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How to Describe Eyes in Writing (21 Best Tips + Examples)

Eyes are often hailed as the “windows to the soul,” capable of conveying complex emotions without uttering a single word.

As writers, mastering the art of describing eyes can elevate your storytelling.

Here is how to describe eyes in writing:

Describe eyes in writing by focusing on color, shape, and emotional depth. Use descriptive words like “captivating” or “luminous.” Phrases like “windows to the soul” add layers. Consider eyelids, lashes, and blinking for subtle emotional cues.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to describe eyes in writing.

1. The Color Palette: More Than Just Blue and Brown

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Color is usually the first attribute that comes to mind when describing eyes.

Going beyond the cliché blue and brown can bring your characters to life in vivid detail.

Try unconventional colors and make comparisons to set a mood.

For example, instead of saying, “She had green eyes,” you might say, “Her eyes were the color of freshly mown grass, evoking an undeniable feeling of rebirth.”

Different colors can invoke various emotions or suggest specific character traits.

“Eyes as gray as a stormy sea” could symbolize a tumultuous spirit or an adventurous soul.

Therefore, use colors not just as factual descriptions but as emotional or character-driven statements.

You can even mix colors for added depth, “His eyes were a mix of gold and brown, like a forest floor dappled in autumn sunlight.”

2. The Light Dance: Luminosity Unveiled

The way eyes catch light can describe more than just the setting sun or dim room.

It can tell your reader about the emotional landscape of your characters.

For example, eyes that “gleam like polished stones catching the midday sun” could portray a character in a state of clarity or revelation.

The luminosity of the eyes can also serve as a narrative device, enhancing the emotional undercurrents of a scene.

“Her eyes dimmed, mirroring the dwindling campfire, as she heard the sad tale” can infuse additional layers of emotion into the situation.

This can help the reader feel the gravity of the story along with the character.

3. Shape-Shifting: The Geometry of Gaze

The shape of a character’s eyes can be a playground for creativity.

From almond-shaped to round, the geometry of eyes can offer readers clues about a character’s disposition.

For instance, “Her oval eyes always had a dreamy look, as if she were perpetually lost in thought” can say a lot about the character’s daydreaming nature or thoughtful demeanor.

Don’t forget that eye shape can be dynamic, changing with emotional states or circumstances.

You might describe a normally cheerful character as having “eyes that narrowed into cold slivers when he heard the disparaging comment.”

This not only gives your characters depth but also builds a stronger emotional connection with the reader.

4. Blink Back the Emotions

Never underestimate the power of a blink in conveying emotional subtlety.

A quick blink can express surprise.

While slow, measured blinks could imply a character is deeply contemplating a decision.

For example, “She blinked rapidly, as if trying to ward off the tears that threatened to spill,” succinctly captures a moment of emotional vulnerability.

A single blink can also serve as a pivotal moment in the story.

“He blinked once, slowly, as if imprinting the scene onto his soul” not only adds emotional weight but also signals a significant moment.

5. Mirrors and Windows: Emotional Portals

Eyes can act as mirrors reflecting internal emotions or windows offering a glimpse into the soul.

A character’s gaze can speak volumes, revealing underlying feelings or thoughts.

“His eyes were impenetrable mirrors, reflecting nothing but deflecting everything,” suggests a stoic or guarded individual.

In contrast, eyes can serve as open windows, giving readers insight into a character’s emotional state.

“Her eyes were open windows to her joy, sparkling like stars on a clear night,” indirectly reveals the depth of her happiness.

Using this technique can convey complex emotions in a show-don’t-tell fashion.

6. Crinkles and Lines: The Etchings of Experience

The skin surrounding the eyes can be a treasure trove of storytelling.

Whether it’s laugh lines or weary creases, these “etchings” can reveal a character’s history or emotional state.

For example, “Her eyes were framed by lines that spoke of decades filled with laughter and resilience” provides a wealth of information about a character’s life experiences.

On the flip side, you can use the absence of these lines to highlight a different set of experiences or qualities.

“His eyes were alarmingly smooth, devoid of the wrinkles that often accompany age, as if time itself hesitated to mark him.”

This could signify a range of possibilities—from a sheltered life to a mysterious, age-defying character.

7. The Focus Factor: Where the Gaze Lands

Where a character focuses their eyes can indicate interest, discomfort, or even deceit.

“She couldn’t maintain eye contact and her gaze kept drifting to the floor,” could suggest a lack of confidence or that she’s hiding something.

Here’s another example: “His eyes locked onto the painting, absorbing every brushstroke as if trying to capture its essence.”

The focus of the gaze is telling of the character’s artistic interest.

Or perhaps a deeper emotional connection to the artwork.

Employ focus intentionally to add another layer of complexity to your characters.

8. The Invisible Force: Magnetic Attraction or Repulsion

Sometimes eyes don’t just look; they draw in or push away.

Describing this invisible force can add an ethereal quality to your characters.

“Her eyes seemed to pull him in, a gravitational force he couldn’t resist,” not only describes attraction but also gives it a nearly magical, irresistible quality.

Alternatively, eyes can repel, emitting an almost palpable energy that keeps people at bay.

“People avoided looking into his eyes, as if a simple glance could cast a dark shadow over their day.”

This can set the mood quickly and establish a character as menacing or tragically solitary.

9. Eye-talk: Silent Conversations

Eyes can often communicate messages that words fail to capture.

Describing these “silent conversations” can create emotionally charged scenes between characters.

For instance, “Their eyes met, and in that brief moment, a flurry of unspoken apologies and forgiveness exchanged.”

In a more humorous scenario, you might write, “A roll of her eyes spoke louder than words, a whole paragraph on why the joke was painfully unfunny.”

Use eye-talk to demonstrate the depth of understanding or the lack thereof between characters.

By doing so, you enrichen the personal dynamics in your story.

10. Motion and Emotion: The Kinetics of Eye Movement

The movement of eyes—darting, sweeping, flicking—can indicate a variety of emotions or thoughts.

“Her eyes darted around the room, like a hummingbird seeking nectar, but finding none,” could indicate anxiety or a feeling trapped.

Movement can also be slow and calculated: “His eyes slowly scanned the crowd until they landed on her. It was as though he had found what he was unconsciously searching for all evening.”

Here, the eyes act almost like a compass, guided by emotion or instinct to find a person in a crowd.

11. Veils and Shields: The Role of Eyelids and Lashes

Eyelids and eyelashes do more than just frame the eyes.

They act as veils or shields, expressing vulnerability or defense.

For example, “Her eyelashes were a curtain that she dropped quickly, hiding the turmoil that had briefly flickered in her eyes,” could indicate a momentary lapse in an otherwise strong facade.

On the other hand, “His eyelids lifted slowly, as if reluctantly allowing access to the secrets hidden in his gaze,” paints a vivid image of a guarded individual.

With eyelids acting as gatekeepers and eyelashes as intricate curtains, your description gains a theatrical quality.

12. Icy Stares and Fiery Glances: Temperature Imagery

Using temperature as imagery can add another layer of emotional context.

“Her gaze was icy, freezing everyone it touched, making even a crowded room feel lonely,” effectively conveys detachment and emotional coldness.

Alternatively, “His eyes burned with a fire that could ignite even the most dampened spirits,” suggests passion.

By assigning a “temperature” to your characters’ eyes, you’re doing more than describing.

You’re setting the emotional climate of your story.

13. Twin Moons: Symmetry and Asymmetry

Our eyes are often assumed to be symmetrical.

But describing a character with slightly asymmetrical eyes can add an interesting twist.

“Her right eye was noticeably larger than her left, as if it had seen more of the world and expanded with wisdom,” can introduce an element of uniqueness and intrigue.

Conversely, perfect symmetry can be used to highlight otherworldly beauty or artificiality.

“His eyes were symmetrically perfect, each a mirror image of the other, making him appear almost too flawless, like a sculpture.”

14. Distance and Depth: Proximity of Emotional Connection

The physical space between eyes can symbolize emotional distance or closeness.

“Her closely set eyes, like parallel lines that never meet, made it hard to decipher her emotions,” suggests a character who might be emotionally inaccessible.

On the flip side, consider: “His wide-set eyes seemed to embrace the world, absorbing its myriad colors and nuances.”

This description could indicate a more open, emotionally available individual.

The space between eyes can become a metaphorical playground for writers.

15. Transient Hues: Changing Colors

Some eyes change colors depending on the lighting or the character’s mood.

Describing this can add a mystical or unpredictable quality.

“Her eyes shifted from a deep blue to an oceanic green when she was lost in thought,” opens up a realm of questions and adds an element of unpredictability to the character.

Or you might write, “As he grew angrier, the brown of his eyes seemed to darken, like clouds gathering before a storm.”

Changing colors can make your character seem complex and intriguing, demanding the reader’s attention.

16. Windows or Walls: Transparency and Opacity

The eyes can be either transparent windows to the soul or impenetrable walls.

For example, “Looking into her eyes was like staring into a clear pond, where even the smallest pebble on the bottom was visible,” indicates transparency and vulnerability.

Contrastingly, “His eyes were like tinted windows—no matter how hard you looked, you couldn’t see inside.”

The latter communicates a sense of emotional fortification.

Transparency and opacity serve as tools to indicate how approachable or aloof a character is as a person.

17. Spotlighting: Single Eye Focus

Most descriptions involve both eyes, but focusing on just one can create an arresting image.

“Her left eye seemed to flicker with an inner light, commanding attention and distracting from her otherwise placid face,” can indicate a multifaceted character with hidden depths or asymmetrical qualities.

Or perhaps, “His right eye twitched involuntarily, belying the calm he otherwise projected.”

A focus on a single eye can serve to amplify emotion, make a character more memorable, or highlight an incongruity in their personality.

18. Eye Accessories: Glasses and Contacts

Glasses or contact lenses can be more than just functional.

They can offer insights into a character.

“Her thick glasses magnified her eyes to an impossible size, giving her an air of constant astonishment,” shows how glasses can be used to amplify a character trait.

Accessories become an extension of the character, revealing their choices, desires, or insecurities.

19. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Artistic Imagery

Sometimes, describing eyes as artworks can be exceptionally evocative.

“Her eyes were like a Jackson Pollock painting, a chaotic blend of colors that somehow made sense,” can indicate a complex and unpredictable character.

Or perhaps, “His eyes resembled a Van Gogh sky, swirling with depth and endless hues of blue and yellow.”

Artistic comparisons not only make the description more vivid.

But can also provide an intellectual backdrop to your character’s emotional landscape.

20. The Art of Avoidance: When Eyes Are Hidden

There can be significant impact in moments where a character’s eyes are hidden—by hair, a hat, or even their own hand.

“His eyes were obscured by a mess of unruly hair, as if he was deliberately hiding from the world,” can suggest a character who is emotionally unavailable or in a state of internal chaos.

Conversely, “She covered her eyes with a hand, as if blocking out the reality before her,” could indicate denial.

Or, perhaps, a reluctance to face the truth.

The absence or obstruction of eyes can speak volumes, adding a layer of complexity to the narrative.

21. The Blink Code: The Tempo of Eye Movement

The rhythm and tempo of blinking can subtly express a character’s emotional state or intentions.

Rapid blinking might reveal nervousness, excitement, or distress.

Slow, deliberate blinks could convey thoughtfulness or calm.

The blink can be as revealing as any other aspect of eye description, acting as a silent Morse code that conveys underlying emotional states.

For example, “Her eyelids shut tightly and reopened slowly, as though she was steeling herself for what was to come. Each blink seemed to be a word in a private language of courage.”

Here is a good video about how to describe eyes in writing:

10 Elements of Eyes to Describe in Writing

To summarize, here are 10 elements (or traits) of eyes that you can describe:

• Color : The most obvious characteristic, but it can say a lot about a character. Blues, browns, greens, and grays each have their own set of associated traits and emotions.
• Shape : The shape of the eyes can lend personality cues. Almond-shaped, round, or narrow eyes can make a character seem mysterious, innocent, or intense.
• Size : Describing the size of the eyes can also give hints about a character’s personality. Large eyes might convey innocence or openness, while small eyes could suggest cunning or secrecy.
• Luminosity/Brightness : How bright or dull the eyes appear can reflect the character’s emotional state or overall personality. Luminous eyes might signify vitality or a strong spirit.
• Transparency : This refers to how “readable” the eyes are. Are they the proverbial “window to the soul,” or are they more like impenetrable walls?
• Intensity : The power of a gaze can say a lot. An intense stare may show determination, while a lack of intensity could signal disinterest or fatigue.
• Texture : While not immediately visible from a distance, up close the eyes may have specks, flecks, or distinct patterns that could add uniqueness to a character.
• Direction : Where a character is looking—averting their gaze, staring straight ahead, or looking down—can show their emotional state and add context to dialogue and actions.
• Movement : This includes blinking, winking, or any other eye movements. Rapid blinking might indicate stress, while slow blinking could indicate thoughtfulness or calm.
• Surrounding Features : Eyebrows, eyelashes, and even the skin around the eyes can contribute to the overall impression. Bushy eyebrows, long lashes, or dark circles can add depth to your description.

30 Best Words to Describe Eyes in Writing

Here is a list of words to help you describe eyes in your stories:

• Melancholic
• Almond-shaped
• Calculating

30 Best Phrases to Describe Eyes in Writing

When a single word won’t do, you’ll need phrases for describing eyes.

Check out this curated list of phrases for how to describe eyes in writing:

• Eyes like saucers
• Windows to the soul
• A storm brewing in his eyes
• Eyes bright with unshed tears
• A twinkle in her eye
• Eyes darker than midnight
• Eyes that held galaxies
• Deep pools of emotion
• Eyes like open books
• Eyes narrowed in suspicion
• Eyes as cold as ice
• An unreadable gaze
• Pools of molten gold
• A piercing gaze
• Eyes dancing with mischief
• Eyes filled with wonder
• A guarded look
• Eyes aflame with passion
• A faraway look
• An inviting gaze
• Eyes shimmering like the ocean
• A gaze that could cut glass
• Eyes soft with compassion
• A lingering look
• A flirtatious glance
• Eyes clouded with doubt
• Eyes gleaming with intelligence
• An intense stare
• Eyes that defy description
• Eyes closed in contemplation

3 Full Examples of Describing Eyes in Different Genres

Let’s learn how to describe eyes in writing by looking at full examples in various fiction genres.

In the dimly lit room, his eyes caught hers, and it felt as though time stood still.

They were deep pools of chocolate, rich and warm, promising sweet secrets and hidden depths. A soft light seemed to emanate from them, casting a gentle glow that could melt the iciest of hearts. It was as though his soul was laid bare, and she felt herself drawn into his gaze, an irresistible force pulling her closer to the love she’d been seeking all her life.

As she walked through the enchanted forest, her eyes changed to mirror her surroundings.

