Purple and Purpose

You may already know by now my history as a writer: Knew I wanted to write when I was 8 and wrote my first story; as I grew older (and, arguably, matured), I thought I didn't have a whole book in me and was meant to write for business; when I decided to dabble in fiction again, a full story for not just one book but an entire series suddenly came to me; and Promise, Purpose and the Soul Savers Series were born. From the moment I decided to write fiction again, everything about it felt right and writing this story felt like my purpose (one of the reasons for the second book's title).

As I wrote, funny little things happened that you could call kismet or fate or whatever. For example, the story behind Alexis getting her name. The short of it is that I'd always wanted to name my daughter Alexis since I was a teen, but I ended up having three boys. We had a female dog we named Lexi, but she became sick and died at a year old. Years ago, I gave up ever having my own Alexis. When I started writing this series and decided my MC needed a name, I needed it to mean "defender" or "protector." When I went to BehindtheName.com and did a reverse look-up for names that mean those things, only one female name came up: Alexis. It still gives me chills.

Other strange events occurred that kept reinforcing the idea that I was meant to write these characters' stories. I've written about some of these in past posts. The bottom line is that I've come to believe in this story and my purpose.

I never, however, believed that I should design the covers or anything else visually related. That's just not my forte. If I had my choice, however, I would have used the purple and black color scheme, basically because I like it. Purple, which I've always known to represent nobility and royalty, does play a minor role in future books, but that didn't mean it would become the "color" of the series. But I did end up designing the covers and websites, so I went with my lavender, purple, silver and black scheme.

Then I learned something that brought back those chills of fate. On Monday, I shared several things I learned at the Miami Book Fair International. What I didn't list there is that I also learned some meanings of lavender and purple I never knew before. A lady started talking to me about the colors of our booth and my book covers. I hadn't really had a chance to tell her about my books yet, so she didn't know what they were about. And here's what she told me:

Lavender can represent major change. In my books, lavender represents the youngest daughter of the Amadis royal family. Every daughter goes through a significant physical, emotional and mental change called the Ang'dora. The Ang'dora plays a large role in both of the first books, whose covers are more on the lavender side of purple, although Purpose is darker than Promise.

Darker purple, this woman said, not only signifies nobility, royalty and wealth, but also spirituality (which I knew),  enlightenment, magic and mystery...and it is a matriarchal color. In my books, the matriarch of the Amadis is represented by a darker, deeper purple. She is also the most enlightened, has the closest connection to the Otherworld and, therefore, to enlightenment and magic.

Of course, I came home and hopped online to verify this woman's explanations. And, yes, I did confirm it all on several sites. I couldn't find where lavender specifically means change, but purple in general does represent transformation in a variety of cultures and religions. I also found that in some cultures, it speaks of faith, patience and trust and it is the color of the Crown Chakra, connecting one with infinite consciousness. These are all very important elements in my stories.

So another thing I learned in Miami is that my book covers are more symbolic than I ever realized. Sure glad it all fits. I would have been devastated to find out purple really meant evil or demonic. Gads! I'd have to change everything!

What about you? Ever have weird little things like this happen that told you you're meant to write your stories? Or do you think I'm just reading way too much into things for myself? (Which I don't care because it works for me. lol)