Eye Color

There's a big discussion going on at faith*in*fiction about how eye color relates to fiction and the ratio of odd eye colors to romance novels. Personally, character descriptions that go on for paragraphs have always bored me. I prefer quick, vivid sentences that add a bit of insight into the person's character; either the person being described or the POV narrator.

Colors are vivid, so I use them for my characters. But I don't like weakening them with adjectives beyond the necessary light or dark or deep. While hair color is obvious, it means something more when one person notices another's eye color. It can be an early indication of romantic interest, or simply that one character sees someone as more than just their job or position.

I don't like using odd colors, though. I've never met someone (unless I didn't notice their eye color) with violet, orange, or black eyes, so I don't use those colors in my writing. (Though I must admit to wishing I had violet eyes at times - I love that color!) Since contacts are so common, artificial eye colors might make a neat twist (like in Dekker's Thunder of Heaven).

A great book that will be coming out next year - The Lazarus Trap by Davis Bunn. If you haven't yet, you should read his Elixir. You'll find a link to my review of it on the right, and later on there'll be one for The Lazarus Trap, too. I can't tell you much about the latter right now (since I still need to review it), but if you like suspense/action adventure, try out Davis Bunn.