Normally a plain brown, they turned into a swirling mix of emerald and gold, as if her irises were tiny galaxies with stars twinkling within. The transformation was spellbinding, making her appear not just of this realm, but a creature of otherworldly beauty.

Those eyes held power—power to unlock realms and unleash spells, a mysterious allure that could not be ignored.

His eyes were like shards of ice, a piercing blue that seemed to cut through the dim light of the interrogation room.

Each glance was calculated, devoid of emotion, revealing nothing yet seeing everything. It was a look that had unnerved many—a gaze that had stared down threats and seen horrors that would break most men.

His eyes were the epitome of a human lie detector, missing nothing, ever vigilant, and deeply unsettling.

Final Thoughts: How To Describe Eyes in Writing

The best way to describe eyes is blending the tips, words, and phrases.

Also, connect the bigger plot and theme to your eye descriptions.

Of course, there is much more than eyes to describe in your story. Read the other guides on our site to learn how to describe, people, places, and scenes in your story.

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• How to Describe a Greedy Person in Writing (21 Best Tips)
• How to Describe Nervousness in Writing (23 Tips + Examples)
• How to Describe a Hug in Writing (21 Best Tips + Examples)
• How to Describe a Smile in Writing (700 Ways & Examples)

Writing Nestling

How To Describe Eyes In Writing (13 Steps You Need To Know)

In the realm of storytelling, the eyes are not just windows to the soul; they are portals to a character’s deepest emotions, hidden secrets, and unique essence.

Mastering the art of describing eyes in writing is akin to wielding a magic wand, allowing writers to paint vivid and evocative portraits that resonate with readers on a profound level.

From the sparkle of excitement to the shadow of sorrow, from the intensity of desire to the weight of wisdom, the eyes are a canvas upon which emotions and character intricacies are vividly rendered.

In this exploration of “How To Describe Eyes In Writing,” we embark on a journey to unlock the secrets of crafting eye descriptions that not only engage the senses but also breathe life into characters and narratives.

Join us as we delve into the nuances of eye descriptions, from anatomy and symbolism to techniques and ethical considerations, to enhance your storytelling prowess and captivate the hearts and minds of your readers.

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How To Describe Eyes In Writing

Describing eyes in writing can be a creative and detailed process. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

Observe the Eyes

Take a moment to closely observe the eyes you want to describe. Pay attention to their color, shape, and any distinctive features such as freckles, scars, or unusual patterns.

Consider the Setting

Think about the context in which you are describing the eyes. Is it a romantic scene, a suspenseful moment, or a casual observation? The setting can influence the tone and depth of your description.

Start with Color

Begin your description by mentioning the color of the eyes. Use vivid and descriptive words to convey the shade. For example, “Her eyes were a deep, emerald green.”

Shape and Size

Describe the shape and size of the eyes. Are they round, almond-shaped, or something else? Mention if they are large, small, or average in size.

Expressions and Emotions

Consider the emotions or expressions conveyed by the eyes. Are they sparkling with joy, filled with tears, or clouded with sadness? Describe how the eyes reflect the character’s feelings.

Pupils and Iris

Mention the size of the pupils and the details of the iris. You can describe the pupils as dilated with desire or constricted in bright light. Highlight any unique features of the iris, such as flecks or a ring of a different color.

Eyebrows and Eyelashes

Don’t forget to mention the eyebrows and eyelashes. Are the eyelashes long and dark, framing the eyes beautifully? Are the eyebrows well-groomed or wild and expressive?

Eye Movements

Describe any eye movements that add depth to the character’s emotions. Mention if they blink rapidly, gaze intensely, or dart nervously around.

Comparisons and Metaphors

Use similes and metaphors to create vivid imagery. Compare the eyes to elements in nature or objects that convey a particular feeling. For example, “His eyes were as deep and mysterious as the night sky.”

Light and Shadows

Consider how lighting affects the appearance of the eyes. Describe how they catch the light, shimmer, or cast shadows. Lighting can enhance the atmosphere of your description.

History or Backstory

If relevant, provide some backstory or history related to the eyes. Have they seen hardship, witnessed important events, or undergone a transformation?

Overall Impression

Sum up your description with an overall impression. How do these eyes make the observer feel? What impact do they have on the character’s appearance and personality?

Editing and Polishing

Review your description for clarity and coherence. Make sure your choice of words enhances the reader’s visualization of the eyes and aligns with the tone of your story.

Remember that the goal is to engage the reader’s imagination and create a vivid mental image. Tailor your description to the character and the narrative to make the eyes an integral part of your storytelling.

Understanding the Basics

Understanding the Basics of describing eyes in writing is like peering through the keyhole into the soul of your characters. Just as the eye is the window to the soul, mastering the art of depicting this intricate organ opens a portal to the very essence of your storytelling.

Delve into the fascinating anatomy of the human eye, where the iris dances with secrets, the pupil reveals the depth of emotion, and the cornea reflects the world in a thousand shimmering facets.

Learn the genetic alchemy that weaves the tapestry of eye colors, each hue an enigma waiting to be unraveled.

With these fundamentals at your fingertips, you’ll transform mundane descriptions into vivid canvases that breathe life into your characters and invite readers to journey deep into the heart of your narrative.

The anatomy of the human eye

The anatomy of the human eye is a marvel of nature’s precision and complexity. At its core, the eye is a biological masterpiece, comprised of several intricate components working in seamless harmony.

The iris, like a curtain, regulates the amount of light that enters, its unique pigmentation bestowing individuality upon each gaze.

The pupil, a minuscule portal, dilates and contracts in response to varying light conditions, mirroring the ebb and flow of emotions.

The cornea, a crystal-clear dome, refracts light, allowing the world to be painted upon the canvas of the retina.

Meanwhile, the lens flexes and focuses like a camera, ensuring that images are sharp and clear. These elements, along with many others, combine to create the breathtaking phenomenon of vision, reminding us that the human eye is not just an organ; it’s a gateway to perceiving the beauty and wonder of the world.

The science of eye colors

The science of eye colors is a captivating journey into the genetic tapestry that defines our visual uniqueness. Eye color, the result of intricate genetic interactions, is a testament to the fascinating complexities of human inheritance.

While blue, brown, green, and hazel are among the most common eye colors, the possibilities are nearly endless, with variations and shades that make each individual’s eyes as distinctive as their fingerprints.

This intricate dance of genetics involves multiple genes, such as OCA2 and HERC2, which determine the type and amount of pigments in the iris. Environmental factors can also influence the final hue.

The science of eye colors not only unveils the mystery behind our gaze but also highlights the intricate symphony of our DNA, reminding us that even in the realm of genetics, diversity reigns supreme.

The Power of Vivid Imagery

The Power of Vivid Imagery in writing is the literary equivalent of a painter’s brushstroke on the canvas of the reader’s mind.

It’s the sorcerer’s incantation that summons the story to life, transforming mundane words into an exhilarating sensory experience.

With the deft strokes of metaphor and the careful selection of adjectives, writers have the power to transport readers into the heart of their narrative.

It’s a symphony of the senses where readers can not only see the world but taste its colors, smell its emotions, and touch the intangible.

Vivid imagery is the key that unlocks the door to a realm where words cease to be mere symbols; they become a portal to a universe where imagination reigns supreme, and stories take on a life of their own.

The role of sensory language in eye descriptions

The role of sensory language in eye descriptions is akin to weaving a tapestry of perception that envelops the reader in a multisensory experience.

It’s the subtle art of not just telling the reader about the eyes but allowing them to feel the world through them.

With the right choice of words, a writer can make eyes shimmer like polished emeralds, glint with the warmth of a summer sunset, or smolder like the depths of a midnight abyss.

Sensory language invites readers to not only visualize but also feel the texture of an iris, hear the whispers hidden in a gaze, and even taste the emotions concealed behind a blink.

It’s a literary alchemy that elevates eye descriptions from mere visuals to a symphony of sensations, fostering a profound connection between the reader and the characters they encounter on the page.

Painting a picture with words: similes and metaphors

Painting a picture with words through similes and metaphors is akin to wielding a magic brush that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary in the realm of literature.

Similes are the luminescent stars that twinkle in the night sky of prose, likening one element to another, allowing readers to see, feel, and understand the subject in a whole new light.

Metaphors, on the other hand, are the bold strokes of genius that bridge the gap between two seemingly unrelated entities, creating a fusion of ideas that dances on the canvas of the imagination.

Together, these literary devices breathe life into the written word, turning mundane descriptions into vibrant, living portraits.

They are the language of the poet, the voice of the storyteller, and the enchantment that beckons readers to immerse themselves in the vivid landscapes of the writer’s creation, where words transcend their literal meanings and become a tapestry of wonder.

Selecting the right adjectives to enhance visual impact

Selecting the right adjectives to enhance visual impact in writing is akin to choosing the perfect brush strokes for a masterpiece.

It’s about meticulously curating a palette of words that will color the reader’s imagination with vivid and evocative images.

The selection of adjectives is more than just embellishment; it’s the essence of storytelling. A well-chosen adjective can transform a simple “blue eye” into a “deep sapphire gaze,” instantly conjuring a more vivid and nuanced picture.

The art lies not only in choosing descriptive words but in understanding their power to evoke emotions and resonate with the reader’s senses.

When wielded adeptly, adjectives breathe life into characters, landscapes, and scenes, allowing readers to not only see but also experience the narrative in all its rich and immersive detail.

Beyond Physical Appearance

Beyond physical appearance lies the enigmatic realm of character depth and storytelling magic. In the world of writing, eyes are not just windows to the soul; they are mirrors reflecting the intricate layers of a character’s psyche.

They bear witness to inner storms and quiet victories, revealing secrets that words alone cannot express. Beyond the hue and shape, eyes carry the weight of history, the scars of experience, and the dreams of the future.

They are the silent narrators of a character’s journey, conveying courage, vulnerability, love, and longing with the subtlest of glances.

When a writer delves beyond physical appearance and explores the profound narrative potential within a character’s eyes, storytelling transcends the superficial, inviting readers on an emotional odyssey that lingers long after the final page is turned.

Reflecting emotions and personality through the eyes

Reflecting emotions and personality through the eyes is a poetic dance of revelation in storytelling.

The eyes are the windows through which the heart and soul’s myriad hues spill forth. In their depths, we find the silent poetry of love, the tempestuous storms of anger, the shimmering oceans of sadness, and the radiant sunrises of joy.

They can be smoldering with mystery, sparkling with mischief, or harboring the wisdom of ages. A character’s eyes not only mirror their emotions but also serve as portals to their inner world, offering readers an intimate glimpse into their fears, desires, and aspirations.

The flicker of a gaze, the quiver of a lid, or the steadiness of a stare can reveal more about a character’s personality than pages of exposition ever could.

When words alone fall short, it is in the eyes that the true essence of a character is unveiled, creating an indelible connection between the reader and the narrative.

Symbolism and cultural nuances associated with eyes

Symbolism and cultural nuances associated with eyes form a rich tapestry of meaning that transcends linguistic and geographical boundaries.

Across cultures, eyes have been endowed with profound symbolism, serving as metaphors for enlightenment, knowledge, and perception. In the East, the “third eye” is a symbol of spiritual insight and higher consciousness, often depicted as an inner eye that sees beyond the physical realm.

Conversely, in Western literature and art, the “evil eye” represents malevolent intent and the power to curse. In Native American cultures, the concept of the “eye of the heart” is revered as a source of intuition and emotional understanding.

Eyes are also deeply intertwined with cultural expressions of beauty and aesthetics, influencing practices such as makeup, adornment, and body language.

Understanding the symbolic weight and cultural nuances associated with eyes is essential for writers, as it adds depth and authenticity to character development, and offers readers a gateway into the rich tapestry of human beliefs and traditions.

Creating depth through character development

Creating depth through character development is the alchemy that transforms ink and paper into living, breathing individuals within the world of a story.

It’s the process of infusing characters with the complexities of real human beings: their hopes, fears, contradictions, and aspirations. Just as in life, a character’s journey is not solely defined by their actions but by their inner struggles, moral dilemmas, and personal growth.

It’s about crafting characters who evolve, learn, and change, driven by desires and haunted by flaws. Readers are drawn into a story not just by its plot but by the emotional resonance of its characters.

In their depth, we find empathy, connection, and a mirror reflecting our own humanity. Writers who master the art of character development breathe life into their stories , inviting readers to embark on an intimate and unforgettable voyage through the hearts and minds of their literary creations.

Examples from famous literature

Examples from famous literature illuminate the enduring power of vivid eye descriptions. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” the enigmatic eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, looming over the Valley of Ashes, become a haunting symbol of moral decay and the watchful gaze of a judgmental society.

J.K. Rowling masterfully employs eye descriptions in the “Harry Potter” series, with Voldemort’s crimson, snake-like eyes serving as a chilling emblem of his malevolence. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the haunting description of Boo Radley’s reclusive eyes through the eyes of Scout and Jem encapsulates the novel’s themes of innocence, prejudice, and compassion.

These literary examples showcase how authors harness the evocative potential of eye descriptions to enrich their narratives and create lasting impressions in the minds of readers, demonstrating that the eyes are not just organs but windows to the soul of a story.

Techniques for Effective Eye Descriptions

Techniques for effective eye descriptions are the secret incantations of the literary sorcerer, unlocking the deepest emotions and hidden depths of characters.

They’re the whispers that beckon readers into the intimate recesses of a character’s soul. From the choice of perspective, whether first-person intimacy or third-person observance, to the art of gradual revelation, where each detail is a breadcrumb leading to greater understanding, these techniques are the keys to creating memorable eye descriptions.

They allow writers to unveil secrets, convey emotions, and even advance the plot, all through the silent language of the eyes.

In the hands of a skilled wordsmith, these techniques transcend mere physical descriptions, forging a profound connection between the reader and the characters, leaving an indelible mark on the narrative and a lasting impression on the reader’s heart.

First-person vs. third-person perspectives

The choice between first-person and third-person perspectives in writing is akin to selecting the lens through which the reader experiences a story .

First-person perspective immerses readers deep within the psyche of a singular character, providing an intimate and immediate connection with their thoughts, emotions, and perceptions.

It’s a direct line to the character’s inner world, offering authenticity and empathy. In contrast, third-person perspective provides a panoramic view, offering insights into multiple characters’ thoughts and actions while maintaining a degree of narrative distance.

It grants writers the ability to build a complex, multifaceted world, weaving together the stories of various characters.

The choice between these perspectives is a strategic decision, each offering unique advantages and challenges, but both capable of crafting rich and compelling narratives that resonate with readers on different levels.

Incorporating eye descriptions into action scenes

Incorporating eye descriptions into action scenes is like adding a layer of visceral intensity to the narrative canvas.

