Describing Eyes in a Creative Piece

 A cliche known for eyes is that they are known as the windows of the soul, and although, like I said, this is seen as a cliche it is still very true. Even in real life with one look in a person's eyes you can see their emotions, if they are upset their eyes could be shining with tears. Eyes can also show what type of a person they are. Someone who has creases wrinkling out from the outside of the eyes will tell you that that person had a lot of laughs in their life. Whereas a person who has colours on their eyelids could be someone who has a love for make-up and even perhaps an outgoing person, depending if their make-up is shiny or not.

Of course real life is different to the fictional world, with the examples that I have given might not always mean what I have said. But when it comes to writing, showing the detail of a person's eyes will tell the reader what you want them to know. 

Let’s talk about eye colour. Think about all the people you know and think about their eye colour. Think of a person who you have just recently met or might know at school but not close friends, do you know their eye colour? Most cases the answer is no, you might think it’s brown but then quickly change your answer to blue, but even if it’s brown what type of brown is it? Is it a light one, close to hazel, or dark and rich like the colour of chocolate. 

Now, think about the books you have read. How many times has the author written the eye colour of a person? Perhaps not a lot. There is a reason for that. During my first year at university, one of my first lectures in prose was about describing people, especially the eyes. Most times you haven’t a clue what a person’s eye color is. The only time you might know is if they are family or someone close to you. 

I’m not saying you shouldn’t write a person’s eye colour in your short story, novella or novel. I have written a character’s eye colour in my novel, but that’s because it’s important to the storyline. 

No matter if you are writing in the first or third person, when the character you are writing from sees another character’s eye colour there has to be a reason. For example, Heterochromia Iridum, when a person has two different eye colours, that’s something good to add in as it’s something that stands out from that character. 

You, as the writer might write a character’s eye colour if your main character has strong romantic feelings towards them. That’s when you can get into the detail of this person’s eye colour. If it’s blue, what type of blue? Is it light like the sky? Or dark like the ocean? Then get closer, let your main character when they are about to kiss their love interest actually see more of their eyes. Perhaps they do have blue eyes but near the top of their iris they have yellow, as if the love interest’s eye colour is the sun in the sky. 

Now that’s just about eye colour, the next step is to think about the eye as the whole. Maybe think of the shape, or if they have wrinkles around their eyes, like I have said earlier in this piece. Or even your character might have dark stains under their eyes as a sign that they are constantly tired. Perhaps they work a lot, do double shifts and therefore never actually have time to sleep. 

Their eyes might have sunken and kind of look hollow, that could be seen as a sign of illness. These are all good details to show the emotions that your characters are feeling instead of saying: “Tara was not feeling well” or “Tara was tired from not having enough sleep”. 

I would also advise you to think about the facial expressions a person might do. If they are shocked and can’t believe what they have just seen or have been told, their eyes might widen. Or if a person is embarrassed your character’s eyes are more likely going to be looking around not wanting to look at anyone. Even think about if a character lies, can other people tell they are lying through their eyes. Do they look up as they lie? Or do they keep their eyes on the other characters? 

These are just some questions to think about. But knowing all of this about your character’s will help you be able to show more about them rather than telling your readers that they are lying or love make-up. 

All I would remind you is, don’t do this with all your characters. As you do want to make your creative piece as realistic as possible, and in real life these things can be easily missed.