The Feeling of Color by Darlene Beck Jacobson

 I don't know about you, but thus time of year...in the Northeast where I live, the landscape tends to various shades of grey, dull green, and brown. I crave color.

 

I welcome the flash of red or blue from a cardinal or bluejay at the bird feeder. I smile at a bright green door on an otherwise muted house. A bouquet of pink and yellow flowers makes my heart sing.

Color not only lifts my spirits, it opens up my mind to creativity. it makes me think of how we writers can metaphorically add color to our writing.

 

 

One trick is to think of color and how it makes us feel. If you're trying to flesh out the personality of a character or enrich a scene, have your character choose a favorite color and let that color determine her personality. Perhaps yellow might make her more hopeful and determined. Seeing a bright, warm, sunny solution or answer to a problem that seemed unsolvable.

Remember the feeling you got as a kid whenever you wore a certain outfit or your favorite color shirt? You just knew the day was going to be great. One of my favorite outfits was a hot pink, yellow, green, teal, and purple striped shirt (think sherbet shades) that I ALWAYS wore with polka dotted shorts of the same color palate. NO ONE could convince me that stripes and polka dots clashed (even in the early 60's when color was celebrated). I only knew that when I had that outfit on, it felt like anything was possible.

 

What makes a character choose a specific color? How can that influence his behavior throughout the story? Should color play a minor or more major roll in the story? How we answer these questions can help determine how our character develops as the story unfolds. 

Be bold. Let color enter your character's lives in new ways this year. You may be surprised at what you and your character discover.

Darlene Beck Jacobson wishes she'd taken a photo of her favorite childhood outfit for inspiration. While she surrounds herself with all kinds of color, she is always drawn to yellow in particular.