When characters are caught in the throes of high-stakes moments, their eyes become windows into their determination, fear, or resolve.

Whether it’s the glint of a hero’s unwavering resolve or the widening of a villain’s malevolent gaze, eye descriptions can amplify the tension and emotion of the scene.

Readers, in these moments, are not just spectators but active participants, experiencing the adrenaline rush and emotional turmoil alongside the characters.

The subtle details of clenched lids, darting glances, or pupils dilated in shock can serve as powerful markers of a character’s internal state, allowing writers to convey depth and nuance even in the most action-packed sequences.

In the whirlwind of chaos, the eyes offer readers a grounding point, a profound insight into the characters’ humanity amidst the chaos.

Crafting Memorable Characters

Crafting memorable characters is akin to sculpting timeless works of art from the clay of imagination. It’s a delicate dance of inspiration and intention, where writers breathe life into their literary creations.

These characters are not merely ink and paper; they are the embodiment of dreams, fears, and aspirations. They carry the weight of their past and the promise of their future, and through their struggles, triumphs, and vulnerabilities, they beckon readers to walk beside them on the intricate journey of the narrative.

Like chameleons, they adapt and evolve, revealing facets of their personalities with every turn of the page, forging connections that endure long after the story ends.

In the alchemy of character crafting, writers wield the power to change lives, challenge perspectives, and ignite imaginations, leaving an indelible mark on the literary landscape and the hearts of readers.

Developing a character’s backstory through their eyes

Developing a character’s backstory through their eyes is a subtle art of storytelling, akin to tracing the lines of history etched into a person’s gaze.

Eyes, like ancient manuscripts, hold secrets and chapters of the past that can be unveiled to enrich a character’s narrative.

The subtle flicker of sorrow in their gaze might hint at a childhood loss, while the spark of determination may reveal a lifetime of challenges overcome.

The eyes can be a portal to the character’s memories, showcasing scars, joys, and sorrows that have shaped them into who they are today.

In this intricate dance of character development, writers weave the threads of past experiences into the tapestry of the present, creating a character with depth, resonance, and a compelling backstory that resonates with readers on a profound level.

Conveying inner turmoil, secrets, and hidden agendas

Conveying inner turmoil, secrets, and hidden agendas through a character’s eyes is a mesmerizing act of literary intrigue.

The eyes become a canvas of emotions and unspoken truths, reflecting the turbulence within. A character’s gaze may betray the weight of unshared burdens, the flicker of a concealed motive, or the torment of a carefully guarded secret.

In their depths, we witness the swirling storms of inner conflict, the silent battles of conscience, and the enigmatic web of desires left unspoken.

The eyes are the storyteller’s most potent instrument, revealing the complex layers of human nature that lie beneath the surface.

As writers master the art of portraying these inner landscapes through the eyes, they invite readers to become detectives, deciphering the mysteries and unraveling the hidden depths of their characters, forging an unbreakable bond between reader and narrative.

Evoking empathy and reader connection

Evoking empathy and reader connection through a character’s eyes is akin to forging an unspoken pact between writer and reader, where the boundaries of the page dissolve, and hearts converge in understanding.

The eyes, often described as the windows to the soul, become the bridge between worlds. When a character’s eyes reflect their vulnerabilities, hopes, and fears, readers can’t help but see a reflection of themselves.

It’s in those moments of shared humanity, when readers recognize their own struggles, joys, and imperfections mirrored in the characters’ gaze, that a deep and enduring connection is formed.

Through the artful depiction of eyes, writers invite readers not just to witness a story but to experience it intimately, forging bonds that transcend fiction and make the characters’ journey their own.

Case Studies

Case studies are like literary treasure maps, guiding us through the intricate labyrinth of storytelling with the wisdom gleaned from the literary masters who’ve walked the path before us.

They are the vibrant tapestries woven from the threads of imagination and inspiration, showcasing the brilliance of writers who’ve dared to push the boundaries of the written word.

These captivating narratives dissect the anatomy of storytelling, revealing the nuances of character development, plot twists , and thematic resonance with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel.

Through case studies, we delve into the hearts and minds of unforgettable characters, witnessing their trials, tribulations, and triumphs.

These explorations of literary excellence are not just academic exercises; they are invitations to embark on intellectual adventures, fueling our own creative fires and inspiring us to craft our own masterpieces.

Analyzing notable examples from literature

Analyzing notable examples from literature is akin to entering a hallowed hall of mirrors, where each reflection reveals a different facet of the storytelling gem.

It’s a journey of literary excavation, where we unearth the treasures hidden within the words of the great authors who have shaped the canon of literature.

Through the careful dissection of these masterpieces, we uncover the secrets of character development, narrative structure, and thematic depth.

These notable examples are not just stories; they are living classrooms, offering profound insights into the human condition, cultural nuances, and the enduring power of the written word.

As we analyze these literary gems, we become not only readers but also scholars, peering behind the curtain of the author’s intentions and craftsmanship, and in doing so, we enrich our own understanding of the art of storytelling.

Deconstructing successful eye descriptions

Deconstructing successful eye descriptions is like unraveling a finely woven tapestry, revealing the intricate threads that make them shine.

It’s a detective’s quest, a literary adventure into the art of crafting evocative imagery. By dissecting these descriptions, we uncover the secrets of metaphor, simile, and the precise selection of adjectives that breathe life into the eyes on the page.

We observe how authors employ sensory language to create an immersive experience and build emotional connections between the characters and readers.

Successful eye descriptions aren’t just words on paper; they are living expressions of the characters’ inner worlds, windows into their emotions, and vehicles for conveying themes and subtext.

Deconstruction unveils the alchemy of storytelling, inviting us to peer beyond the surface and learn from the masters who’ve mastered the craft of describing eyes with brilliance and resonance.

Discussing the impact of eye descriptions on plot and character development

Discussing the impact of eye descriptions on plot and character development reveals the profound influence that seemingly subtle details can have on the entire narrative landscape.

Eyes, as conduits of emotion and intention, hold the power to shape the trajectory of a story. The way characters perceive the world, the motives they hide or reveal through their gazes, and the evolving dynamics between them, all pivot around the descriptions of their eyes.

These visual cues become signposts in the reader’s journey, foreshadowing plot twists, revealing hidden agendas, and enriching the tapestry of interpersonal relationships.

By delving into the impact of eye descriptions, we uncover how the nuances of a character’s gaze can be pivotal turning points or subtle undercurrents that drive the narrative forward, creating a symbiotic relationship between the characters’ eyes and the unfolding story.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical considerations in writing are the compass that guides us through the labyrinth of creativity , ensuring that our words bear the weight of responsibility and respect for diverse voices and perspectives.

It’s the moral anchor that reminds us that storytelling is not just an act of creation but also a reflection of our values and beliefs.

With every word we craft, we have the power to influence, inspire, or perpetuate harmful stereotypes. Ethical considerations challenge us to be conscious of cultural sensitivities, to embrace diversity, and to question our biases.

They prompt us to portray characters authentically, to avoid reducing them to caricatures, and to acknowledge the lived experiences of others.

In the realm of storytelling, ethics are not constraints but catalysts for thoughtfulness and empathy, reminding us that our words have the potential to shape minds, hearts, and even societies.

Avoiding stereotypes and clichés in eye descriptions

Avoiding stereotypes and clichés in eye descriptions is the hallmark of a discerning writer who refuses to settle for the ordinary.

Stereotypes, like overused tropes, can flatten characters into one-dimensional caricatures, robbing them of their authenticity and depth. In the world of eye descriptions, this means shunning tired clichés like “eyes as deep as the ocean” or “eyes that sparkle like stars,” and instead, embracing the unique nuances of each character’s gaze.

It’s about understanding that every pair of eyes tells a distinctive story, and it’s our duty as writers to do justice to that complexity.

By avoiding stereotypes and clichés, we honor the diversity of human experiences, allowing our characters to emerge as multifaceted beings with eyes that reflect the intricacies of their personalities, histories, and emotions.

The Revision Process

The revision process is the writer’s metamorphosis, where the raw ore of first drafts undergoes a refining fire to emerge as polished gems of storytelling.

It’s an act of alchemy, where words are transmuted into art. Like a sculptor chiseling away at a block of marble, the writer sculpts and reshapes sentences and paragraphs until they gleam with clarity and purpose.

It’s a dance of introspection and innovation, where each word is scrutinized, each scene dissected, and every character’s gaze scrutinized.

Through this meticulous process, the narrative deepens, characters grow more nuanced, and themes resonate more profoundly.

The revision process is where the magic happens, where a story is transformed from a rough sketch into a masterpiece, and where the writer’s dedication to craft shines brightest.

The importance of revising eye descriptions

The importance of revising eye descriptions in writing cannot be overstated. Just as a painter perfects each brushstroke to capture the essence of their subject, writers must refine and fine-tune their eye descriptions to encapsulate the true spirit of their characters. Revisions allow us to peel away layers of superficiality, to dive deeper into a character’s soul, and to ensure that each adjective, metaphor, and simile resonates with precision and impact.

Eye descriptions, being windows to a character’s emotions and personality, are powerful tools for reader engagement.

Through revision, we can evoke greater empathy, reveal hidden layers of complexity, and convey subtle shifts in mood or motive.

Ultimately, the well-revised eye description has the potential to transform a character from a mere figure on the page into a living, breathing entity that lingers in the reader’s mind long after the story has ended.

Fine-tuning eye descriptions for maximum effect

Fine-tuning eye descriptions for maximum effect is the writer’s quest for poetic precision and emotional resonance. It’s about sharpening the focus, like a photographer adjusting the lens for the perfect shot, until every detail is vivid and every emotion palpable.

Each word, each phrase, becomes a brushstroke on the canvas of the reader’s mind, painting a portrait that lingers in memory. It’s in the subtle nuances, the delicate balance of adjectives, and the cadence of the prose that we achieve the greatest impact.

Fine-tuning isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about conveying the character’s essence, their struggles and dreams, their history and destiny, all through the silent language of their eyes.

It’s in the meticulous revision of eye descriptions that we elevate them from mere words on a page to powerful conduits of connection, drawing readers into the heart of the narrative with every gaze, every flicker, and every unspoken emotion.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about How To Describe Eyes In Writing

How can i make my eye descriptions more captivating and unique.

To make your eye descriptions stand out, try to use unconventional comparisons and metaphors. Think beyond the typical “deep as the ocean” and experiment with unexpected analogies that suit your character or setting.

Should I focus on physical details or emotions when describing eyes?

Both physical details and emotions are important. Combining them can create a well-rounded description. Describe the physical characteristics first, and then delve into how those eyes reflect the character’s emotions or inner world.

Can you provide examples of how to describe unusual eye colors?

Certainly! For instance, describe violet eyes as “a shade between twilight and a pansy,” or golden eyes as “gleaming like molten honey under the sun.”

How can I describe eyes in a way that reveals a character’s backstory?

You can reveal a character’s backstory through their eyes by mentioning scars, wrinkles, or a haunted look that hints at past experiences. For example, “Her eyes held the weight of years gone by, etched with lines of wisdom and sorrow.”

What’s the best way to describe eyes in a suspenseful or mysterious scene?

In suspenseful scenes, focus on the intensity and movement of the eyes. Mention how they dart around, widen in fear, or narrow in suspicion. Describe them as “searching for answers in the shadows” or “hiding secrets behind a veil of uncertainty.”

Can I use the eyes to foreshadow events in my story?

Yes, eyes can be a subtle tool for foreshadowing. Describe them in a way that hints at what’s to come. For instance, you can mention “a glint of mischief” if a character is planning something mischievous.

How can I describe eyes in a romantic context without being cliché?

To describe eyes in a romantic context without clichés, focus on the unique qualities of the eyes and how they captivate the other person. Mention details like “their eyes met like two stars colliding in the night sky,” instead of using overused comparisons like “lost in their gaze.”

Is it essential to describe every detail of a character’s eyes?

No, it’s not necessary to describe every detail. Select the most significant and relevant details that contribute to the character’s depth or the story’s atmosphere. Less can often be more effective.

How can I convey a character’s change in emotions through their eyes during a dialogue scene?

Use eye descriptions in conjunction with dialogue tags and actions to convey emotions. For example, “Her eyes brightened with excitement as she exclaimed…” or “His eyes hardened with resolve as he responded…”

Can I use eyes to symbolize themes in my story?

Absolutely. Eyes can symbolize themes such as insight, deception, or connection. Describe them in a way that aligns with your story’s themes to add depth and symbolism.

Remember, the key to effective eye descriptions is to tailor them to your characters, plot, and the emotions you want to convey, and to keep your writing fresh and engaging.

In the art of storytelling, the eyes have proven time and again to be powerful conduits of emotion, character depth, and narrative resonance.

As we conclude our exploration of “How To Describe Eyes In Writing,” we find ourselves equipped with the tools and insights to transform mere descriptions into vivid canvases that captivate and engage readers.

We’ve navigated the intricate terrain of sensory language, metaphors, and character development, and delved into the realm of symbolism and cultural nuances.

We’ve also pondered the ethical dimensions of our craft, striving to represent diverse perspectives with sensitivity and respect.

Whether crafting eyes that shimmer with mystery, smolder with intensity, or glisten with vulnerability, the art of describing eyes allows us to leave an indelible mark on the tapestry of storytelling.

As we continue our literary journeys, may our newfound understanding of this subtle yet profound aspect of character portrayal enhance our storytelling prowess, leaving readers both enthralled and moved by the vivid worlds we create through the gaze of our characters.

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How to describe eyes in a story: 7 simple tips

Learning how to describe eyes in a story without resorting to cliché helps set your writing apart from amateurish fiction. Many beginning authors over-rely on eye descriptions and eye color to create an impression of their characters. Here are 7 tips for talking about your characters’ eyes creatively:

• Post author By Bridget McNulty
• 16 Comments on How to describe eyes in a story: 7 simple tips

Learning how to describe eyes in a story without resorting to cliché helps set your writing apart from amateurish fiction. Describing eyes is a handy literary tool to show your character’s complex emotions. Many beginning authors over-rely on eye descriptions and eye color to create an impression of their characters. Here are 7 tips for to describe eyes in writing

How to write better eye descriptions:

• Avoid fixating on eye color.
• Make characters’ eyes contrasting or incongruous
• Use eye appearance or description, eg eye shape, to support story development
• Describe the eye area rather than just eye color
• Use eyes to communicate psychology
• Read examples of great eye descriptions from books
• Move beyond describing eyes in your story

Let’s unpack these ideas a little:

1. Avoid fixating on eye color

The color of a person’s eyes doesn’t tell us whether they are kind or cruel, an optimist or a pessimist. Often aspiring authors focus on the eyes more than anything else when describing characters. While this is a feature we notice (especially if a person has unusual, striking eyes), there are many other interesting facial features.

