Week 5 Story: A Colorful World
The creator touched pen to paper, and the earth sprang forth upon his canvas, dividing into rocks and sea and air by the black line of ink as he traced upon its face. A tiny dot within the sea became two, and two tiny dots became four, and four tiny dots multiplied into millions on the canvas before him, filling the earth's surface. They swarmed with life, and the creator smiled. But something was missing, and he chose a different color. He painted green into them, and they breathed. An atmosphere bloomed around them, nurturing their changing children as they grew in complexity and size. Their world exploded with living, breathing color, and the creator was pleased with his work.
He rested, and hung the globe in the corner of his workshop.
The colors started disappearing in his absence. Blues and greens faded from the earth, revealing vast stretches of land tinted shades of sepia and bone. Panic spread among the children of dots while blame flowed freely, and the world believed death was imminent.
The creator returned, and realized his composition was now unbalanced. With a weary sigh he picked up the turpentine, and began to rinse the colors and lines away.
I will use all the colors next time, he decided.
Author's note
I loved the image of Allah (or any creator god) actually drawing the world into existence, and the idea of a creator's workshop, stocked with every element, color, and chemical is so much fun to think about. The transition of earth's atmosphere to an oxygen environment, powered by the development of chlorophyll in bacteria, seemed like a fun way to introduce both green (as a pigment) and the development of life speeding up in early times. Also, the flood is so dominant in every early culture's myths, why not make it a turpentine bath? That stuff gets rid of nearly everything!
He rested, and hung the globe in the corner of his workshop.
The colors started disappearing in his absence. Blues and greens faded from the earth, revealing vast stretches of land tinted shades of sepia and bone. Panic spread among the children of dots while blame flowed freely, and the world believed death was imminent.
The creator returned, and realized his composition was now unbalanced. With a weary sigh he picked up the turpentine, and began to rinse the colors and lines away.
I will use all the colors next time, he decided.
Author's note
I loved the image of Allah (or any creator god) actually drawing the world into existence, and the idea of a creator's workshop, stocked with every element, color, and chemical is so much fun to think about. The transition of earth's atmosphere to an oxygen environment, powered by the development of chlorophyll in bacteria, seemed like a fun way to introduce both green (as a pigment) and the development of life speeding up in early times. Also, the flood is so dominant in every early culture's myths, why not make it a turpentine bath? That stuff gets rid of nearly everything!
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Hi Laura!
ReplyDeleteI love the concept behind this story! I think it’s really beautiful, and it’s clever that the turpentine bath represents the flood. The picture you found to represent the story is beautiful, and while I know it probably wasn’t intentional, it’s really cool that the background of your blog is black because it makes it easy to image the life and color springing up from nothing but darkness.
What specific creatures did the creator paint? I would love to see more detail during the initial creation of the creator painting fish, plants, animals, and maybe even people. I also would really be interested in seeing a little more of the story as the creator repaints the earth.
Your writing is great, and I think you could really elevate the story by expanding your use of color. I adore the line about “tinted shades of sepia and bone” and would love more use of specific colors throughout the piece.
Keep up the good work!
Laura, I absolutely loved the imagery of this story, as the constant action by the creator keeps the readers engaged. I wonder what the story would look like if the creator realized his importance in creating order within all of the chaos that is happening on earth. One suggestion I have would be showing him creating elements in nature and having specific reasoning for why he did it. For example, to counteract the shades of sepia and bone that you mentioned, you could say that he painted a river into that area, leading to a growth of green and other colors. You could also say why he created ice caps at the north and the south poles of the earth or volcanos! These are all just suggestions to create even more action in this super capturing story that you have written. One question that I have is what will the creator gain from using all colors the next time that he paints and why did he not use all of the colors the first time around?
ReplyDeleteWow, I love this. I never heard of this creation story before, and I really enjoy it. Your adaptation is great, and I love the imagery. You did a great job of describing the drawing of the world in such a way that the nature of what you're describing comes across. Rocks separating with the line of a pen, the dots becoming the ocean, layering green on top of the blue. Lines are hard, rocks are hard; the earth kiind of floats and shifts on the ocean--excellent.
ReplyDeleteI am a little confused about the world fading to sepia, why was it fading? Maybe to understand I need to read the original. But the ending was a real mic drop for me. The way that he just pours turpentine over the whole thing. Is it meant to symbolize the flood? I know this may not be a totally comparable version of other creation story traditions, but it kind of keeps with the flood theme of "starting over."
Great job!
Hi Laura! I think your story is very unique and such a great way to incorporate the image of Allah painting the world into existence! If I were to give any suggestions, it would be to add more details to your story! I also love the picture you chose for this story. It is really beautiful! I look forward to reading more!
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