I got quite a few responses on my question about using color in fiction. Black and Red, or as Erik said, "Noir" and "Rouge," were popular colors. I was a bit surprised to see that gray was quite popular, although it makes sense after discussions by H.E. and Wayne. By the way, gray and grey are two different colors to me, or at least different shades. I use grey, with an "e" for the darker shades, where there's more black than white in the mix, and gray with an "a" for when there is more white than black.
Kate S admitted that pink was not uncommon in her romance work, so maybe there's some truth to that old saw, but Sheila posted about how she uses shades of light as descriptors. That might be another item worthy of consideration. Stewart mentioned color as an element of theme, and described Bradbury's excellent use of that technique, and Sid brought up weather as a plot element and descriptor. All in all, a very nice discussion, and I may particularly want to explore the idea of light as a descriptor and of weather in plot a bit more. But now I think it's lunch time. I'm gonna have something...red.
Just did a quick check on POISON DOOR, because you got me thinking.
ReplyDelete'Toxic green' and variants thereof show up a fair bit towards the end, but my number one color choice isn't a color at all.
The villain (one Tommy Knowles) is described as 'pale', 'colorless', 'waxy', 'almost transparent' and 'the color of a poisonous mushroom'.
Off white, maybe?
Great topic!
Thanks for the link, Charles. :) You've really got me started on this color thing. I've just realized that I also use bright blue (and glittering blue) a lot in works that feature young adults or children. Maybe because it's my daughter's favorite color? If so, it was a subconscious choice, but I think that's probably the reason because I associate that color (and the glitter) with her.
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with Steve--great topic!
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ReplyDeleteYou've definitely got me thinking about color too and I will be paying more attention to what I do with it. Stewart's comments on Something Wicked This Way Comes are very insightful and I'm going to be thumbing through that book to peruse those points.
ReplyDeleteI think I use more black than anything, since most of what I write is horror. And with horror there has to be at least a little red splashed in there somewhere, right? Look kinda funny with aqua, son't you think? :-)
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