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Do you Write in Color?
Neat concept! No, I don't, at least not consciously, but for some reason, I was insistant that the covers for my Eyes series be blue. Looking at all the calm and peaceful words on that wheel, I have to laugh. Those books are anything but. ;)
Christina, I discovered that chart when someone in another group was asking whether they should use orange or purple on their book cover. I find it fascinating how many subconscious meaning colors have.
I don't write in color but I love the idea. I think I might in future though.
Interesting chart, but no I have never thought used colors intentionally to convey emotions. I have used colors unintentionally though. I wrote a short story about a photographer taking black and white photos. What I hadn't noticed while writing it, and didn't realize it until someone pointed it out to me was that all mention of color in the story consisted of black, white and gray. Anyway, I think I'm going to study this chart to see if it would be good to use colors more intentionally.
Hakôn, that sounds really interesting! What's fascinating to me is that everyone probably uses color references without even realizing it.
I've never used colours so consciously in my writings, but do care to choose them in some places. For example, the cover of my first book is red, the second will be gray and the third will probably be black. Checking with the scheme you linked, the colours fit well. :)
Missy wrote: "Hakôn, that sounds really interesting! What's fascinating to me is that everyone probably uses color references without even realizing it."Exactly. Most colours are connected to things in our life. Many of them in our genes. It is natural that if you want to set a scene the way you imagine and feel it, you will instinctively use some of them, unless there is something stronger to override it.
Curious though, if the color wheel is supposed to represent that the deeper center color ties to the center words or if that was just a design decision by the chart maker? Clicking the original link didn't give me any additional insight. Because dark blue meaning trust does maybe make a little sense to me. Trust was a big player in my series. Now, I'm still not sold on the concept that red and yellow are supposed to make you want fast food because it makes you think of ketchup and mustard. ;p
Mod
All of my main characters have associated themselves with a colour.
- It shows up as an accent on their armor.
- It reflects a bit in their personalities.
- It is the reason why one character is 'broken' and in the story (they couldn't pick a favourite).
- It shows up later in book two manifested as additional characters.
- It allows other characters to express subtle emotions to other characters without mentioning them by name.
- It is a spoiler for book 3 if you can break the odd colour code in book 2.
- The main character gets upset if things that should be in proper rainbow colour order are not.
- It lets me brand and market the characters.
Also, recently I am writing IN colour as well. My short stories are only eBooks. They can be in colour, literally, for the same cost as they are on a screen and not printed. Literally writing in colour now. It is great fun!
I'm absolutely aware of colors when I write. One of my characters who sees thought forms describes the colors of the various thought forms.
Missy wrote: "I found this interesting chart and blog post about color symbolism and what colors mean..."You have to be careful about things like that, they can be very ethnocentric (or cultural specific).
For example, that link's write up on White and Black sticks really close to Western ideas about those colors. White = purity, Black = death and bad things.
Yet in Japanese culture White is symbolic of death. It's traditionally worn at funerals. White carnations are a symbol of mourning.
Black in traditional Japanese culture is associated with feminine energy (both threatening and alluring), as well as with night and mystery.
Here's a more culturally inclusive link: http://www.empower-yourself-with-colo...
I've used color symbolism in some of my writing, but not in a huge way.Black for me personally, though, is not associated with evil. It's associated with transcendence, the void, the absolute, that mythical/spiritual place were duality and differentiation dissolves into unknowable oneness. In that sense, it is in fact death, but not death as a specter, but rather as joining/becoming a universal and fundamental reality where "I" and "you" have no meaning.
Every night when we're in dreamless sleep, we're in blackness. We're in that void: "I die every night."
I also like to ponder the fact that the color of an object (a non-self-luminous object) is actually that object rejecting specific color frequencies.A red shirt is not actually red. It is a shirt that absorbs all colors EXCEPT red. It rejects red. It reflects red wavelengths back to your eye.
So white is and absolute rejection of all other colors. Black loves all the color frequencies and absorbs them, reflecting back nothing (ergo we see an absence of color).
Make of that what you will. I think it's a fun perspective to contemplate.
