What is Colour?
In a society where conformity has erased all colour, a veteran Transporter conspires with a young, idealistic decorator to overthrow the oppressive rules. They smuggle a disgraced Examiner into the isolated valley of Wetledale to expose the leadership's hypocrisy.
When their plan is thwarted by political forces, they embark on a final, desperate mission to deliver a cloth of reality-altering colour to a neighbouring land, hoping to spark a revolution that will change their world forever.
100,000
Adult & Teen
Themes Explored in Colour
- Truth, Perception, and Deception
- Authority, Control, and Power Dynamics
- Individual Agency vs. Systemic Constraints
- Journey and Escape
Synopsis
Beyond the Last Mountains, In the stark, colour-drained valley of Wetledale, the dominance of the monochrome cabinet-making industry has stifled all other trades. A Transporter, his livelihood ruined by the new order, is drawn into a conspiracy by the pragmatic Warehouse Manager to reintroduce colour and restore the old trade routes. They arrange for a disgraced but brilliant Examiner, Jim Kirwin, to be secretly transported into Wetledale during the harsh winter, catching the powerful Cabinet Makers' Fraternity off-guard.
The plan is complicated by the machinations of the Peacekeeper, a powerful political operator who wants to control Wetledale's value and stop the flow of vibrant Fishwick colour that is fueling a political uprising in the neighbouring Flatlands. The Transporter's key ally becomes Helen, a young, idealistic decorator who feels an intense, suppressed connection to colour. Guided by the Transporter and her own discoveries—including a magnificent, colourful mural from Wetledale's past hidden behind panelling in Conformance Hall—Helen becomes the catalyst for change.
Aided by her pragmatic cousin Angela and the enigmatic forager Michael Fishwick, Helen obtains the secret records detailing the widespread illegal use of colour by the very leaders who enforce the rules. This act triggers a chaotic series of events, including a tense escape from Conformance Hall, a violent siege at Fishwick's cottage, and a desperate flight across a treacherous marsh. Rescued by the Transporter, who is acting on new orders from the Peacekeeper, the Examiner is brought to the Armdale warehouse. There, the Peacekeeper quashes his revolutionary findings, politically forcing him to file a tame report that preserves the status quo.
Facing defeat, Helen makes a final plea to the Transporter. Moved by her conviction and his own belief in the transformative power of colour, he agrees to help her smuggle a cloth of a powerful, shimmering Fishwick colour across the border to the Flatlands, embracing change rather than control.
Portrait of Colour
Excerpt: The Transporter in Wetledale
The Transporter arrives in the colourless valley of Wetledale having crossed The Last Mountains in the night.
The Transporter halted his cart where the track began to descend steeply into Wetledale. The mist still sat in wisps over fields that edged the river as it flowed along the valley floor. Even though the mist had nearly lifted, everything the Transporter could see beneath him remained grey, white, brown, or occasionally, the blood red of rust.
Wetledale was the most northerly of the seven valleys that made up the Seven Valleys Region. The Transporter was one of the few who could cross the mountains into Wetledale in the winter. He had crossed the Last Mountains that morning in the dark, with the wind sweeping in from the sea beyond the end of Wetledale Valley. Even at this advanced autumn time of year, a heavy cloak could not keep the cold out of his limbs.
From the Transporter's vantage point, where the track began its steep descent to the valley floor, Wetledale had undergone a significant transformation over several years. While this change may have been good for a resident of Wetledale Valley, it certainly was not good for a Transporter.
Wetledale, with its unsurpassed ability to grow trees, with its streams and rivers that drove the watermills and joineries, had evolved into the valley of cabinet makers. The exquisite cabinets made in Wetledale were highly priced and highly prized. Unlike many goods, cabinets are durable and could be transported by sea outside of the autumn and winter storm seasons. The creation of the cabinet industry transformed Wetledale from a “community of concern” at the very edge of the habitable region, to a valley that could significantly contribute to the valuable needs of the Ruling Council of the Great Southern City.
Because the Fraternity of Cabinet Makers could ship their valuable and non-perishable products by sea, the work for Transporters crossing the Last Mountains into Wetledale fell by three quarters. Only occasionally would a bespoke cabinet need transporting overland to a customer unable to wait until the quieter spring seas returned to the Wetledale coast.
The Transporter stood a while, his gaze sweeping the valley floor for any signs of change that might prove useful. A sudden gust of wind disturbed his cloak, and his thoughts shifted.
He thought, transportation is about cargo, and cargo is about the future. By observing a valley for long enough, one can discern its future. A Transporter who can glimpse that future understands precisely what cargo to transport to ensure profitable winter journeys across the Last Mountains.
I remember looking into Greydale from the edge of the fells, he thought to himself. I could see two carts hurrying down different streets towards each other. I could see a clash was imminent. I could see their future at that moment. I was the only person in the entire world who could do so.
His eyes traveled along the valley to Wetledale Town, huddled around its new canal basin. The distant canal pulled his eyes onwards to the sea gate and the unruly sea beyond it.
