Lately I’ve read some riveting, incredible books that I really enjoyed except … the main character had “silver eyes.” Silver eyes? Unless it’s a fantasy book, I’m expecting people’s eyes to be real colors. Human colors.
I have silver keys, a silver toaster, silver glitter, silver tinsel, silver jewelry, silver silverware … but I’ve never seen silver eyes. Or gold eyes (I have gold keys, gold jewelry, gold picture frames, etc.) Silver and gold are sparkly, shimmery metals that I see every day. But never as eyes.
Whenever the character with “silver eyes” looks at me, I abruptly envision a robot. It’s hard to get past that visual. It also doesn’t tell me what is going on inside the person.
Remember: “Eyes are the windows to the soul.”
It doesn’t matter what color a character’s eyes is. Just pick a (legitimate) color. Then don’t comment on the eye color all the time—two or three mentions is all we need.
What matters to us is the expressions in those eyes. We want to see our character’s eyes glistening, narrowing, widening, glaring, staring, winking, twinkling … and we eagerly interpret the person’s thoughts and emotions.
Savvy Writer Tip:
The color of someone’s eyes is insignificant. Describing expressions is how you mesmerize us with eyes. 🙂
Edits by Lora 