Words to Describe Colors

​If you’re currently writing a book, then you’ll inevitably come across areas where you need to describe the color of something, whether it's a character’s eyes, outfit, lips, hair, etc. Maybe you even need to come up with a new way to describe the night’s sky when your character is under duress (one of my favorites for that particular scenario is expressing the sky as bruise-colored).

It’s easy to write the first draft and not worry about diving into the details of colors, such as picking a better word for a specific tone/shade/hue. But sometimes, picking descriptions can help you (and the reader when the time comes) get a better feel for your character’s appearance or mood or role. Does your hero have wintery blue eyes? Are the villain’s stormy eyes colder and more distant? Those might be simple ways to describe eyes, but hopefully you catch my drift.
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To help, here is a List of Words to Describe Colors. And here’s another list of 204 Words that Describe Colours. These lists will help you, but by no means do they exhaust the possibilities. I challenge you to spend an hour(s) in nature and take the time to jot down various items that can describe particular colors of reds, blues, greens, golds, grays, etc. Then, use them the next time you’re working on your book.

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Author

Dawn Husted progressed into offering her editorial services to clients in 2016, eventually opening Yaupon Berry Press LLC. She is the author of five books and has spent ten years in the writing industry. She’s a member of SCBWI and is represented by Tabatha Pope from SBR Media.  ​