Micah wrote: "A red shirt is not actually red."Well yeah, but tell that to the poor schmuck on the away team. ;)
Christina wrote: "Micah wrote: "A red shirt is not actually red."Well yeah, but tell that to the poor schmuck on the away team. ;)"
Oh.. I miss that like button sometimes :)
Micah wrote: "Missy wrote: "I found this interesting chart and blog post about color symbolism and what colors mean..."
You have to be careful about things like that, they can be very ethnocentric (or cultural ..."
Nice chart, Micah
You have to be careful about things like that, they can be very ethnocentric (or cultural ..."
Nice chart, Micah
I write in different colors when I am outlining a story. It makes it easier to keep track of how often each of the characters come up in a story with multiple POV.Does publishing on an ebook with a different color bring up issues if someone is colorblind or has trouble reading certain colors? Does the ebook allow the user to change the font color?
My notes are in colors (that i can see, lolz) because i have huge overarching storylines that i need to keep track of. Like for example, a teen fantasy i'm working on, there's magic weapons that get taken by various characters and i need to track who has what and which belongs to whom. It's a colorful mess, I tell ya. Why did i make 50 weapons with over 200 configurations is beyond me... @_@As for keeping track of POV, instead of having multiple word documents open, why not use ywriter? It has a POV tracker in various colors. I'm not sure if the colors can be changed, but at least you can get all your notes and such in one program instead of tabbing over a lot. There's been so many documents i had to keep doing merge checks on because i forget which notes are recent and screw them up, lolz.
as for printing in color (if you can afford it) - yes, it can cause issue with folks who are colorblind. i'm not sure if colors can appear in ebooks (even if you use html codes) but i think the newer readers can render them however, older readers (especially eink) won't be able to. I tend to embed fonts and use different (yet similar) font families to show the difference between who's speaking/devices being used if that kind of situation calls for it.
Mod
I don't even know if regular epub files do colour, I really won't think they do. The reader controls that.
but fixed layout ones are whatever you want them to be.
I only use colour as a very light background, I'm very colour blind sensitive as I know someone who is quite colour blind. he checks all my books first.
Absolutely, color is a wordless way to add atmosphere. As for the cover, it is more about the graphic design. SOme combinations don't go. Red harmonizes with nothing but black and white, for example.
So many fascinating responses, especially the one regarding other cultures. I hadn't considered that!
This is an interesting conversation. I am also a artist as well as a writer and have used a color wheel in my paintings and did read something before about emotions being associated with color. I do use color every so often in writing but not trying to associate the mood the characters are in. The wheel you are referring to is interesting.
Mod
Red harmonizes with purple and orange.
When designing with red, you treat it as a dark colour, which is why there is so little contrast between red and black. Red is visually almost black to our eyes thanks to its wavelength.
Red on black is hard to see.
Mod
Sometimes I used color in the opposite way from what one might expect. In one story I have a character living in a house that is light blue with pink trim. One might think the person living there is sweet and kind; they are anything but.
Colour is a huge part of my story, it's based on the four elements so the four colours appear frequently, even on houses and tattooed characters. But, I had never really considered writing colour majorly in the way initially described. However, there were significant moments where I did write in colour. Specifically for important parts of plot, such as a 'golden eagle', gold being majestic. I am intrigued in writing in colour though, and I've always wanted to try to do so. It's been interesting to read through the responses and see how people have done so.
I definitely use colors, but often in the opposite way they're intended. My wife always used to joke in D&D that dragons were "color coded for your convenience." I try to make sure that doesn't happen in my works, including with dragons.
lolz I remember the color coded dragons. I decided to look at my works and noticed color plays a lot -_- even my designated roles tend to share the same colors though they're in different universes. so maybe unwittingly color plays a part. now I need to be more careful...
Tyler wrote: "Does publishing on an ebook with a different color bring up issues if someone is colorblind or has trouble reading certain colors? Does the ebook allow the user to change the font color?"Highly recommended: Don't mess with colors in an eBook! I'm not sure if most eReaders allow colored fonts or not, but a lot of people still read on older eReaders or ePaper readers like the Kindle Paperwhite, which are black and white only.
eBook covers, if designed properly, are designed to look good in gray scale as well as in color. Messing with color w/in the book would mean having to go through all that again. Different colors on black and white readers are just going to come through as shades of gray.
I agree. Color coding your text in an ebook is probably not a good idea!
