| I wrote this in roughly a week. It was a new style for me, having to tell a story through poems, and very difficult. Most all of the events and feelings and dialogue in "The Colors of Romance" actually happened. (Metaphorically if not literally, naturally I was never in Vietnam.) Writing it that way, using personal experience and disguising and melding it with fiction made it much easier, and I hope counterbalanced the contrived way it was planned in with a bit of feeling. I know some people will hate Nicholas, and some will hate Violet, and some will hate both, or neither. I personally empathize with Nicholas and have a much better grasp of how we think as opposed to Violet, so in the story most everyone will probably notice that I didn't go nearly as far in depth with Violet. For all intents and purpose Nicholas is the main character, I personally feel one should always write about what one knows. I tried to be perfectly fair with all the characters, and not paint anyone as the hero or villain, because quite simply both Nicholas and Violet have they're good and bad points. I really did try to stay objective, and portray everyone as true as I could remember. Nicholas is dedicated, but obsessive, whereas Violet is balanced, yet fickle. Nicholas' pride would not let him forgive Violet, and Violet's weak will caused her to abandon Nicholas like a sinking ship. The story is as real as I could make it, paralleling many of the events that actually happened to me. The rest of it is fiction, and abstract truths. My own personal "Violet", whom this one was patterned after, was given the benefit of the doubt through out the story. However people are not always what they seem to be, and I found out later on that I really had painted her in a more dignified light in this story, which I will keep since that is the way she seemed, at least at the time. After this was written I learned that she had left "Scott", cheated on him, was in turn cheated on by this new fellow, and went straight back to him. Today they are not on speaking terms, because of her continuing inability to be faithful. Not precisely as I predicted in the story, but reasonably close enough, and as I said, far less dignified. There was no second meeting at the sea, but I suppose that would have been just too gratifying to believe. I knew though...I sensed it, coming in the future, this reversal of fortunes, and the last few poems could almost be called prophecy, since I wrote them in ignorance of the events in her life, and only found out later the same way Nicholas did. I just wanted to find a similar experience that could parallel the freedom I felt, and "The Rebirth of Romance" was the perfect way. Many people might not have made the decision Nicholas made at the end. And it can be either perceived as a happy ending, or a tragic one. Nicholas was just being true to himself, whether he was right or wrong is for the reader to determine. This series is dedicated to Rainy and Trowa, two other poets who convinced me I had the talent to actually go through with this and write it. June 5, 2000 |