As an exercise, practice describing a character’s face . Describe their mouth, nose, brow, chin and ears. Find a simile or metaphor for each (e.g. ‘His mouth was a tight red knot.’)

One way to make eye description more interesting is to make characters’ eyes stand out in relation to character traits or other features:

2. Make characters’ eyes contrasting or incongruous

People’s appearances are often full of strange juxtapositions and contrasts. The man with the big, ruddy face might have small, delicate hands. One way to describe characters’ eyes effectively is to use them to create contrast. For example, a character who has a nervous temperament could have an intense, penetrating stare that one wouldn’t expect, given their nervous or avoidant behaviour. Or they might avoid eye contact altogether which can also be incongruous.

3. Use eye description to support story development

One reason descriptions of novel characters’ eyes sometimes reads as cliché is because authors describe eyes apropos of nothing. ‘She smiled and looked across at him with her emerald green eyes’ reads a little awkwardly because the character’s eye color is not particularly relevant. Drawing attention to it almost detracts from the key action here – the momentary connection between two characters.

However, you can use eye description effectively at key points of character development . For example, if a character witnesses a horrific scene, their eyes might seem vacant or otherwise haunted to passersby. In Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment , when the protagonist Raskolnikov comes to see an elderly pawnbroker at an unusual time, unarranged, Dostoevksy describes the pawnbroker’s eyes to reflect the changed conditions of their interaction and the woman’s awareness of this:

‘The door was as before opened a tiny crack, and again two sharp and suspicious eyes stared at him out of the darkness.’ ( Crime and Punishment , Chapter 7)

You could also use a character’s poor vision or a visual impairment as a plot point: perhaps because your character, the witness, has poor vision, it’s not clear if they were able to see the murderer properly. 

Use adjectives that describe how a character’s eyes look to support the tone and mood of a scene, drawing attention to story developments, as Dostoevsky does. Yet don’t over-rely on adjectives to create character impressions . Let actions and words speak too.

Master Character Description

Write better character description with the help of practical exercises and videos.

4. Describe the eye area rather than just eye color

To avoid clichéd eye descriptions, instead of describing color describe the eye area. For example, if there are bags or dark circles underneath a character’s eyes this conveys tiredness and/or anxiety. Eyes that are swollen, puffy or ringed with red indicate recent emotional distress. Narrowed eyes indicate hostility or suspicion. Half-closed eyes indicate drowsiness. Mischievous eyes can indicate a fun-loving person.

Describe the shape of the eye too: you could describe your character as having almond-shaped eyes, or hooded, or having a monolid (eyes that don’t have a crease), wrinkled, makeup smudged creating a panda-like effect. Eyes wide open could indicate innocence or naivety. Eyes aflame with passion conveys an entirely different range of emotions or state of being too. Take note of how eyes change in dim light, with the pupil growing big. You could just simply use a medical condition to describe eyes for example ptosis, which is an excessively droopy eyelid. 

When you get down to it, there are countless ways to describe eyes that show emotion and psychological state in addition to appearance. Make your eye descriptions do more work for your story.

5. Use eyes to communicate psychology

To follow on from the above point, think about how your eye descriptions create impressions about your characters’ temperaments and psychologies. For example, a character who blinks often might be a little nervous. On the other hand, a character who rolls her eyes often could be the cynical, ‘so over it right now’ teen. You could describe a compassionate person, let’s say a psychologist, as having warm brown eyes, for instance that look at other characters with interest and care. 

The important thing is not to overdo eye descriptions. If a character performs an eye movement such as rolling her eyes a few times it conveys her sarcastic nature. Yet if she does this every page, it can stale quickly. Use your discretion.

6. Read examples of great eye descriptions from books

It’s useful to keep a separate journal for character descriptions you love. That way, whenever you are trying to describe a character , you can page through effective descriptions and remind yourself what works.

Famous books are peppered with great eye descriptions. For example, in Crime and Punishment , Dostoevsky creates a suitably suspenseful and creepy tone when Raskolnikov’s family come to visit him at his lodgings and are watched suspiciously by the landlady as they enter:

‘[W]hen they reached the landlady’s door on the fourth storey, they noticed that her door was a tiny crack open and that two keen black eyes were watching them from the darkness within.’

The description is simple yet effective. The adjective ‘keen’ comes before the color ‘black’, as it should, being the more descriptive and informative of the two.

Although it’s not effective to simply describe eye color alone, many successful authors do describe eye color – even improbable colors as J.K. Rowling does when she describes the villain of Harry Potter , Lord Voldemort:

‘[His face was] whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake’s with slits for nostrils’.

Rowling, like Dostoevsky, places the most important, emotion-conveying descriptor first. Even though Voldemort’s eyes are ‘scarlet’, a non-standard eye color, they are first described as ‘livid’, conveying immense anger appropriate to a villain.

7. Move beyond describing eyes in your story

To truly describe characters brilliantly, describe aspects of your character that are most relevant to a given scene. For example, if a character is fleeing the scene of a crime, their eye color is scarcely relevant here. But describing their body language (as they attempt to slip past passersby unnoticed) or breathing can heighten tension.

As important as it is to know how to describe eyes in a story without using cliché, it’s even more important to have rounded character description skills.

Join Now Novel to create detailed character sketches using our guided prompts. Get helpful feedback on your character descriptions from your online writing community.

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• Tags characterisation , describing characters , writing characters , writing tips

By Bridget McNulty

Bridget McNulty is a published author, content strategist, writer, editor and speaker. She is the co-founder of two non-profits: Sweet Life Diabetes Community, South Africa's largest online diabetes community, and the Diabetes Alliance, a coalition of all the organisations working in diabetes in South Africa. She is also the co-founder of Now Novel: an online novel-writing course where she coaches aspiring writers to start - and finish! - their novels. Bridget believes in the power of storytelling to create meaningful change.

16 replies on “How to describe eyes in a story: 7 simple tips”

Good advice on what it is the character is looking at. I have told my listeners to do something similar in the past. Always describe what it is that the character’s five senses are telling them. You don’t have to use all of them and the sense of sight is a powerful one.

Rick Dean/Poor Richard’s Bloganac

I agree. I think the idea of watching your metaphors is also a powerful one.

This is really nice!

Thanks James!

I also have a tip. I noticed that a lot of people overuse the color of peoples eyes. They talk about how ‘ocean blue they are’ and always somehow worm the color of there ‘dazzling eyes’ into the chapter, which can be annoying, and feel a little unrealistic. It’s okay for the character to recognize how strange or beautiful another character’s eyes are, but not if it is all the time. It gets old and makes the story a little boring when all you know about the other character is the color of there eyes.

Completely agree with this, Katherine. Many writers use this in the attempt to create a sense of intimacy but it can be very cliched.

This is, hands down, the best information I’ve found on this subject! Re-Blogging on http:www.rijanks.wordpress.com

Hi Jan – thank you so much, that’s very kind. Will share your re-blog.

I like the ideas in this blog post. They’re great.

Thanks, Linda! Thank you for reading.

I want to describe a person, that can manipulate water or bend it. ( in other words, I want to describe a person with water powers.) But I don’t know how to do it professionally and smoothly, since I am not aiming to write a little fairytale about a girl with magical powers, I am trying to make it descriptive and appropriately written out, which I am very much struggling to do. I am hoping you could help me out and give me suggestion, since your advice on how to describe this subject in writing really helped me, if any viewers can give me suggestion i would very, very much appreciate it to.

Hi Prasha, Happy New Year! Thank you for your question, it sounds an interesting character power. I would say try to focus on the exact, precise detail. For example, the visual qualities of the water (the droplets, the motion, the way it reflects the light), the way your character concentrates to manipulate it (or any specific words they say that are part of executing their power over water).

Precise and specific details that describe the exact phenomena taking place will help to put your reader in the scene – movement, colour, sound. This is more impactful than, for example, if you were to just write ‘She used her powers to summon water’ as this relies more on broad, abstract ideas.

Literally never in all my years of trying to write have I seen something that is not only so in-depth as far as THE HOW of describing character features, but also expressed in a way that is completely tangible and digestible. This is essentially THE post I’ve been looking for. Outstanding. Thank you so much. -Billy

Hi Billy, thank you! I’m glad you’re finding our articles helpful and that this answered what you were looking for. Thanks for reading our blog and taking time to leave feedback.

I have a character in a book I am writing and I want to know if this is ok. “She looked over At Annika with deep blue eyes that reflected power and magic. Some people even say she was almost killed for that when she was born” (magic is outlawed)

Hi Madelyn, thank you for sharing your extract from work in progress. There are good elements here. I would suggest finding phrases that tell (for example, ‘…that reflected power and magic…’) and replacing them with words that show more (what is it about her eyes specifically that ‘reflects power and magic’? Is it something eerie or unnatural/supernatural about their colour/shape/intensity/her stare?

Keep going and good luck!

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65 Ways to Describe Sight and Eyes in Your Writing

Ever since William Shakespeare said:

“The Eyes are the window to your soul”

… people have been trying to decode ever glitter, wrinkle, squint, and gaze that passes from those orbs. When I read a description that catches my attention, I copy it down, using it later to remind me there’s more to a character’s eyes than ‘she looked’ or ‘his blue eyes’.

Here’s my list of 65 (and growing):

A note: These are for inspiration only . They can’t be copied because they’ve been pulled directly from an author’s copyrighted manuscript (intellectual property is immediately copyrighted when published).

• Eyed me as though his bullshit meter was ticking in the red zone.
• He blinked as his eyes adjusted.
• an alertness in the eyes, behind the glasses that sat crookedly on the nose
• Cold gaze fixed on the anxious young man
• Cast a skeptical eye
• Sure, we know that, said Herrera, taking off his glasses to inspect the lenses.
• Gaffan saw Marley’s eyes open wide in surprise and recognition.
• Eyes bleary from surveillance and the two-hour drive
• Vision narrowed to a pinprick
• Eyes clouded
• eyes locked on like magnets
• four pairs of eyes blinked in unison
• studied her with a predator’s unwavering attention
• blinked a couple of times

• eyes narrowed to slits
• Narrowed his eyes
• eyes locked in a shared understanding
• yellow rimmed eyes narrowing
• peer sightlessly at a wall
• eyes turned inward
• shook her head and stared at the pool
• Staring sightlessly into the darkness
• Stared off into the crowd but didn’t seem to see anything
• Stared into the distance
• Fixed expression
• Looked at a place somewhere over his shoulder
• focused on an empty space in the air between them
• eyes narrowed, she got a vertical wrinkle between her eyebrows. Her lips pursed slightly.
• Their eyes met, but he broke it off
• meaningful eye contact
• studied Hood with her level gaze
• risked a peek
• she screwed her eyes shut
• stared brazenly into her eyes
• opened her eyes wide
• dark eyes radiated a fierce, uncompromising intelligence
• rubbed raw eyes
• eyes felt scratchy and I was jittery with coffee and raw from sleeplessness.
• His eyes flickered past me.
• His eyes were never still and he never looked at me except in passing
• Caught her peeking at Hawk sideways out of a narrow corner of her right eye.
• Watching the bystanders from the edge of his vision
• Looked him over with the respect men who have not served give those who have

• Ferret-like eyes
• Dark eyes smoldering
• Lined from squinting into too many suns
• Eyes were dark pools of fear
• looked like hell—purple bags under her eyes,
• eyes carried a mixture of shock and barely contained anger
• bright eyes of an optimist
• one eye clouded with a cataract
• wounded eyes
• his body felt heavy
• eyes were dark, cupped by fleshy pouches
• wire-rimmed glasses
• Slate-blue eyes
• Dark solemn eyes
• Spark in his grey eyes
• Steely-eyed
• Huge blue eyes that gave her a startled look
• black circles beneath her eyes had become bruises
• Wide-spread aquamarine eyes
• brown eyes wearing reading glasses
• Piercing stare
• Close set black eyes
• Watery blue eyes
• Memorable only for his bleak eyes
• Nets of wrinkles at the corners of her eyes
• Eyes flat as little pebbles
• Steely eyed
• long eyelashes
• laughing eyes
• predatory eyes
• Eyes were red-rimmed from allergies
• Under heavy lids; heavy-lidded
• Sensitive brown eyes
• Eyes sunk into his sockets
• Competitive, fixed, dead-eyed, and querulous stare of people who weren’t getting far enough fast enough
• I’ve-seen-it-all eyes
• bedroom eyes, dark hair falling into them
• Crows feet radiated from corners of eyes
• the light fades from his eyes until they are dark and empty
• eyes were brown in the middle and bloodshot everywhere else
• stared through him
• Looked left and right before starting
• Pingponging his gaze between A and B
• His glance, as conspiratorial as a wink
•  eyes watched her the way a tiger watched a bunny
• Shadow passed over his eyes
• Flicker in his eyes
• Said without looking at him
• looked for a common theme, a thread of some sort
• She frowned–couldn’t recall the incident
• Heard little and cared less
• Hovering over her shoulder
• His eyes flattened
• His face hardened in concentration
• Thinking about my conversation with the old detective
• shot a look over the top of his glasses
• Squinted at the sun
• Arched an eye brow
• Looked at me with a strangled expression
• Bushy eyebrows
• eyebrows of white steel wool
• a single bushy bar above the eyes

More descriptors for writing:

Lots of them

48 Collections to Infuse Your Writing

What is a ‘Hacker’

Copyright ©2022 worddreams.wordpress.com – All rights reserved.

Jacqui Murray  is the author of the popular prehistoric fiction saga,  Man vs. Nature  which explores seminal events in man’s evolution one trilogy at a time. She is also the author of the  Rowe-Delamagente thrillers  and  Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy .  Her non-fiction includes over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, reviews as an  Amazon Vine Voice ,  a columnist for  NEA Today , and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction,  Savage Land,  Winter 2024 .

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150 thoughts on “ 65 Ways to Describe Sight and Eyes in Your Writing ”

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So interesting!

Like Liked by 1 person

Thank you! It’s easy to fall into the traditional color/size/that sort, but there is so much more to eyes than that. Which–of course–you understand, with your interest in music.

Thank you again for this wonderful reply 💝

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There is no copyright on most if not all of these. You may have copied them from a particular manuscript but the phrases themselves have been used thousands of times…”arched an eyebrow” , “Cast a skeptical eye” – c’mon…look at these phrases…they are all quite generic.

You are right–just an abundance of caution. Thanks, Vicki.

I think they’re pretty neat, Jacqui.

I absolutely love this list. Thank you so much. I’m always searching for lists. One of my favorite lists is finding words to use instead of said.

Glad you found it helpful!

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Jacqui, Can’t comment on just one post — I find something helpful in your posts on matter the subject. For now, the “eyes” have it. Thanks, also on commenting on my posts and for your regular blurbs. Mask up and enjoy the holidays.

