Eyes?

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Have you made them the focus of part of a story? Sometimes the eyes are the best part and among the first things I notice. I've probably mentioned them a few times in a story, but never really made them a focal point of a scene.

And with the right glasses ... OH!!!!!!!

 

[ElectricBlue]

Have you made them the focus of part of a story? Sometimes the eyes are the best part and among the first things I notice. I've probably mentioned them a few times in a story, but never really made them a focal point of a scene.

And with the right glasses ... OH!!!!!!!

Eyes get a high level of attention in my stories, but I wouldn't say the whole focus of a story.

 

[onehitwanda]

something something Astigmatism pun.

 

[YmaOHyd]

If your eyes change color, shift and swirl with your emotions [Jeff Foxworthy voice] ya might be a main character

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Eyes "get the focus"?

I can't see how that's not a pun.

--Annie

 

[crookedletter]

I’m actually kind of curious now if I mention eyes more than other body parts. I might.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

*Stares into the copy of Story of the Eye peeking on the bookshelf.*

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I think I've only mentioned eye colour for a couple characters. One pair of cheerful blue eyes, one nice brown eyes, one greenish. They're difficult to describe, so apart from. some intense looks and a gaze into kind eyes, or a tiny smile crinkling the corners of eyes, they don't get mentioned much.

Eyebrows probably get more mentions, from being raised and used to frown or have one lift sarcastically. Hands and arms and thighs and curves are more my thing.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Have you made them the focus of part of a story? Sometimes the eyes are the best part and among the first things I notice. I've probably mentioned them a few times in a story, but never really made them a focal point of a scene.

I don't think I've ever made them a focal point, but I spend more words describing eyes than boobs or penises for sure.

 

[Writer61]

Have you made them the focus of part of a story? Sometimes the eyes are the best part and among the first things I notice. I've probably mentioned them a few times in a story, but never really made them a focal point of a scene.

And with the right glasses ... OH!!!!!!!

No, never. Probably because I dislike detailed descriptions of characteristics. Which is odd, as I have a clear image of most of my characters.

 

[anthrodisiac]

My Valentine's Day story features a neurodiverse tamandua who struggles with eye contact. It's not a huge point, but it comes up a couple times.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

You don't need detailed character descriptions to mention being drawn to the sparkling limpid pools of green or staring into the crystal windows to the soul.

 

[OddLove]

In my mind, I know my characters looks, and even eye color. But I don't think I've ever mentioned eye color specifically in writing. Just expressions that involve them, like annoyed glares, amused smirks, squinting smiles, etc. I can definitely appreciate when someone else mentions more details about eyes if it serves to describe the character in a way that connects with me. Like if they're confident and sophisticated or shy and docile, eye descriptions can do a lot to help create those important character details. And to be honest, if I was a better writer and had a better vocabulary then I would definitely be doing that. I'm just still very much at the amateur/noob stage.

But also, as a reader, I do and have enjoyed many stories where eye color wasn't mentioned. If an author brushes past it then my brain automatically assigns brown or green. It can be jarring though when I got through like several pages through with a character and then the story finally drops the 'Her big ass beautiful ocean blue eyes' cause my brain already assigned color.

 

[PennameWombat]

Have you made them the focus of part of a story? Sometimes the eyes are the best part and among the first things I notice. I've probably mentioned them a few times in a story, but never really made them a focal point of a scene.

And with the right glasses ... OH!!!!!!!

The focus of a story? Pun intended or not, not quite. They do play an important part in a few stories, mainly because those stories involve aliens using gene manipulation to morph themselves to look like humans. Radiant green eyes are a marker of such folks, due to the various genes that need to be touched. Any stories where the aliens are involved also include mention of their eyes because, well, they're rather noticeable.

There are mentions in other stories, but never the key aspect of a character or the plot.

 

[Britva415]

Eye color is absolutely trivial. Superficial, even - just as much as hair color or waist inches. Describing eyes isn't intimate at all.

What's intimate is what's happening while characters are seeing each other's eyes.

One thing I like in real life is when it's pretty dark, too dark to really see each other's eyes but not too dark to tell when they have them open. Seeing the shine if not the pupil. Not knowing whether they can see yours the same way. Or if they can see more, see yours better. I like it because it feels very close. Quiet, close, awake, and together.

I had the experience yesterday of having that initial conversation for the first time with someone. I was around her for a few hours and noticed her earlier. When events conspired to put us face to face and start a conversation, we were finally close enough to really see each other's eyes while talking and forming those first impressions. Hers didn't look average or common, the colors were striking and unusual. Taking them in while listening to her talk, I could sense the connection forming and growing. There was a mutual energy to this chit-chat which wouldn't have been there if my attention to her eyes hadn't let her feel my intentional presence.

