In this article of Writers 101 we will be discussing COLORS! Everyone loves colors, they are pretty and cool! Well did you know that when it comes to writing, there are many ways to use them? From overusing to underusing colors in writing skin tones, clothes and character appearances and everything in between! In this article you will know the different ways to use colors in your story!

Boring or not Boring that is the Question!

When writing a story and you wanna include colors what's the first thing that comes to mind? Words like red, blue, green and so on. These are good but consider the tips below to make them better. When it comes down to writing colors in a story you might want to go with simple options. While that's fine and can totally work to enhance your story it can also sometimes get a bit boring.

Here are some fun ways you can make your colors in writing not so boring:

• Research different words for colors! There are so many cool websites and sources to find some cool names for colors. Consider naming specific shades and include in your writing.

• Figure out which color suits the scene best. If you're describing a sunset you might want to use something like pastel orange for example. Of course this will fall into your opinions on what colors suit what scene best!

• Symbolism!

• Setting the mood with colors

When it comes down to keeping a scene interesting with color it's super important to make sure you do it well. You can do this in a variety of different ways such as using symbolism (which we will get into later), color theory, and of course setting the mood with color! You can do this by making the setting a certain color like black skies for the night or sunsets and sunrises. You can even use colors to describe the time of day that can help make it interesting!

You can also use colors for describing things like candlelight to make the mood feel more romantic (If writing romance is your thing). Using colors to describe things around the characters can make the scene feel happy, sad, terrifying and so on! You can even use colors to describe blood or injuries to make a high-tension scene hit just a little harder.

It's About Having Balance

Now as we have discussed so far there are lots of different words for colors. After all that you'd think that you should use fancy words instead of bigger broader words right? Well... that's not always true! When it comes down to writing colors in stories you can use simple words as well as fancy colors.

Using both in balance can keep the story from sounding boring. When describing color but also helps the reader understand what you mean when writing a certain color. If you use a color that's barely used you might confuse the reader!

Sometimes it doesn't hurt to use simple colors like red, blue, yellow and so on. But at the same time, it doesn't hurt to use maroon or teal once in a while to spruce up the writing. You have to find the balance because just as with all words color words can get overused.

When writing, it is important to find balance in all things so you can consider it like a scale! Use that method next time you write colors or even just writing in general when you are using a lot of fancy and simple words!

Describing People in Colors!

A lot of you might think that the best way to describe people's skin tone might be food right? Well that's not true! You might have seen in books people might describe someone's skin tone with words like coffee or chocolate right? Doing this can and has upset people and is something you definitely want to avoid when writing. There are other ways that you can write about people's skin color instead of using food. Here are a few different words you can use instead.
• Light
• Pale
• Dark
• Deep
• Umber

Of course you can also use simple colors such as brown, black, and white! These are simple options that can and do work instead of using food. Another fun example is the color of a person's undertone. You might think of undertones when you think of makeup, right? Well you can use that same mindset in writing!

Here are a few examples:
• Cool
• Warm
• Tan
• Bronze
• Olive
• Pink

And all these options work just fine! You can use these instead of food so you can not only expand your horizons with writing colors. But you can also not hurt others' feelings when writing people , especially people of color!

Pst! Also, check out the comments on resources to write about PoC. If you know of any cool platforms on PoC writing, help us out by sharing in the comments! I'm sure many readers here would greatly appreciate it 🖤

Color Theory Fun!

Now you all have heard of color theory, right? Especially artists! You can use color theory in your writing as well! Did you know that different colors have different meanings? Now you know! In fact, a lot of authors play around with color theory all the time!

When using color theory you can use it in a large number of ways. From using it in a character's clothes to hint at their personality, to using it to describe emotions, and even using it to set the mood! All of these are ways that you can use color theory in your writing.

My favorite example is using it in a character design. I use it alot to hint at a character's personality. For example, a character dressed in red. You can just have it be that but you can play around a little more like let's say this character has a fiery headstrong personality! The red can symbolize that! Isn't that amazing? Another example is purple is known to be a regal color and you can have characters who wear purple be the same! There are lots of different meanings for colors so you just have to find what fits you best! It's so much fun to play around with colors and symbolism. I am sure all you writers out there will have lots of fun with it!

The Right Way To Use Color

Now that we delved into some of the ways to use color lets mash it all up and actually show you how! The first thing to consider is if the scene needs to use color whether to set the mood or add some symbolism, Remember not every scene needs color some can be just fine without it! Next, consider what color to use in a scene. There are some times where it is fine to use simple color words and other times when you should spice it up! Here are a few examples.

• "Her eyes shone a shade of emerald in the Sun, that was another thing about her he hadn't noticed before" In this segment it would be better to use emerald rather than just green and hazel (although both could be used). That is because it is showing how impactful the eye color is to the character as it is a new discovery. This will be particularly useful if you have used hazel or green previously to describe your character's eye color.

• "Ashley is wearing a nice pink shirt" In this segment we used a more simple color to describe the shirt. This is because it is a detail that doesn't fully matter and so you can use a more simple color when writing. Remember that you can use simple color words when need be like when a fancy color isn't needed.

• "The golden flames of candle light flickered as the woman sharpened her blade" This segment is an example of how color can set the mood. You can tell something intense is going on and visualize the scene much better.

• "The wine that splashed on her pristine white top made her see red" Here, the red doesn't literally mean the color red but is used to convey emotions. Red symbolizes anger here. It isn't necessary that colors are always used to describe something or set mood. Instead of directly showing emotions, colors can be used too!
Knowing all these, it's important to remember that they can be overused. As said you should only use color when the scene needs it. Putting it in places where a scene doesn't need can make the scene feel wonky and out of place. You want to make sure a scene actually NEEDS color before adding it. Here are a few examples of when a scene needs color and when it doesn't.

• "Walking through the garden she saw all types of flowers black, maroon, white, lavender, and more" This scene obviously needs to have color when describing the flowers.

• "Letting out a scream the man rushed to his wife's side seeing her struck with a sword" Now this scene doesn't need color as it is more focused on the man and his wife as well as the man's reaction.

• "Her body was covered with red as she stared at him with fear and agony." What do you think about this sentence? Does it sound wonky? This sentence will be good if you replace "red" with "blood".

With this in mind you can rewrite scenes if you want them to include color but we only suggest this when it's absolutely needed to make the scene interesting. Sometimes a scene might not need color to enhance it but need other things like emotion and other sensory details.

Colors And Their Significance!

Here are some examples of what each color can signify when they are used in your writing:

• Red - Anger, hate, madness, passion, headstrong, boldness

• Yellow - Enthusiasm, friendship, happiness

• Green - health, money, luck, and rejuvenation

• Blue - Sadness, Distant, Cold, Calmness, stability

• Black - Sophistication, Power, Mystery, Unhappiness, Boldness

• Purple - Elegance, Wisdom, Creativity, Royalty, Luxury, Magic, Extravagance

• White - Innocence, Naiveness, emptiness, simplicity, blankness, minimalism

• Brown - down-to-the-earth, familiarity, security, strength, isolation.

At the same time, it is important to note that all shades of one color do not symbolize the same thing. Yellow would not symbolize what gold would or what Vermillion would. This might seem complicated at the start, finding out what each shade of color symbolizes but after a while, you get the hang of it and believe me, it's so worth it to see the end result.

Now that you all know some fun ways to use colors and how to do it practically in your writing, go have fun! And enjoy all the wonders colors have to offer! Use the tools this article gave you and let your imagination run wild!