I have quite a collection of masks these days! Thanks for the greetings, Nancy!

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Thanks for visiting.

Hi Jacqui, I just got your last book from Amazon and I started to read it. When the Thames is finished I will write about it, as promised. Joanna

Thank you, Joanna! I’d love that. But don’t rush. Your series on rivers is fascinating.

Very useful to many budding writers. Thank you, Jacqui, for your comments about the posts on my blog naturetails.blog I am back home from the hospital but still not very well. Nothing serious. Joanna

I’m so sorry to hear that, Gaby. It’s awful to be sick, especially now.

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Love this! Very helpful.

Thanks! Glad this was helpful.

Wow thanks!! These are worth remembering – or at least remembering where they are.

Pretty amazing how many ways there are to discuss ‘see’!

Reblogged this on Home – SFH and commented: This is such a good list for anyone need good sight words!

Thanks for sharing!

wow amazing list , Thank you for compiling it very useful to me !

I am so amazed by the creativity of writers. These really caught my attention.

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I will look at this list when I’m writing 🤔 my eyes would read. She looked through her red itchy eyes and decided he was a hunk. But what could she do about it at 61 and wrinkled skin. Go to Walmart for Gold Bond!

Like Liked by 2 people

Hehee. You and me both!

I think you are amazing with the wealth of words you provide.

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Just found this – these are great! My eyes are wide with admiration….

I see what you did there!

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Hi Jacqui, Thank you for liking my poem, I love writing poetry…and playing around with words::my passion! Add people and I’m made up! I enjoyed your lists and ideas; thank you.. To think there are only 26 letters in the English language. Isn’t it amazing what us writers do with them. Magic! Best wishes. xx

Well, Nature has us beat. Only 4 bases for DNA and look at all the variation. Yikes!

Thanks goes to you for promoting my work as a powerful Psychic spiritual healer in usa and for liking my blogs, let me live my number here +27634299958 whatsapp. THANKS

Like Liked by 3 people

Thanks for visiting me, too!

Love this! Thanks for taking time away from your writing to visit my blog!

Fun visit, Lily. I’m new to #authorstoolboxbloghop and am enjoying all the new writers I’m meeting!

I’m looking for some advice. I want to describe the look someone gives another person when the former is deliberately feigning interest in a way meant to convey mockery and contempt. I’ll try to give a brief example.

Person A says something person B finds ridiculous or uninteresting.

Person B, being a jerk, makes a sarcastic remark to the effect of “wow, how fascinating!” while giving person A a look that matches her attitude.

It’s all about body language…and the fact that it’s nearly 6 am and I am struggling to be descriptive! Thanks for your help.

Snide? Or dismissive? Or like you just stepped in a cow turd?

Hmm… Let’s see what anyone else has to offer!

some great ideas in this list Jacqui to stimulate the imagination. also, a good reminder about copyright 🙂

I’m pretty paranoid about copyrights. I’m perfectly happy paying for images rather than worrying they’re in the public domain.

exactly. i bought 5 images recently from shuttlestock. not very expensive.

Also technically you can’t copywriter a phrase you didn’t make up. “Narrowed his eyes” is on this list and I’m sure that’s been used thousands of times in manuscripts for many, many years. Copying a whole paragraph that a phrase is imbedded in is wrong, but using common phrases in your writing but putting it in your own context is not violating a copyright.

You’re absolutely right. Good to point this out!

“Eyed me as though his bullshit meter was ticking in the red zone.”. Awesome.

I’ve felt that way myself at times!

Seriously, this is a great list!

Great examples. You had me at the first one.

Yeah, I like that one too. It evokes some good mental images.

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This is excellent! Thanks.

Thanks! They are all quite authentic.

Thank you Jacqui! it was helpful..

I love hearing that, Vijaya.

This is a thorough and useful list, Jacqui. Thank you. 🙂 — Suzanne

I get a lot of inspiration from this one. Thanks, Patricia.

I love posts like this, Jacqui. They make me reach beyond the self-imposed limits of my little grey cells 🙂

Every time I prepare to write “he squinted” or “his ferret eyes”, I check this list. I can do so much more with eyes!

I’ve bookmarked it and will be using in the future 🙂

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Brilliant Jacqui thank you. The eyes are such a crucial element in connection with someone. Eyes meeting across a crowded room has been the start of many a wonderful romance…..

Thanks so much for sharing this post on your blog, Sally. It’s been fun hearing the feedback.

Pleasure Jacqui. x

Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady .

Thanks for the reblog!

Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog .

Thanks for the reblog, Chris!

Welcome, Jacqui – great info 😃

It’s in august company on your blog.

THANK YOU, Jacqui ❤️

Reblogged this on Plaisted Publishing House and commented: Awesome writing tips for Sight and Eyes 🙂

Fantastic list, thank you!

My pleasure.

Excellent, Jacqui. Thanks for sharing.

These definitely inspire me when I get stuck. Thanks for visiting.

Haha! Love the 1st one, I have to use that on my hubby. LOLz

Oh yeah. I use it a lot on mine!

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Awesome write-up. I wonder if a person used some of these phrases in their own book or novel would it be considered plagiarism? I posted earlier but I wrote the wrong address.

It could be–and some of them are so outstanding, genre readers would recognize them for where they came from. Not worth the risk!

thanks for your response. But I think it depends. As I look over some of the words in sight, I already have them in my book and chances are some of the phrases are in other books. Phrases like “Eyes turned inwards”, “Looked him over”, “Blinks several times”, “Squinted into the crowd.” In my novel I used, “His eyes darted back and forth.” coming to find out that the phrase is used in over 15 other novels that I found and I am sure there are more. I’m sure there are probably other phrases that I use in some of these books as well. Can I call it plagiarism if I see phrases I used in my book?

I guess it depends on the complexity of the sentence.

You are right–those types of general phrasing is pretty much public domain. Good to point that out!

Thank you! This is perfect for when I’m sitting there thinking, ‘how should I say?’ which causes me to stop and think too long and uh-oh I wind up in the writer’s block zone!

Thanks exactly what it does for me, too. Inspiration.

Well, isn’t that thorough. i love the first one about the bullshit meter.

We’re so far beyond ‘beady eyes’ aren’t we?

This is so much help. Thank you.

My pleasure!

Wow, so many ways to describe and possibly we still have even more things the eyes express. Magical are the eyes, small organs with great power. Thanks miriam

That is true. I think that veil with just the eyes showing is a perfect example.

Reblogged this on lampmagician .

Thank you so much for sharing. Sometimes my thoughts gets stuck and I need something to give it a kick start. 🙂

That is exactly what these lists are for. Sometimes, I just read the dictionary, find great words that evoke an image that leads to a plot point. I love writing.

If only I had a photographic memory … as long as I didn’t have to sacrifice my busy, sometimes all over the place, creative mind. 😳

This was such a help. Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you so much! These will definitely help me in my writing!

Great writer tips. Thanks for your recent visit to my blog.

These are fun, aren’t they?

This has helped me so much! I always get stuck describing how characters ‘look’ at certain things. Thank you!

It’s amazing how many ways you can say the same thing. Glad you like these.

it was of great help for me.. beautifully expressed…

Thanks! And, I’m sure the cute dog doesn’t hurt it’s read-me value.

no it didn’t… rather its my favorite breed so its just an add on cuteness & more expressive 🙂

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Awesome list!! Thanks for sharing 😀

and a free cute dog picture–what could be better!

Excellent… Being language my second language you have no idea how this post helps me, dear Jacqui… Best wishes! Aquileana ⭐

I bet many of them seem quite odd to you. I’m highly impressed with your writing skills.

Exactly!… But I am learning with your post!… Oh and thank you, Jacqui!… I’d humbly say that I feel I have made considerable improvements! … Best wishes! Aquileana 😀

Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented: Can someone explain the copywrite law when it comes to using common phrases? I’ve used quite a few of these in my writing and even my nurse’s notes. I did not think using a common phrase would be considered infringement.

My old eyes can’t ‘see’ as much as your young ones and writing brain can Jacqui. You’ve given me so much great tips over the last couple of years, I wish I knew long time ago. These are the ones came at a critical juncture of my [nonsensical?] book. Thanks for your help Jaqui. Arun from over the pond.

I see your eyes laughing! Ah, you are the master of subtle humor, Arun.

You know, I’m always scratching my head and pulling at my hair trying to think of others ways to say “looked”. These will help. Thanks.

And ‘saw’. These aren’t like changing the tag, ‘he said’. They aren’t supposed to be invisible. Gee, it gets hard sometimes.

These are great. Eyes are so expressive and are a must to mention when writing.

They are. Shoulders, feet–they can be ignored, but not what’s communicated with eyes.

With this post Jacqui “The ayes have it”! You are such a great resource, thank you.

Fabulous as always, Jacqui. Thanks so much. Something to chew on. ❤

Chomp chomp!

Great post. I was reminded tonight how important expressive eyes are while watching the Voice.

Since so much of communication is the body, it makes sense we should be aware of what’s being said.

Thanks, Jacqui. This should prove very helpful.

So much more expressive, aren’t they?

Great tips! Thank you so much for sharing! Have a lovely week 🙂

Lots of ways to say, ‘he saw’, aren’t there?

Yes, quite! Thank you. Very useful tips 🙂

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BRYN DONOVAN

tell your stories, love your life

• Writing Inspiration
• Semi-Charmed Life
• Reading & Research
• Works In Progress.

Master List of Physical Description for Writers

I created this list of ways to describe people

because physical description, when done well, helps the readers see characters in their minds. But sometimes when you’re in the middle of writing, it can be hard to think of physical adjectives and distinguishing features for characters. I find that describing facial features can be especially tricky!

That’s why I created this long list of physical characteristics. It’s kind of like a character description generator, and it’ll help you when you’re trying to think of how to describe a character’s appearance.

Eyes – General

 For all the words about describing facial features, I’m focusing more on physical descriptions rather than emotional expressions, though there’s a little crossover! You can also check out my long list of facial expressions.

heavy-lidded

fringed with long lashes

with sweeping eyelashes

with thick eyelashes

By the way, this post on how to describe (and not describe) the eyes of an Asian character  is really great. Check it out.

Eyes – Color

Brown is the most common eye color by far. Green is quite rare.

chocolate brown

cocoa brown

coffee brown

sienna brown

Support My Site

If you like what I do, please support me on Ko-fi!

cornflower blue

Arctic blue

glacial blue

crystal blue

electric blue

slate blue / slate gray

storm blue / storm gray

silver / silver gray

concrete gray

gunmetal gray

Skin – Color

Josh Roby made a great chart of skin tones and descriptor words, and I got a lot of these words from him. You can get that here .

The quote from N.K. Jemisin interested me: “I get really tired of seeing African-descended characters described in terms of the goods that drove, and still drive, the slave trade—coffee, chocolate, brown sugar. There’s some weird psychosocial baggage attached to that.” 

cream / creamy

rose / rosy

Skin – General

Some of these are better for the face, and some are better for other parts of the body.

translucent

luminescent

with large pores

weather-beaten

Face – Structure

heart-shaped

high forehead

broad forehead

prominent brow ridge

protruding brow bone

sharp cheekbones

high cheekbones

angular cheekbones

hollow cheeks

jutting chin

pointed chin

receding chin

double chin

dimple in chin

visible Adam’s apple

People don’t write much about noses, but they can be distinguishing features for characters!

Cupid’s bow

straight teeth

gap between teeth

gleaming white teeth

Facial Hair (or lack thereof)

clean-shaven

smooth-shaven

mutton-chop sideburns

a few days’ growth of beard

five o’ clock shadow

Hair – General

I threw a few hairstyles in here, though not many.

shoulder-length

neatly combed

slicked down / slicked back

buzzed / buzz cut

widow’s peak

Hair – Color

There are some repeats here from the eye color section!

salt and pepper

charcoal gray

brown sugar

tawny brown

toffee brown

Titian-haired

strawberry blonde

butterscotch

sandy blond

fair-haired

Body Type – General

average height

barrel-chested

heavy / heavy-set

pot-bellied

full-figured

leggy / long-legged

broad-shouldered

sloping shoulders

stubby fingers

long fingers

ragged nails

grimy fingernails

ink-stained

This list and many more are in my book Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plot Ideas, Character Traits, Names, and More . Check it out if you’re interested!

And if you don’t want to miss future writing posts, follow the blog, if you aren’t already — there’s a place to sign up on the lefthand side of the blog. Thanks for stopping by, and happy writing!

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127 thoughts on “ master list of physical description for writers ”.

Thanks, Bryn! This list has sparked a spark in my brain. I haven’t seen one of those for a while. I was getting worried I’d lost my flint!

I’m so glad you like it!

I love this, do you mind if we share on our blog WritersLife.org ?

Thanks for the positive feedback! You can’t reproduce it on your blog, but you can share an excerpt of 200 words or less plus a link to my site.

As a new novel writer all I can say is thank very much for sharing with us this wonderful list.

Ah you’re welcome! Thanks for visiting!

This is amazing! Thank you very much!

Thanks for the kind words–glad it seems helpful!

Reblogged this on looselyjournalying.

Reblogged this on Of Fancy & Creativity .

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Aw thank you for this it helped so much! I’m 15 and I’m trying to write a novel and this was sooooo helpful so thank you a billion 🙂 Best wishes.

Ah you’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by. Good for you for working on a novel, and good luck–I bet it will go great!

Hi, Bryn Thank you for doing these lists. They helped me a lot. Can you make a list on how to describe emotions like sadness or anger.

It’s funny you should ask 🙂 There’s a list like that in my book MASTER LISTS FOR WRITERS coming out this fall! I haven’t officially announced it yet, but hey 🙂

You can get a free copy when it comes out if you agree to give it an honest review. SIgn up for my newsletter if you’re interested!

Reblogged this on Kalynn Bayron and commented: Yes! This is great!

Was just looking for this type of lists.Great work.

This is so helpful.

I love your blog, btw. Your posts are informative and/or inspirational.

Are you on any social medial where I can follow you?

Oh, thank you so much! I just checked out your blog — I love the dream casting post! http://sbhadleywilson.com/blog/pull-ideal-cast-2/

I’m @BrynDonovan on Twitter, just followed you!

VERY helpful. I need to get basic descriptions of people done and out of the way to move on with plot. This quickens any details that might have taken me a long time to think through, or strain a sentence. Yuck. I know my females characters would pay attention to lots of physical details. not so with the males. Thanks!

Oh, so glad it’s helpful! That’s always what I’m trying to do with my lists — speed things up. I hate getting stuck on a detail and losing my momentum 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!

godsent list! Bryn, I wish you more brains.

Reblogged this on Jessica Louis and commented: This list is beyond helpful. Who knew there were so many eye colors!?