Stuff like this is what makes scenes about eyes interesting. The feelings and the energy, not the appearance or the voyeuristic description of watching what someone is doing with them while the observer remains distant.

Telling what happens with eyes is better than just telling how they look, but getting to the feelings and connection eyes cause is way better still.

 

[designatedvictim]

I usually don't have much to say about eyes, other than the occasional mention of their color or a non-verbal indication of an emotional state.

MMC in my WIP meeting his sister's roommate for the first time, naked in the living room:

After a few moments of looking up at her eyes, I squinted a bit. “Your eyes… they don’t seem to be just brown. In this light they look almost… hazel?”

She laughed. “I get that a lot. I think they’re more brown than not. Trying to identify just what ‘hazel’ looks like, in my experience, is like trying to nail Jello to the wall.

“If you want to try convincing me that they’re hazel, though, I won’t stop you.

“Thanks for noticing, by the way. You’re ahead of the curve.”

I smiled up at her.

“Sorry,” I said a bit awkwardly, “there’s a lot to notice, right now.”

And later:

I snorted against her neck, then kissed it before pushing my upper body off her a bit to look into her grey eyes. They seemed to glow back at me in the dim room by picking up the faint light streaming in from outside.

“Please humor me,” she said, looking me in the eyes. There was more than a hint of pleading in her own.

So, I mention them, but only briefly.

I ought to consider adding some more.

 

[RetroFan]

I'll usually mention characters eye colours in my story.

One of my favourite tropes to use is 'blonde, brunette, redhead' so I'll often have a brunette with brown eyes, a blonde with blue eyes and a redhead with green eyes. One such example among my stories is 'Bigfoot in the Bennington Triangle' where the slutty, irresponsible sister Susan is a brunette with brown eyes, the sensible and responsible cousin Betsy is a blonde with blue eyes and the bat-shit crazy friend Ellen is a redhead with green eyes. And with the story set in the early 1970s, it is very clear the three girls have their natural colour hair!

Hazel eyes I don't do so much, but I did for my Titanic set story 'Bad Things Happen on April 15' the minor character Marjorie is referenced as having hazel eyes, with green eyes already taken by redhead Charlotte, blue eyes by blonde Emma and brown eyes by brunette Jane.

Eye colour was very important in my story 'Jehovah's Witness Romance' with one of the characters Holly being an albino, and having pink eyes and the associated poor eyesight often found in albino people.

 

[ronde]

Have you made them the focus of part of a story? Sometimes the eyes are the best part and among the first things I notice. I've probably mentioned them a few times in a story, but never really made them a focal point of a scene.

And with the right glasses ... OH!!!!!!!

I don't remember the author of the quote, but eyes are the windows to the soul. As such, a character's eyes can go a long way toward describing feelings and personality. I agree that color doesn't matter much, but descriptions like, "at tear ran down her cheek" or "his steely stare told anybody not to mess with him" can do a lot of describing in very few words.

By the way, you're right about glasses. A woman in the right glasses can be incredibly attractive and erotic.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Unless you're in a close-in POV, eyes do a LOT of work. Where the characters are looking, where they aren't looking. How they're looking. Are they blinking in befuddlement? Is it a coy wink?

You can use them unambiguously, ambiguously (my favorite). If anything, I probably overuse glances, looks, staring, looking away.

 

[XerXesXu]

I’ve just run a search. Eyes do a tremendous amount of important work.

My characters’ eyes open, close, blink, meet, avert, invite, plead, brighten, darken, they can be focused or unfocused, seek, settle, snap, be frank or furtive, pry, dip, rise, roll, accuse, twitch, smile, things happen in front of them or out of sight of them, and so on. They’re very busy, but I rarely describe eyes as a physical characteristic of a character’s appearance.

 

[SyleusSnow]

The only time I made eyes the focus was in a 750: In Her Eyes

Other than that, it's mostly descriptions of actions where they narrow, widen, roll, lose focus, stare and so on. I try to avoid detailed character descriptions like eye color, hair and so on unless it's vital to the story.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I try to avoid detailed character descriptions like eye color, hair and so on unless it's vital to the story.

Auburn haired, emerald eyed temptress can be relevant.

 

[Britva415]

Unless you're in a close-in POV, eyes do a LOT of work

I would argue that a close-in POV is where they can do the best work of all. That is, as long as the author can capture what people experience vis-a-vis each other's eyes and the connection, the energy, the spirit which can flow between them.

Not what the eyes look like. Not what the eyes behave like. Not even simply what it feels like. But what the person is like, deep inside. Can the author say or show what the person experiences, holding mutual gaze and being moved by whatever happens between their eyes and the other's? By what happens in their being due to this interaction?

To me, that's as close-in as it gets. And a lot of heavy lifting, if the author can achieve it.