Black and White

By Mark W. Danielson

If darkness is the absence of color, white is complete color, and a rainbow is the breakdown of color, then what we see in life is everything in between. Some people refer to this as the gray area, but that definition is more rhetorical than factual. Still, it is the gray area that writers must illuminate.

Many years ago, one particularly good art teacher pointed out that there is no black in life, unless one was referring to complete darkness. Shading is created by removing color. A setting sun does this until all definition is gone. To the artist, shading is accomplished by using darker versions of the original color. The sharpness of a line depends on the distance in which it’s viewed. The same holds true for a color’s boldness.

Applying this principle to writing, backgrounds are normally a glimmer of the foreground, yet just like a painting, neither is effective if they don’t compliment each other.

Artists and writers are visual people who see things that others gloss over. But problems arise when inexperienced writers overstate. There is no reason to use paragraphs and pages to describe a setting. In most cases, less is more. Adjectives can be a detriment. Well chosen words allow the reader to create their own version of the scene.

Writing encompasses one other element that paintings cannot. A scene cannot be complete without sound. In Michael Crichton’s Timeline, one of his most powerful scenes is the absence of sound after his protagonist traveled back in time. There are no planes, trains, or automobile background noise, and suddenly, the sound of racing hoofs grows louder. Whether it’s a trickle of rain on the roof or a vehicle’s exhaust, adding sound to your setting is critical.

Readers are conditioned to think of black and white in terms of race, but even there, skin color is an interpretation that is oversimplified by stereotypes. The whitest albino still has tone, as does the blackest black. A Native American is hardly red, nor are Japanese yellow. With this in mind, you are probably better off addressing a character’s physical features than labeling them in a particular category.

Our world is full of color, and it’s a writer’s responsibility to ensure their readers share it. Keep it simple and appropriate to the scene and everything will come together.

Japanese Manners

By Mark W. Danielson


Manners seem to be a thing of the past. It would appear that the crazier our world gets, the less we “mind our manners.” Thankfully, there is a place where politeness is still emphasized, and that’s in the Land of the Rising Sun. Yes, Japan has been passing on its good manners from generation to generation, and while a few bad apples may slip through the cracks, as a whole, you won’t find a more courteous group of people.

Everything about the Japanese is tidy and polite. Their taxi drivers, who polish their cars when they’re not in service, dress in suits, wear white gloves, place white protectors on their seats, greet you, and politely deliver you to your hotel. Your hotel staff politely greets you in colorful, polite uniforms, provide a polite check-in, and en route to your room, frequently receive a polite greeting from one of the housekeeping staff. When entering a Japanese restaurant, you are treated as a guest by a polite waiter who serves you your polite meal. School kids dressed in nicely pressed uniforms smile and carry on polite conversations as they walk the streets. Police officers politely wave at traffic to ensure order. Traffic blends without blaring horns because their drivers are polite. In fact, they are so polite, they stop for pedestrians. Even Japan’s rice fields create a sense of order. So while other countries may also be polite, Japan sets the bar when it comes to manners.

Why is that? Because in this island country, nearly every resident is Japanese, and it’s much easier to be polite when you don’t have contrasting cultures and ethnic groups. But Japan’s politeness also stems from their national pride, and while they got a bit carried away with it sixty seven years ago, they managed to rebuild their country, turning it into a global economic power, and still dominate the world with new inventions. That’s the kind of national pride I’m referring to. Needless to say, Japan has come a long way since exporting cheap plastic products.

My point is that we can all learn something from the Japanese. We can take ourselves a little less seriously. We can replace the garbage our television stations are broadcasting with silly Japanese-style game shows where laughing at ourselves is entertaining. We can be grateful for what we have rather than always expecting more. We can give more love to our family and friends. And finally, we can smile and laugh a lot more. After all, smiles are acceptably contagious.