Thanks Bryn your list was amazing. I’m an aspiring writer and it really helped me a lot. When I can I’m going to get a copy of your book. I think it would help me become a better writer. My genre of choice is erotic, but it is so hard to get out there, but I’m hopeful one day I will. It’s what I love to do and I’m going to keep trying.

Hi Beth! Thank you so much for the kind words. If you do get the book, I hope you like it! And good luck on writing erotica — I’m doing a “WIP Wednesday” this Wednesday where you can share a bit of your work in progress, if you like 🙂

That would be great. I have some short stories publish on a site called Literotica. I have some editing issues that I’m trying to work out, nothing a few classes wouldn’t help. How do I share my work.

I am so sorry! I missed this comment before. The next WIP Wednesday on the blog is Dec. 2… if you’re following the blog you’ll see the post! (The follow button is on the righthand side of this page.) Hope your writing’s going well 🙂

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Reblogged this on PRINCE CHARMING ISN'T HERE and commented: what an amazing list! I always have a hard time describing features! words sometimes fail me!

i loved this list! thank you so much for making it! 🙂

So glad it was helpful!

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Thank you! This is so helpful to have for reference. Occasionally I’ll have a particular word in mind and can’t think of it, and I can usually pop over here and find it right away!

I absolutely love your master lists. They have helped me so much in diversifying the words I use when I’m writing. 🙂

Ohhh thank you! That is so great to hear. 🙂 Hope your writing projects are going great!

Thank you, and they are. I’m just about to publish a works I’ve been working on for the past couple of months, which is so exciting. XD Hope all your writing projects are going great as well. 🙂

What a wonderful and thorough list Bryn. Thanks for sharing it! I will at some point ‘link back’ to this fabulous article (I’ll let you know when I do.) I’m new to your site, but will certainly be back for more! I’m fascinated to learn that you’re also a home-grown KC girl. =0) Although, I remarried and moved to California 9 years ago, KC still tugs my heart-strings.

Hey, so glad you like it! Yeah, Kansas City is a special place. Come visit anytime 🙂 And thanks for visiting my blog! — I LOVE your username, by the way. Made me smile.

thanks for following my blog!

Reblogged this on A Bundle of Cute.

Reblogged this on A Blissful Garden and commented: I find this very important!

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Thanks for sharing this list! It is amazing and so helpful !

I’m going to save this as a favorite. You always provide great information Bryn. Continue with your success.

Oh, thank you so much, Christopher! I really appreciate the kind words. So glad you like this!

This list is so complete! I haven’t worked on fiction in a long while, but lately I’ve been wanting to get back into it. I know this is going to be a great help when i sit down to create my characters!

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This is absolutely perfect for aspiring writers so that we don’t have to use Microsoft Word synonyms that tend to nit have what we’re searching for. Your introductory paragraph about readers falling in love with characters’ personalities and not theit physical attributes was spot on. Thank you thank you, thank you!

Chunny! Thank you so very much for the kind words. I’m so glad you found it helpful!!

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This is amazing! Thank you! I hope it’s alright if I use this as a reference in a blog post for character development.

Hi Jacquelyn! So glad you like it. That’s fine, just please link to the post!

I read this over and over, thank you for creating this! Can I just ask, when thinking of clothing and how to describe it, what are some things you would put? (I’m making a book draft and have never needed clothing described to me as much as now)

Thank you! It’s so important that we don’t reuse the same words too often, so this will help a lot with that problem.

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Thanks for helping me. It really made a big difference of helping me come up with something.

Hi Joseph! Sorry for the delayed reply! I’m so glad you liked it. Thanks for the kind words!

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Your book “Master Lists for Writers” has helped me incredibly. I’ve always wanted to be a romance writer but didn’t have the nerve until now. I am currently working on a short story about a college girl who is assaulted by a classmate. It was based on a dream I had a few nights ago. I haven’t developed how she gets her revenge on him. I know the story line seems dark but the dream stuck with me so much, I felt the urge to turn it into a story. Thank you again for your awesome book. What a great resource

Rhonda! Thank you so much for the kind words. I am so happy that the book is helpful, and even gladder that you’re going for it and writing! Sending you best wishes on your story!

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Great advice in this post, Bryn! Thank you.

Used this for school! It was really helpful!

Oh yay! So glad it was helpful!

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This is a great list! So comprehensive, and just what I was looking for. I struggle with physical descriptions of people and have a tendency to write the same kins of attributes. So this list is fab!

This is great!

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keep up the good work

Hey thanks 🙂

This is so helpful!!!!!

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Tiptoeing out there to publish my first book (I’ve been writing a long time). This post helped so much. Thanks!

oh my gosh, thank you! You have put a lot of effort in this list. I def appreciate it 🙂

Thank you I´m always using this when I´m creating new characters.

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Incredibly helpful! Thanks a lot :3

Thank you for sharing this!

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More extensive than my general list. My wizened goatee and elder Fu Manchu thank you for sharing your time and devotion to the craft.

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Very useful for ready reference. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Mohan! So glad you liked it!

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I’ve been writing for a while, mostly for fun, but this was the one thing I could never get down, but this list is great! all around solid, and incredibly useful, I see myself using it every time I need to make a new character, good job!

You’re a legend! This is fantastic, thank you!

Hahaha, thanks for the kind words! 🙂 Glad it’s helpful!

I am following your prompts and valuable advice for writing a fantasy teen fiction novel. I think you are amazing. You might not know it but I was able to clear hundreds of my doubts through your help. Please keep up the good work and providing your valuable support to all of us upcoming writers.

Hey, thank you so much for the kind words—you made my day! It’s wonderful to hear that you’re working on YA fantasy. I’m so glad I could help, and I wish you every success!

I honestly would not recommend this as good writing advice. The focus is too much on describing someone’s physical features using analogies for food. That is not a good thing, it becomes trite and overdone. If used sparsely it’s okay but almost every word in this list is food related.

Hi, Larissa! Thanks for taking your valuable time to share your opinion.

You have done a great job preparing this Master List. Those who think such precise words for describing someone hurt their sensibilities, move on to another URL. I appreciate every bit of your effort.

Hi, Pradeep! I am so glad you like the list. Thanks so much for commenting!

Bryn, I love your master list book and use it all the time!

Ohh, thank you so much! I’m so glad it’s helpful!

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This is a godsend. I owe you my soul.

I work 20 hours per day, (regular business and writing the memoir). Just ordered the Master List–seems like having my own research assistant. I may be able to get 5 hours sleep now. Thanks

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No jaw descriptions? ;(

You saved my day with your wonderful, descriptive words! Now I’ve found the perfect features for my handsome male character. Thank you!

That is a lot of hours for books but I guess if you keep pushing it will happen.

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Hi Bryn, thanks so much for this information! I always appreciate your lists because I like comprehensive material all in one location as a reference (then if I decide to break the rules, at least I know what the rules are “supposed to be” first!). Have you considered making comprehensive lists of creative writing genre conventions (tropes, archetypes, settings, devices, etc.)?

Hello, and thank you for the valuable and useful information. I agree with Eleanore regarding the list of genre conventions. I’m more than pleased I found you website.

Thank u so much ❤️ that was so helpful

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Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing.

Character Eye Descriptions: The Window to Your Story

By Sharla Rae, @SharlaWrites

Rather than using clichéd or common descriptions, why not use "explicit" eye descriptions to give your reader a real peek into a character’s psyche?

I’ll touch on eye color, movement, and appearance and, of course, I have some helpful lists to inspire ideas.

  Eye color

It’s a given that writers mention eye color as a character feature . Color can be mentioned every so often to remind readers what the character looks like. But! Don’t hit them over the head with it.

Besides using eye color as a facial feature it can sometimes be used to identify who is speaking especially if the color distinctive.

Blue eyes widened and she threw up both hands. “Now hold on a minute.” OR Her amber cat eyes narrowed. “xxxx”

A character might have plain old blue or brown eyes and that’s fine. But why not use color terms that say something about the character or what they're thinking?

• Eyes like silver lightning: sharp, doesn’t miss a thing, spirited, quick-witted
• Gunmetal eyes: sounds like a lethal male, perhaps emotionless
• Glacial blue: Can suggest nationality, or cold personality, angry expression
• Milk chocolate eyes: sounds yummy, soft, warm
• Chips of emerald ice: sharp, cold heated
• Faded azure lace: an older person with blue eyes, lace suggests a woman, perhaps homey

Here’s a great eye color list that will help you describe “who” your character is. This is one of the best I’ve seen to date and includes pictures.

Want to know the most common and rare eye colors in the world? The following are listed from most common to least.

• Amber and Black [rank about even according to which resource you’re looking at]
• Red or Pink [mostly in albinos]

Just for fun here’s a website that tells you the meaning of the color of your eyes.

  Eye Appearance

  Eye appearance/shape isn’t too difficult to write -- round, almond, bug-eyed, beady, sloe-eyed, hooded, upturned/cat, downturned etc. We might also include how the eyes are placed on the face: close-set, deep-set, monolid , protruding etc.

Certain eye conditions or disorders can affect eye appearance and are excellent descriptors. You may not want to use the scientific terms but the descriptions of the terms are also useful. See my list below.

Appearance also includes emotional expression and often involves the eyebrows.

Appearance frequently blurs lines with eye movement and more often than not demonstrates emotions and personality. You'll see examples of this in the lists below.

Eye Movement

Is it just me, or do eye movements mess you up too?

No doubt you’ve heard or read something like: her eyes traveled/fell down the stairs where he stood.

The eyeballs rolled down the steps? Believe it or not, this is a common mistake. And yes as a newbie writer my crit group had a good laugh on me with such a mistake. Words like “gaze,” “visage,” "glance," fixes the problem.

A tiresome descriptor for eye movement are the over-used look, looked and looking. If our eyes are open they are looking and it really doesn’t say much more than that. There’s nothing wrong with using look but never varying with more explicit substitutes is boring and causes echoes .

Try: gaze, glance, surveyed, glared, raked, searched, watched, scanned etc. You’ll find lots of these in the lists below. Notice, too, that some have very specific connotations.

As mentioned above, eyebrows are very much a part of eye movement and play an important part in expressing emotion. Blinking eyelashes show emotion too but at the risk of sounding silly, don’t overuse this one.

And now for my lists. These include eye movement, appearance/expression, disorders and conditions, eye parts and types of eyeglasses.

Anchored her attention on Angry gaze sliced Assessing Blinked owlishly Blinking with feigned innocence Brow furrowed as his mouth turned grim Brows knitted in a frown Bushy brows beetled Cocked a brow in surprise Dragged his hawkish gaze Drilled her with Eyed him demurely/boldly Eyes caressed Eyes crossed in exasperation Eyes retraced their path to Eyes rolled skyward Eyes wandered Flayed him with Focused on her lips Followed as the model passed Gawking at girls Gaze cruised her figure Gaze dipped to her Glance flickered Glanced sideways Glare traveled with unnerving thoroughness Glared daggers [overused] Inspected the cabin Inventoried his surroundings Lashes swept up and she blinked Leveled a glowering look Lingered over the script lines Lowered her eyes/opened Narrowed to crinkled slits One heavy brow slanted in strong disapproval Penetrating gaze probed Perusing the sea of faces in hopes of Plugged his eyes back into their sockets Pried her eyes off the hunk Probing visual caress Raked with disdain Searching the depths Shifted her angry glare to Shot him a disgusted glance Sighted out the corner of her eye Slammed her eyes shut and hummed the pain Squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth Squinted Staring fixedly Strange pale eyes darted Studied with piercing scrutiny Subtle wink Swung her restless gaze Tracking the other man’s gaze Unglued her eyes from him Unrelenting stare Up went his brows Violet eyes strayed to the Watched until distance obscured Wrenched his gaze

Eye Expression and Appearance [Some of these cross over with Movement]

Moon-eyed Sloe-eyed Burned fanatically Devoured her beauty Eyes implored A look designed to peel his hide All-consuming Almond shaped Appraising glance Astute gaze Avid eyes attested to his quick wit Beady rat eyes Beseeching Bewildered Blazed like torches Boomerang brows like Ayatollah Khomeini’s Bright with age Bug-eyed Bulging with fright Chaotic, helter-skelter eyebrow—like his mind, unsystematic and fickle Cold/cool/chilly/icy/frigid Commanding visage Cross-eyed Crudely insulting stare Deep set beneath heavy black brows Disapproval gleamed in her eyes Dissatisfaction plowed his brow Disturbing smoke-hued Elliptical eyes with heavy lids Eyebrows like checkmarks Eyes all gooey with Eyes like a shark Feline eyes Flashed with gaiety/anger etc Flat black, dispassionate as bullets Frankly assessing Get a load of those blinkers Gleam of deviltry Glittering with Green flinty rocks Hallows of madness Hard as nails Heart-stopping eyes Held hostage by his eyes Intent and unwavering/riveted Irritated visage Liquid pools of Luminous glow of happiness Magnetic Mellow as the sky at sunset Narrowed to slits Nebulous gaze / unreadable New moon-shaped Penetrating blue of his eyes Possessed the power to make her Rheumy old eyes Sardonic/disdaining/skeptical/mocking Sharp with intelligence Slits for eyes Sliver of emotion in those cool eyes Sloped down at the corners like a sad pup Small evil eyes Sneaky close-set eyes So tired his eyeballs seemed to sag out Steeply arched brows Sunken in the head Sympathetic Tears of remorse flooded The dark mystery of his eyes Triangular brows/always surprised Twenty-twenty vision Veiled expression of Visionary eyes Visual exploration of Watery eyes Where did you get those peepers Wild and frightened Wore spectacles/glasses/winkers

Eye Disorders and Conditions [You might like this website ]

• Astigmatism : causes fuzzy or blurry vision due to irregular curve in eye lens or cornea.
• Gimlet-eyed : sharp and piercing
• Goggle-eyed : bulging, rolling or staring
• Megalophthalmic : unusually large eyes, often a congenital condition-think goldfish
• Strabismaic : eyes are not properly aligned. Sometimes Cross-eyed or walleyed
• Walleyed : eyes diverging instead of focusing simultaneously on the same point; eyes turned outward away from nose; also used to define a wild irrational staring, glare or fierce look
• Cross-eyed : converging strabismus, eyes turning toward the nose
• Diplopia : double vision
• Cataract : opacity of the lens of the eye, cloudy
• Glaucoma : hardening of the eyeball, often resulting in poor vision or blindness
• Leucoma : disease of the eye in which the cornea becomes white and opaque
• Pinkeye : highly contagious form of conjunctivitis-eye appears rimmed in pink, bloodshot, often swelled and sometimes full of pus.
• Nystagmic : eyeballs moving rapidly and involuntarily
• Ablepsia : lack of sight; blindness
• Farsightedness : ability to see objects at a distance more clearly than close objects
• Nearsighedness :(shortsightedness, myopia) see objects only at close distances
• Cornea : transparent covering of the iris that produces refraction needed to focus image on retinea
• Eye socket: hollow of bone in face holding eyeball
• Eyeball : globe of the eye
• Iris : colored circular muscle in front of eye that controls amount of light that enters the eye
• Retina : inner layer of the eye wall composed of nervous tissue stimulated by light to send impulses to the brain.
• Optic nerve : nerve that sends sight impulses from the eye to the brain
• Pupil : round contractile aperture in iris of eye, regulating light into the eye
• Vitreous humor : jelly-like material that fills eyeball and forms its shape
• Eye lashes : hair around the eyes

Eye Corrections [A good overview of modern lenses ]

Note: Although it’s not exactly known when eye glasses were first invented, they appear in a 1352 painting.

