June 28, 2019
Colors in Writing: How To Use Them in Your Novel
Vision is one of our most important senses. We use our eyes to interact with much of the world around us. Unsurprisingly, colors reveal a vast universe of beauty and meaning. Why should they be absent from your fiction? Colors in writing are far more important than many authors give them credit for.
Since colors are so important in our everyday life, it’s only natural that we respond to them in fiction, too—ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς; Eos rhododactylos, rosy-fingered Dawn, says Homer.
My personal favorite from modern English literature is a description in Pamela Zoline’s “The Heat Death of the Universe”, referring to a land that, like California(!) is “Cunt Pink and Avocado Green”.
Learning how to use colors in your writing can add significant depth to your fiction. So, let’s get started!
Colors in Writing: A Bit of Psychology
It’s not any grand secret that colors affect our mood. For example, red can make you feel energetic whereas blue can calm you down.
We also connect colors with particular emotions. For example we associate red with passion, and green with envy. The reasons can vary, and they are beyond the immediate scope of this post.
Briefly, and for our purposes, you could divide these reasons into natural and constructed. To associate red with passion or anger is mostly a natural reason, because of physiological responses: When we are passionate or angry, our blood flows faster, which makes our faces redder.
Conversely, other reasons are mostly constructed. There is no natural reason to associate green with envy – we don’t turn green when we’re envious!
Notice the use of the word “mostly” in both cases. Things are rarely black-or-white (!) when it comes to the reasons behind such color associations. We don’t always become redder when we feel angry. And in ancient Greek, “green” as well as “pale” were used to indicate someone was sick. Therefore, becoming green with envy means you become physically sick.
The crux of the matter – and why it’s important for learning how to use colors in writing – is to be aware of the social and cultural connections between colors and feelings. Note the word “cultural”. The same color can have very different connotations in different cultural contexts – for instance, the traditional color of mourning in China is white, not black.
In Which Ways Can You Deploy Colors in Your Writing?
The basic function of a color in fiction is to convey the feelings usually associated with it. So, on the top level, you can use colors in your writing to stir a certain emotion in the reader.
Stirring Emotions
This is something you can do either directly (using a simile) or indirectly (using more abstract symbolism). Let’s see both cases with examples.
Case A
“You are insane!” Mary shouted, her face red like fire.
This is really very simple. We do that all the time, without even thinking much about it.
Case B
Mary looked at John, her lips twitching, her eyes blinking furiously. The man’s red shirt filled her vision, it was all she could see.
Here the usage is more subtle. As readers we still get the idea, but it’s more nuanced. This makes us work harder for finding the meaning, but it’s also more rewarding.
The real fun begins once you depart from easy associations. Consider the following example:
Case C
Mary looked at John, her lips twitching, her eyes blinking furiously. The man’s blue shirt was all she could see.
What we have here is a conflict. Of course there is no context in this imaginary example, but we can assume the preceding text is consistent with John having done something to upset Mary.
But what does this conflicting coexistence of colors do? In other words, how does using colors this way in your writing help you?
Creating a Destabilizing Effect
The way conflicting colors work in fiction is that they destabilize the narrative – that is, in a creative way, like using defamiliarization.
The reader is effectively manipulated into believing that the core emotion experienced by Mary is anger. However, the way color is used in Case C creates a destabilizing effect, much like skillful juxtaposition can do the same.
If Mary sees blue, is she still angry? Is she sad, perhaps? Or will the color of John’s shirt be enough to keep her quiet about whatever bothers her? The choice is with the author, who can use colors in her/his writing to convey whatever effect s/he has in mind.
But there is more. What if there is more than one color present?
Multiple Colors in Writing
An advanced usage of the strategy described above – that is, using colors in a conflicting way – is to combine colors that are contradictory.
Case D
Mary looked at John, her lips twitching, her eyes blinking furiously. The man’s red-and-blue shirt was all she could see
Uh-oh. Now what? Is Mary getting angrier or calmer? Is she angry and sad, perhaps? Again, the options are endless. It all depends on the writer, and whether s/he’d like to steer the reader in certain directions – either in terms of plot or of emotions; either towards or away from a certain interpretation.
Indeed, we could even come up with whole concepts – I did so with Pink Gothic – to refer to the way conflicting colors can create an affective response as a result of their combination.
Color Wheels and Harmony
This is something graphic designers or photographers might be familiar with. But writers can take advantage of the same theory, too.
To put it as simply as possible, certain color combinations are considered harmonious, that is, they produce particularly pleasing effects. Here’s a quick example:
All you have to do to exploit this as a writer, is to put harmonious colors in the readers’ minds to make them feel comfortable and content, or not-so-harmonious ones to make them feel uncomfortable.
Besides the basic examples mentioned above, feel free to use an online color wheel to discover similar and other combinations.
Colors Are Tools, but You Are the Master
The trick in learning how to use colors in your writing lies in realizing that colors are just another gadget in your toolbox.
A tool by itself can help anyone do some basic things, but it’s mostly up to the craftsmanship, skills, and creativity of the wordsmith to deploy the tool so that it’s more than just a blunt instrument.
One Comment
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I use colors implicitly – as part of the visual stimulation. My template includes a section on using all your senses, so I stop and consider each, and pick something that feels vivid and new.
I’ll remember to consider color explicitly.