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The Power of Color in
Writing
By Jake Rose
Color is one of the greatest set of adjectives to use in
writing. Why? Most people that read can see color. It is a part
of their world. It amplifies imagery and allows a scene or story
to transcend its physical, literature status and become almost
reality to the reader.
Most people use color in their writing. It helps greatly.
But not everyone may understand or think of the different ways
to use color. People might be stuck choosing the same adjective
over and over again. This can dull a piece of writing. Not even
thesauruses can tell someone what to choose for their imagery.
The simplest way is to put a color to an item. A red apple,
a black cat, a blue fish, etc. These all create a more specific
and detailed vision to the reader. But they are very common and
simple adjectives. There is more than just red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, purple, brown, white and black. There is a whole
spectrum of thousands of colors. Having a wider vocabulary when
you want to be specific can not only help the reader's vision
and the story's imagery, but it also increases the chances that
the reader won't get bored as quickly.
Here
is just a small look at possible choices in color:
Red,
burgundy, carmine, cerise, cherry, crimson, fuchsia, maroon, magenta,
ruby, sanguine, scarlet, vermilion...
Orange,
auburn, carroty, chestnut, coral, ginger, peach, tangerine...
Yellow,
amber, bisque, blond, flaxen, golden, ivory, lemon, ochre, saffron,
tawny...
Green,
chartreuse, emerald, forest, jade, lime, mint, moss, olive, pine,
sage, verdant, verdigris, viridian, willow...
Blue,
azure, beryl, cerulean, cobalt, indigo, navy, royal, sapphire,
teal, turquoise, ultramarine...
Purple,
amethyst, heliotrope, lavender, lilac, mauve, mulberry, orchid,
plum, violet, wine...
White,
alabaster, ashen, pearly, gray, silver, smoky, stone, black, charcoal,
ebony, obsidian, onyx, sable...
There is more than just picking a color though. There is
comparison. You can use another well known object and its color
to help strengthen the imagery. For example:
The leaves were red and oranges. vs.
The leaves were colors of flickering fire.
The shirt was pink. vs. The
shirt was pink like fresh rose petals.
The wine was purple. vs. The
wine swirled with colors of amethysts and plums.
Both ways can be very effective. It's all about emphasizing
certain things with important detail. You don't need to tell the
reader what color everything is. But being able to effective paint
a picture of words with color makes the reading clearer and more
enjoyable.
Don't be afraid to take chances. Try new things when describing
detail. During editing or reviews from others you can decide if
it is not enough or too much, or hopefully just right. Things
may sound overdone at first or awkward, but they can be fixed
easily. The important thing is to have fun. The piece will speak
for itself once you really get into it. Just go with the flow
and enjoy creating interesting and unique imagery with colors.
About the author:
Jake Rose is an artist and an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Writers.
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