It is the changing colour of a valley that allows a Transporter to see the future. Every change in colour he sees from the edge of one of the seven valleys tells him that something is reducing or something is growing. These are the indications of where cargo will be required or will be produced. Know the future, and you know where value will appear; and you can be that Transporter who is there to collect it.
Wetledale, the northernmost of the seven valleys, was a landscape of muted tones, dominated by granite and limestone. However, since the Wetledale Conformance Council implemented regulations to promote the cabinet industry, even that subtle palette had vanished. For a Transporter, Wetledale offered no colour, no future. Standing at the valley's edge, as the last tendrils of morning mist dissolved from the fields, it was starkly evident that, at least to his eye, nothing had changed.
Questions and Answers
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What are the theoretical origins of Attitudinal Science?
Attitudinal Science in Colour states that the environment directly impacts on the conformance of society, its commitment to shared goals, its shared culture, its concentration on defined activities and its avoidance of proscribed activities. The rules of Attitudinal Science will consequently lead to each of the seven valleys concentrating on its most valuable commercial activities.
The Concept of Attitudinal Science was derived from Affective Events Theory (Howard Weiss and Russell Cropanzano), Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory (Frederick Herzberg), Field Theory (Kurt Lewin) and, particularly, Behaviour Setting Theory (Roger Barker).
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What is the Importance of The Last Mountains?
The Last Mountains - that separate Wetledale from the rest of the Seven Valleys in Colour - represent the barriers that can lead to subculture developing in organisations. Without continuous communication, shared goals, and reinforcement of the central culture, there is a tendency for isolated parts or regions to drift and develop a life of their own.
A direct consequence of this cultural divergence is goal displacement. This is a phenomenon where the original goals of the organization are replaced by new ones that are often more specific and relevant to the isolated division - the valley of Wetledale.
Of particular relevance in Wetledale is the “Us and Them” mentality in which isolation can foster a sense of identity separate from the main organization. This can lead to a belief that "we know what's best for us" and that the central command is out of touch. This can result in active resistance to the directives of the central state - The Seven Valleys.
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What is the significance of the Picture Behind The Panelling?
The Decorators working on Conformance Hall in Wetledale stumble across a picture, hidden behind the room panelling. The picture is a carefully painted representation of the pastures of central Wetledale, with the ambience and mood picked out in layers of transparent colour.
The Picture Behind The Panelling was the means with which the people of Wetledale had sought to create harmony and value through creating a common understanding through art rather than through conformance rules.
There is ample evidence that people see the same scene or circumstance in completely different ways.
Naïve Realism is the human tendency to believe that we see the world around us objectively and that people who disagree with us must be uninformed, irrational, or biased. It's the almost unconscious belief that "I see things as they really are". This creates a significant barrier to resolving conflict. If you believe your perception is the one true reality, you're less likely to listen to or value another person's perspective, dismissing it as flawed from the outset.
Cognitive theory revolves around Schemas. These are mental frameworks or blueprints we have in our minds about different concepts, people, and situations, built up from all our past experiences. When we encounter new information, we try to fit it into these existing schemas.
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How does the story of Colour reflect the building of layers of transparent colour in a painting?
The story of Colour is built up in layers of narrative. The story begins with the base layer of the Transporter arriving in Wetledale. The time period then shifts backwards and explains what developments in the Southern City led to the Transporter travelling to Wetledale. Then another narrative layer describes the events in Wetledale before the Transporter’s first arrival; and also before the Transporter's second arrival with the Examiner.
The Story of Colour is divided into seven parts that ensure transparency for the reader as he or she travels through these shifts in time and geography.
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What is the Significance of “Looking Down from a Height” that is so important to the Transporters?
The following theories gave rise to the Transporters' ability to “see into the future” by finding vantage points that allowed them literally to “see further”.
A chimp named Sultan was unable to reach bananas outside his cage with the sticks provided. After failing for a while, Sultan suddenly had a flash of insight: he put one stick inside the other to create a longer tool. This wasn't trial and error; it was a perceptual reorganization of the problem. He had to stop seeing two separate, useless sticks and perceive them as components of a single, effective tool. (Wolfgang Köhler)
Without a higher-level view, organizations often create "solutions" that backfire or create worse problems elsewhere in the system. The "helicopter view" is a common business term derived from this thinking. (Peter Senge - The Fifth Discipline).
Cognitive Framing in cognitive science involves actively changing your perspective on a situation to change its meaning and your emotional response to it.
Colour - by Anthony Riding
Preface
Anthony Riding has degrees in science and business management together with marketing and creativity. He has worked across Europe and in Southern China.
Situation
He pursued a career in marketing, innovation and new market development, running marketing departments and overseeing clients for marketing agencies.
Action
He has pursued creative writing as an interest since he was 10, and claims there is no more demanding audience for authentic writing than clients and company boardrooms.
Resolution
Creativity and the creative process is at the root and branch of everything that he produces. He now lives and writes within two miles of Shakespeare's Birthplace.