fire into the arms of a man her equal, a man dressed in navy or white to complement her blue. Because blue needs a true partner, just as Red and Pink do, in order to achieve her feminine potential.
What color will Cinderella choose to wear, and what will be under her dress? Characters are masquerading and it's for the reader's enjoyment to uncover the truth.
Shay Lacy writes erotic romance, futuristic romance and romantic suspense. Her next release, Touchpoint, from Crimson Romance, is due out March 11th.
13 comments:
What an awesome post -- and comparison, Shay. I find all three Cinderellas interesting, but I think I want to know what's really going on under that red dress. I wonder if it's not a mask she wears for the world.
I wanted to buy the red...and it would be a mask for me. You're right.
Excellent post. This reminds me of a time when I worked at a radio station. One salesman came into the copy room (I wrote radio spots then). He asked the women in the office what color undies they were wearing. All sexy colors were mentioned. When I was asked I said, I'm not wearing any." Their mouths dropped. I chose not to tell them I was wearing pantyhose...the optional word being 'panty'. he he
My mother does color analysis, and I've been brainwashed into thinking you wear the colors that make you look best. I say the pink princess doesn't necessarily HAVE to be innocent. She just knows that red will take all the color out of her face.
Em: you devil! LOL
Susana: I have got to meet your mother. In her bonnet, of course.
Love this post. Can't wait to see which Cinderella you choose to read yourself as.
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