• Aviator : sunglasses with oversized lenses; associated with pilots
• Ben Franklins : glasses with small ellipitcal, octagonal or oblong lenses worn on the middle of the nose; in slang often referred to as granny glasses
• Bifocals : glasses having split lenses to improve both near and farsightedness
• Contact lenses : lenses worn directly on the eye
• Eyeglasses or spectacles or winkers : worn to correct vision; lenses set in frames that hook behind the ears
• Horn-rimmed : glasses with dark or mottled brown frames; frames are usually heavy
• Monocle: single lens used over eye for correction
• Lorgnettte : eyeglasses on a long handle
• Lorgnon : (French – pince-nez) eyeglasses that clip onto the nose; framless, circular lenses that set on the bridge of the nose
• Loupe:  magnifying glass generally held in the eye and used by jewlers

Now let's have some fun. What are some of the funniest mistakes you've made with eye descriptions or eye movement? What is your biggest pet peeve?

About Sharla

When she’s not writing and researching ways to bedevil her book characters, Sharla enjoys collecting authentically costumed dolls from all over the world, traveling (to seek more dolls!), and reading tons of books. You can find Sharla here at Writers In The Storm or on Twitter at @SharlaWrites .

eye photo credit: Brittany Greene via photopin cc

51 comments on “Character Eye Descriptions: The Window to Your Story”

That was great! Thanks for all the information!!!

Great, Sharla - This helps. I have to remind myself though, not to overuse 'eyes'. Better to intersperse other body movements to express emotion as well, or my scene gets boring....and I run out of terms! Hard to write fresh with 'eyes' - it's all been done!

STELLAR list, Sharla. This goes in my "keepers" email folder for when my brain goes AWOL on eye descriptors. Thanks!

Thanks Gloria. Glad you dropped by.

Great reminders. I am annoyed by the 'moving eyes' too.

Yes, it's easy to echo just the word eyes. I'm glad you brought that up!

Reblogged this on Daphodill's Garden and commented: Great tips to expand on eye descriptors.

Thanks for the Reblog!

Perfect timing with this wonderful information! I'm deep into revisions and looking for fresh ways to show emotions, using both eyes and body language. One question. If eyes can't travel or fall, how do they caress? 😉

A character's eye expression can soften and the gaze can caress.

Brilliant advice, thanks for sharing 🙂

Great post, Sharla!

Another great post...bookmarking it! The "eyes" have it...best blog and writers ever!

Thanks. I almost used The Eyes Have It as a title. 🙂

Great minds, and all that, Sharla.

Awww...thanks a bunch! This comment is a great way to start my day. 🙂

Great post! Thank you. This will take our manuscripts from dull to delicious. =)

Thanks stopping by Sally!

Great collection of eye-related description. 🙂 As long as a person doesn't use the eyes too often to describe, this can be powerful. It's an easy area to overuse, especially with emotion.

True. Too much of a good thing is never good.

Terrific post! So many things to remember. I smiled at your dropping body parts. A writing instructor long ago made fun of those things--Like you, he pointed out eyes--and heads--that drop a lot. Thanks for the great lists. Tweeted/shared.

Thanks Barb. The body parts thing is always touchy. A time or two I've read where an author forgot that both arms were already occupied and wrote in a third arm accidentally.

Reblogged this on jbiggarblog .

Thanks for the reblog!

Great list Sharla Rae, sometimes I get stuck on watched, gazed, searched. Nice to see som many great options, 🙂 I reblogged so I could save this list

This is a keeper! Lord, I love lists!! Thanks for the great post.

I love lists to Barb. Glad you enjoyed these.

This was great Sharla! Lovely of you to take the time to write all this down for everyone. Very helpful. Goes on my blog keeper shelf. 🙂

Thanks Kathleen. I love lists for brainstorming ideas.

Bookmarking this! I have such a hard time describing eyes and eye movement. Thanks.

It's funny. Eyes and their movement sounds like it should be easy but really not, esp. when you want to show more than just the obvious. Thanks for Laurie for stopping by.

Thanks for sharing! This is most definitely going to come in handy when I have a brain-freeze.

I hate brain freeze's because most of the time I'm not even eating yummy ice cream when they happen. 🙂

Sharla, you never fail to provide us with amazing lists of alternatives to the ho-hum. Thanks, this is another keeper 🙂

Welcome. I'm knocking around for another list already.

This is such a great article. And the lists are fantastic. Thanks!

Thanks for stopping by Veronica.

You are so the queen of lists, Sharla. And all are awesome. I'm saving this with the others. Thanks so much for sharing. I'll do the same.

Really eye-opening post. Nicely done. Thanks.

Your welcome and do share! It's the best way we writers can help each other.

Fantastic post.

Great post. I'm saving this. Would you mind if I reblogged it on Everybody Needs A Little Romance next Friday?

Stephanie, I'd be honored if you reblogged it. Thanks!

Thanks for this informative post on eyes! It's a keeper!

Hands down (!) the most comprehensive discussion of this topic anywhere. I wrote an "eye moment" just last night. Now I'm inspired to go back and punch it up.

Thanks Eric. Sometimes I wonder about myself and my lists so this kind of comment makes it all worth while. 🙂

Great post. It's a keeper. Thank you!

What a wonderful resource. I've shared with my writer's group. LOVE it.

I would add, some other eye accessories, too, like: Sunglasses Cheaters Shades Sunnies Glares Specks

~ Tam Francis ~ http://www.girlinthejitterbugdress.com

This is a wonderful, unusual and very useful post. Thanks so much. My characters seem to glance and gaze a lot too much for my liking (they're far too nosy) so it's great to have your lists.

I really needed this. Thanks for posting it. I always run out of other ways to say "glance" and "look."

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Best Ways To Describe Eye Color In Writing

Eyes are the windows to the soul. A common saying and in day-to-day life, we have learned to not discern a person’s personality or quirks based on their eye color. However, when we are writing, there is a lot more freedom. And eye color is a great way to define your character, give the reader hints about their characteristics or journey within your story.

The selection to choose from is also greater in writing than in eye colors that occur naturally. Purple eyes? Red eyes? No problem!

Let’s have a look at how we can express different eye colors even better than just name-dropping the color.

Best Terms for Black Eyes

Black is an eye color chosen for people that are supposed to seem more secretive and mysterious. A character with black eyes can be very passionate and deep, loyal and intuitive. It’s also often an expression of a very powerful (sometimes hidden) energy.

In a negative context, they can make a character appear non-trustworthy, insect- or reptile-like, and downright evil. Characters with black eyes often have sinister intentions or something to hide.

To vary the description of black eyes you can use the following terms:

• coal (black)
• pitch black
• velvety black

Best Terms for Blue Eyes

Blue eyes are quite common in most newborns, however, it often changes within 2 weeks after birth. This has lead to blue eyes being associated with youth and youthfulness, and innocence. People with blue eyes are usually described as calm and peaceful. They seem to be especially attractive to other characters, too.

In a more negative context, a character with this eye color can literally be blue-eyed, detached from reality, gullible, or even stupid.

Instead of just writing “blue eyes”, try one of these:

• arctic blue
• electric blue

Best Terms for Brown Eyes

Brown is the most common eye color worldwide. Brown-eyed characters are often self-confident and independent, strong and determined. They are seen as trustworthy by other characters, and as exuding an air of warmth and security.

On the other hand, a brown-eyed character can appear brutish or simple, boring, and even dumb.

There are many wonderful tones of brown you can use, such as:

Best Terms for Gray Eyes

Gray eyes are usually reserved for older characters. But they can also express wisdom and gentleness in younger characters. Usually, these characters appear to be sensitive and analytically.

On the less favorable side, gray-eyed characters are seen as bland and boring.

Consider the following descriptions when a character has gray eyes:

• cloudy (gray)

Best Terms for Green Eyes

Usually, green eyes are seen as mysterious and given to characters that are close to nature. They are often described as curious, passionate, and generally positive and happy.

On the darker side, they are linked to jealousy or representing poison.

Different green hues can be used to describe green eyes:

• forest green
• olive (green)

Best Terms for Other Eye Colors

Eyes that show both green and brown color are commonly called hazel eyes. People with hazel eyes are seen as spontaneous, adventurous, and competitive. The two-toned quality can also indicate mood swings, however.

Shows the eye more green color, the character can appear more mischievous. If the color leans more towards the brown side, the character appears more approachable.

Red eyes usually don’t occur naturally in humans, except for in albinism. Thus, it’s more of a fantasy color. In animals, it’s more frequent. Red eyes are often associated with courage, strength, ambition, and power. However, it’s also used to express rage and anger, a lust for revenge, and associated with dark intentions and evil.

Depending on what you want to use it for, the following terms can be used for red eyes:

Violet Eyes

Purple or violet eyes are extremely (!) rare. Thus, they fit more into a fantasy context – or if your character is using contacts. A very sophisticated and spiritual color, characters with violet eyes are often associated with royalty and riches, or divination and clairvoyance. Since it’s a very powerful color, this eye color is often used for leaders, royals, or oracles, and witches.

The following terms can be used for eyes of this color:

• ultramarine

Usually, white eyes are considered blind. A character’s eyes turn white or are white if they are not able to see out of them (or one of them) anymore. The limitation here, however, is only measured by your creativity.

Instead of “white”, you can also use these terms:

Yellow Eyes

In animals, a yellow eye-color is quite common. Consider cats, dogs, predator birds, snakes, and the like. Thus, characters with yellow eyes are often associated or compared to a certain animal, taking over their features or characteristics.

There are a few nice term you can use to describe yellow eyes:

Heterochromia

Of course, you have the option to give your characters two differently colored eyes. While this occurs in the natural world, heterochromia is still rare in humans. It can be used to express a duality in a person’s character. Often, these characters are seen as especially significant, mystical, magical, supernatural, or simply special.

Eye Description Generator – Reveal over 70,000 eye description to make your character fascinating

Eyes are the windows to the soul, or so they say. If you’re looking for fresh ideas for the eye colour, shape, and mood of your character’s eyes, then try this eye description generator. Perfect to give inspiration to creative writers, be it for writing novels, short story or poetry. This tool generates character details to help with your book.

Welcome to the Eye Description Generator

As authors and writers, we’re always looking for new and interesting ways to describe our characters and keep our language fresh. This little tool will give you a jolt of inspiration, to picture your character and their appearance in a variety of different way.

Here you will find over 70,000 eye descriptions . Use these rich words to help discover new characters for your fiction. All you have to do is press refresh to get another description. Why not use these ideas to help write a new flash fiction?

Eyes description generator

With each random roll of the eye description generator, you will find something new. Some eyes descriptions will sound like fantasy, some like hot romance, others like cosy mystery. And yes, some will sound down right bizarre. It’s a computer, not an artist! Just quick Fresh again until you find the perfect pair of eyes.

Do you have any other fiction generators?

If you found this useful, you might also want to try the character generator , and the Six Word Wonder generator .

What is the eye description generator and how does it work?

The eye description generator takes words that describe a person or characters eyes and mixes them together in random, new ways. This can be the color, shape, mood or emotion seen in their eyes. You get a real sense of the looks of a new character to help with your creative prose. Writing is all about using details to create a world. Each description gives you new detail to help flesh out your character.

The tool has access to a database of eye descriptors and randomly throws them together. As a result, the appearance descriptions will sometimes seem odd or unhelpful. The best way is to keep refreshing the description until you find an eye description that works for your story or character.

Of course, you could just read a long list of adjectives, but this tool helps you look on words with fresh eyes.

If you are more stimulated by images, why not scroll through thousands of interesting eyes ?

What examples are there of output from the eye description generator?

Here’s a few examples of descriptions thrown up by the random, artificial intelligence of the eye description generator.

This character has long lashed, elephant grey eyes.

I love the poetic meeting of the long-lashed with elephant grey. Reminds we of Dumbo.

This character has shimmering, ice blue eyes.

What could be a better description of Daniel Craig’s eyes?

This character has sunken, concrete grey eyes.

The imagery of sunken concrete really gets me with this one. This strikes me as a heartless beast of a character.

This character has feline, chocolate brown eyes

Sounds like the lover in a particularly steamy romance

This character has squinty, fog grey eyes.

I immediately picture an old, confused granddad, working on some crazy inventions.

Should I just copy and paste one of these descriptions into my story?

You can take one of these descriptions and add it to your story. But… My recommendation is to look at many descriptions and cherry-pick your favourite elements. And use this to trigger other ideas about the type of character. With those eyes, what would their hair be like, or their personality. What about their age?

Are these descriptions from the eye description generator free to use?

Yes. Go for it. It’s great to receive credit or a link back if you enjoy using the tool. But the tool is completely free for you to enjoy.

List of 200 characters from the eye description generator.

To save you the trouble of hitting refresh, I’ve listed out two hundred different characters from the eye description generator and their eye descriptions.

Enough of the eye description generator – what’s next?

If you find an ideal description for you characters eyes, feel free to share it in the comments and what imagery it brings to your mind.

I have built a few other tools to help authors and writers bring new life to their stories. Enjoy them.

5 thoughts on “Eye Description Generator – Reveal over 70,000 eye description to make your character fascinating”

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This character has sorrowful, muddy brown eyes.

This character has bloodshot, red-raw eyes.

This character has penetrating, cork brown eyes.

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Writers After Dark

—Life Through the Eyes of Storytellers—

Using Body Language in Your Novel, Part Two—Eyes, Pupils, & Eyebrows

They say that our eyes are the “windows to the soul.” Isn’t that sweet? Yes, yes it is. Which is why this would be a fantastic place to practice some poetry, but instead, how about we exploit this little tidbit to benefit our writerly lives? Let’s explore the eyes—in the art of using body language in fiction.

It’s undeniable that our eyes are very special, but what exactly do we see when we stare into someone’s eyes? Information about their emotional state, that’s what. Can you imagine what damage this type of knowledge can do in the wrong hands? Oh boy!