Yes, I involve certain colours for certain reasons. I have other vehicles too; like the etymology of my lead character's names are big clues.
And my latest one involves some crystal magick.
(but no, I wouldn't actually write in colour literally. Just write about it)
Anyone ever watched Sixth Sense?Clever, no?? ;-P
Colour can be incredibly powerful. Use responsibly.
Mod
Colour can be useful inside an eBook. I still believe this.
Just be mindful of tone. If it switches to grayscale on some readers, then be prepared for it still being legible in grayscale!
Here is my latest attempt at colouring an eBook.
That's pretty awesome, C.B.! I like it!
Mod
I just wanted to show colour in an e-book! :D
I notice in old sitcoms on the telly characters are color coded. like in mamas family, mama Thelma wore purple or blue, her son vinton wore brown or red vintons wife Naomi wore yellow or white grandson Bubba wore green or beige and neighbor iola wore pink.
Mod
I use my favorite colors....blues and greens.
Missy wrote: "Just for fun, I thought I'd share. I have always used color in my writing to add depth and convey emotions. I did it subconsciously at first. My MC's guild, for example, wears blue and yellow, whic..."I do. As a matter of fact, I have highly detailed notes on color for a number of the characters in the series I'm working on. One of many examples, the main character always wears either a red or salmon colored tie, and uses them both for provocation.
His daughter, on the other hand, wears a lot of purples and blues for many of the reasons stated in your link.
Beyond that, in the kindle version of my latest book (and this will carry through all main volumes), I had the chapter numbers set in a sort of all-seeing eye that gradually reddens as the story intensifies, like so:
C.B. wrote: "Never say never. :)
Colour can be useful inside an eBook. I still believe this.
Just be mindful of tone. If it switches to grayscale on some readers, then be prepared for it still being legible in..."
That's really cool!
Color in the text? Nice! I've never tried it but I would be scared to try. I'm too old fashion. Text for me needs to be black or I don't see it well. For background I prefer white. The whiter the better. Again...bad eyesight. As for colors in the story, I have a few. For instance, my protagonist's eyes change colors with his moods, a side effect from genetic manipulation. His 'sidekick' loves everything red (maybe because she's a vampire). And in my latest story, my MC goes on a planet that's all in shades of titian and nothing else.
I love color and am highly motivated by color. I write using pens in rainbow colors. Actually, all my writing supplies are in rainbow colors, some in prints. In my Y/A paranormal romance, the eyes and hair of the fairies are not natural human colors. Well, sort of not... Tee-hee. ; )
I'm so glad to see this thread resurrected! That's really cool Dan! And GG, I remember LX's eyes changing! And Sam, I can't wait to read itttttttt!!
Oh, Missy, I want to assure you I didn't steal Flitt's beautiful hair. When you read it, you'll know what I mean. Weather better, hands better! Gotta go over and fill in what the old laptop ate. Grr... And they I gotta finish it. I'd gotten into a slump in the dumps and stopped. Hmm... maybe I should... color... my own hair! Ha ha! Hugs!!
Of course I wouldn't think that! I'm sure Flitt is not the only existing character with crazy colored hair! Keep going, you can do it!
All the time, and if I could write in odors and sounds, I would. Oh wait, I do. :)
I throw in colors for symbolism occasionally. For example, several characters in my mystery novels Move and Obsidian were djinn (genies), and I had them wear the colors they naturally were when in human flesh. For example, the yellow djinn always wore yellow or gold, the green one wore green, etc.
Interesting. I come at this from a slightly different angle. Having worked in TV I tend intuitively to think about what colour does inside the eye, what will blend away to nothing and what will give a good contrast.Since my long-term heroine is a brunette she has a trick of wearing a black velvet jumpsuit, then in the moment of crisis turning her back on someone who is looking for her. In low lighting she can vanish completely.
I also use this in the insignia of rank on the Space Fleet uniforms. Cadet badges are dark blue, midshipmen green, most officers silver and from ADSC (Commodore) upwards gold. The dark blue looks junior because of lack of contrast.
Interesting; no, generally I just write in black. Sometimes I use styles to differentiate or emphasize things.
I found this interesting chart and blog post about color symbolism and what colors mean. http://jaycwolfe.com/2015/05/20/whats...
Do you use colors in your writing to convey emotion? How?