For the villains, they can manipulate, hurt, and deceive. For the heroes, they can help, console, or protect. OR vice versa! Hey, it’s not mutually exclusive, and that’s the beauty. As the reader, you can get an insight on the emotional turmoil they’re all going through. And as the writer, well, you hold all the power, don’t you? But with great power comes great responsibility . . . err . . .

With all that power, don’t go crazy adding visual expressions every other paragraph. Save them to enhance crucial moments in your story.

Here are some body language “tells” to further enhance your characters’ emotions:

Part Two: The Eyes

“When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Categories:

* Aroused, Bedroom, or Doe Eyes . Sexual desire is a common cause of pupil dilation. So to indicate arousal in your character, go ahead and describe dilated pupils peeking through her lashes in the dim light. Or, you know . . . use your own wording. * Blinking Eyes . Use this when your character is nervous or troubled about something. When the blinking rate goes up, it indicates lying, stress, or sometimes arrogance. On the other hand, rapid blinking also flutters the eyelashes and can be a shy romantic expression. * Calculating Eyes . Described as eyes that move from side to side or looking down, use it to indicate your character is processing information or planning something—good for villains. It’s also much harder for a person to maintain eye contact while making calculations, so keep that in mind.

* Closing Eyes . When it’s for more than a second or two, this may indicate he’s lied to you, since this is a type of defense mechanism. But it can also be used by visual thinkers so they can better see the internal images without external distraction.

* Damp Eyes . This can be used to indicate anxiety, fear, sadness, suppressed weeping, exhaustion along with redness of the eyes, or if your character has been crying recently. * Darting Eyes . Have your character’s eyes dart back and forth or side to side to indicate insecurity or distraction. You can also use it to showcase your character being uncomfortable, and/or that he’s looking for an escape route. * Drooping Eyes . Described as a lack of eye blinking, or what we call a “blank stare” on the person’s face. Use it to indicate your character is bored or tired. “Dress it up” with your character glancing at her watch, yawning, or with a repetitive finger or foot tapping to drive it home!

* Friendly Twinkle . This can be used to put other people at ease—either readers, or one character to another to show positive interest. A friendly twinkle in a character can help break the ice, make a character like another or feel comfortable, appear to be a welcoming person, or give others a cue to their fascinating personality.

* Following Eyes . If your character is following someone around with her eyes, it can indicate she’s either interested in or scared of that person.

* Glancing . Use this to indicate your character’s desire, attraction, disapproval, or suspicion. Dress it up with a smile to suggest interest, or add in a frown to indicate suspiciousness and hostility.

* Gazing Eyes . Looking up and down at a whole person can be used to indicate your character is sizing them up, either as a potential threat or as a sexual partner.

* Shielded Eyes . Covering or shutting the eyes can indicate your character’s attempt to block out someone or something he doesn’t want to hear.

* Staring . This can be used to indicate your character’s interest, shock, disbelief, surprise, or aggression of something or someone.

* Squinting Eyes . This can be used to indicate discomfort, stress, an assessment of something or someone, uncertainty, tiredness, and even anger. If your character receives a squinted eye expression right after he says something, it could mean the person doubts his words, or disagrees with him. Squinting can also be used by a character who is lying so the other person can’t detect their deception.

* Looking Up . Have your character look upward to indicate she’s thinking, or that she’s bored or being judgmental.

* Looking Down . Have your character look down at someone as an act of power and domination. Or have them looking down but avoiding the other person as a sign of submission, or to indicate guilt.

* Looking Sideways . Looking to the left can indicate your character recalling a sound. Looking to the right can indicate that they are imagining the sound.

* Looking Down and to the Right . This can be used to indicate internal dialogue or emotions. If you had a character talking to himself, this would be his visual expression. In some cases, his eyes will also look down to his right if he’s going to lie.

* Looking Down and to the Left . This can be used to indicate recollection of smell, taste, or feeling. For example, if your character was abducted and she was asked to describe what she remembered about the place she was being held, her eyes would move in this direction.

* Looking Up and to the Right . This can be used to indicate recollection of images or the imaginative construction of something—in other words: lying. If she’s looking upward and to her right, she’s accessing her imagination and is making it up.

* Up and to the Left . Looking upward and to the left can indicate recalling a memory. If she’s describing something she’s seen, she’d look upward and to the left— truthfully accessing her memory.

Eye Contact:

Eye contact between two people is a powerful act of communication and may show interest, affection, or dominance.

* Prolonged Eye Contact . Use this to indicate your character might be lying. In trying to avoid looking shifty-eyed, some liars will purposefully hold their gaze a bit too long. They might also stand very still and unblinking.

* Limited Eye Contact . Use this to indicate your character is feeling insecure. Or, she might also be lying and trying to avoid the lie being detected.

This is the one part of the eye where we have no control. Dilation happens automatically since we have no conscious control over our pupils, and can be used to showcase your character’s true emotion, especially if they’re trying to hide it.

* Pupil Dilation . To indicate excitement, or when they’re around people they like or admire, have your character’s pupils dilate . It can help in showcasing a character’s loyalties. Pupils also dilate when it is darker to let in more light, so next time your character is in a dark room, like a club or dimly lit restaurant, you can describe your character’s eyes as dilated.

* Pupil Contraction . You can have your character’s pupils contract to indicate disgust, anger, irritation, annoyance, or when your character isn’t attracted to someone. Also, people with small pupils can appear threatening or just unfriendly, so use this tidbit to enhance a scene.

* In general, dilated pupils are positive while constricted pupils are negative.

* Lowered Eyebrows . This can be done with a lowered head, which can conceal the eyes. It can indicate deception, annoyance, and can be a sign of a dominant person.

* Raised Eyebrows . This can indicate surprise, cynicism, fear, discomfort, openness, and as a sign of attraction.

* Middle-pulled Eyebrows . Described as being pulled together. This can be used to indicate your character is angry, frustrated, or confused. It can also indicate intense concentration.

* Eyebrow “Flash.” Described as a quick repeated up-and-down movement. This can be used to indicate your character’s recognition and greeting of someone. (More effective for me: if they’re pretending they don’t know the person, but are betrayed by their eyebrows.)

So there you have it! Some extra details to use for your characters’ eyes and eyebrows. Be sure to come back in the next few weeks for more body language tips for your novel.

See Part One—Facial Expressions here.

Coming up next: posture, arms, shoulders, legs, and feet.

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Published by S. Katherine Anthony

S.K. Anthony (Shanny) is a writer, a reader, and make-stuff-up-er who lives in New York. She is an award-winning author and a podcaster. When she isn’t busy with her toddler twins, S.K. finds herself being transported into the world of imagination. Well, either that or running away from spiders . . . she is convinced they are out to get her! View all posts by S. Katherine Anthony

22 thoughts on “Using Body Language in Your Novel, Part Two—Eyes, Pupils, & Eyebrows”

Great information. Thanks for sharing.

Like Liked by 1 person

Yay, Kphoenix! Glad you liked it! 🙂

Another helpful post! Thanks! 😉

There you are! I missed you this week lol I measure our posts by you, if you like them, then we can breathe lol. 😛 ❤

LOL! You guys are awesome! 😉

Playing catch-up this week. Had a cover reveal, then hid out in the writing cave. Word count was over 11K and I actually like about…six words. 😀 😀

There just isn’t enough coffee!

Enjoy the weekend!

Reblogged this on Felicia Denise, Author and commented: The eyes have it! 😉

As usual, you’re the best! Thanks for sharing, Felicia! 😘

[…] via Using Body Language in Your Novel, Part Two—Eyes, Pupils, […]

Fantastic post! Very helpful.

Hey! As my namesake, your opinion counts double lol Glad you found it helpful, and thanks for stopping by, Kat! 😉

This is great! I’ll keep it in mind, thanks!

Awesome! Glad you liked it! 😀

[…] Eyes (descriptions and meanings behind actions) […]

Thanks for this post! I had my looking up and to the right confused with my looking up and to the left as a ‘tell’ for lying…back to editing!!! 🙂

Yay! Glad I was able to help! Thanks for stopping by, Anne! 😀

[…] See Part Two—The Eyes here. […]

[…] See Part Two—Eyes, Pupils, & Eyebrows here. […]

Pupils are controlled by the autonomic nervous system. A good rule of thumb is a contraction of the eye is a sympathetic response and dilation is parasympathetic (sympathetic is activation of fight or flight, parasympathetic is deactivation) excellent description of how the eyes mirror the true inner thoughts. And in case anyone is wondering, sexual excitement is parasympathetic in nature. Also don’t forget the effects of drugs, someone on opiates will have constricted pupils so through that in on your opiate addicted super sleuth.

Exactly!!! Thanks for the extras. I had a long section on pupil dilation, but had to make the executive decision to cut it since the post was already long lol

Great way to summarize it, JT! 🙂

No problem sweetie, just my Healthcare knowledge slipping out.

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25 Best Words to Describe Blue Eyes

Describing someone’s eye colour is a great way to set up a character in a story or talk about them romantically. This article will explore how to describe blue eyes in creative writing (or in your own words) to show just how much you appreciate someone’s eyes.

The best words to describe blue eyes are “icy,” “electric,” and “sparkling.” These words are perfect because they show that you appreciate and admire the colouring of someone’s eyes. They all come with “blue” vibes, allowing you to be more descriptive without needing the colour.

“Icy” shows that someone has depth to their eyes due to the blue colour. It usually allows you to feel the same things they feel or find a way to read them by looking at them.

“Icy” could also be used negatively to show that someone has an “icy” personality and doesn’t let people get close to them.

• Her icy blue eyes were her best feature. That’s what everyone would get caught up in.
• I love your icy blue eyes. Has anyone told you how beautiful they are to look at?

2. Electric

“Electric” is a great adjective to refer to someone with a beautiful pigment in their blue eyes. It relates to electricity being blue in certain spectrums, which is often a beautiful thing to look at. The same is implied when referring to blue eyes.

• You have such electric blue eyes. I wish I was able to stare into them forever.
• I think she has the most electric eyes I’ve ever seen. Nobody can come close to topping that sensation.

3. Sparkling

“Sparkling” is a great adjective to use to compliment someone’s blue eyes. It shows that they seem to “sparkle” like a star or anything else that glows and shines. It’s a really positive way to compliment someone.

• Your sparkling blue eyes are everything I could ever ask for. I think they’re the most beautiful things in the world.
• You have such sparkling eyes. I find it impossible to look away from them.

4. Ocean-Blue

“Ocean-blue” shows depth and admiration towards someone’s eye colour. It works well when you want to relate their eyes to the colour of the ocean (which is one of the nicest shades of blue).

• My ocean-blue eyes get a lot of compliments. I had no idea they were so pretty.
• Have you seen her ocean-blue eyes? They’re amazing to look into. You can hear your own thoughts.

5. Piercing

“Piercing” works well when looking at someone and feeling them “pierce” your soul. It’s a positive way to show that you find them striking and interesting based entirely on the colour of their eyes.

• She has such piercing eyes. My only wish is that I could look into them all day.
• I think you have such piercing eyes. It’s like you’re looking directly into my soul at all times.

“Pale” is a negative adjective showing that someone doesn’t have a lot of emotion or beauty in their eyes. It works best for blue eyes because it relates to them having no powerful colouring in the blue of their eyes, thus having no personality to match.

• Her pale blue eyes made it hard for me to read her. She wasn’t expressing a lot of emotion.
• He has pale blue eyes, making it hard to understand what he’s thinking. I don’t get him.

7. Fascinating

“Fascinating” is a great word to use when you are taken aback by someone’s eyes, especially if they are blue (or green). It shows that you are fascinated by someone’s looks. It’s a great compliment to use when you’re trying to be romantic and forward.

• You have such fascinating eyes. I only wish that you could look into mine more often.
• I think you have beautiful and fascinating eyes. I can learn so much from them.

“Angelic” is a great way to liken someone to a biblical angel. “Angels” are said to be the most beautiful beings in the world, so complimenting someone’s eyes by saying “angelic” is like saying they are one of the most beautiful people to look at.

It’s a great adjective to use because it’s going to flatter almost anyone you say it to.

• Your angelic eyes mean everything to me. I wish I could stare into them all day long.
• She has angelic eyes. If you look into them, you’re going to fall into a trance.

9. Mesmerizing

“Mesmerizing” implies that you can get lost in someone’s blue eyes. It means you might end up in a trance while looking at them because you cannot look away. This is a complimentary way to show someone that you love how their eyes look.

• Her mesmerizing eyes are easy to get lost in. Be careful staring for too long. It could get tricky.
• I think she has the most mesmerizing eyes I’ve ever seen. I don’t know where else to look.

10. Intoxicating

“Intoxicating” shows that you feel a bit drunk or loopy when looking into someone ’s eyes. This works well when you don’t know what else to say because you are lost in someone’s beauty or brilliantly blue eyes.

• You have intoxicating eyes. Has anyone ever told you that? I can’t look away for a second.
• He has this intoxicating look about him that comes with his magnetic blue eyes.

11. Alluring

“Alluring” shows that you can fall in love with someone simply because of the colour of their eyes. Any eye colour can be “alluring” as long as you find the person attractive when looking at their eyes.

• Your alluring eyes are your best asset. You’ve got to start using them to your advantage now.
• You have alluring eyes. I wish mine could be like that. They look so incredible.

12. Dazzling

“Dazzling” is great to use if you can’t figure out what else to say because someone’s taken your breath away. This shows that you are “dazzled” by someone’s eyes and would love to see them more often.

• Your dazzling blue eyes are the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I’m sure you hear that a lot.
• Sarah’s dazzling eyes were enough to take my breath away. She’s the perfect person to be around.

13. Lustrous

“Lustrous” is a great way to refer to the colour of someone’s eyes. It shows that you are blown away by the colour, depth, or beauty of the blue eyes you can see before you. It’s great to compliment someone, especially in a romantic sense.

• You have lustrous eyes, and you mean everything to me. I hope you realize that.
• Her lustrous eyes make it hard for me to turn away. I don’t know where else to look.

14. Brilliant

“Brilliant” is one of the most common adjectives for blue eyes because people like the alliteration of the “B” letter. It works well to show that you think someone has beautiful eyes, or you can easily get lost in them.

• I think you have brilliant blue eyes. If I could look into them all day, I would. I’m telling you that now.
• She has the most brilliant eyes I’ve ever seen. Nobody’s eyes are quite as glamorous as hers.

15. Beautiful

“Beautiful” might seem like a simple adjective, but it’s still a great choice for complimenting blue eyes. Alliteration comes into play again here, allowing you to repeat the “B” letter to show that you appreciate the look of someone’s beautiful blue eyes.

• You have such beautiful blue eyes. I wonder who you got them from!
• His beautiful blue eyes really contrast his mighty brown hair. I love looking into them.

16. Blindingly

“Blindingly” is another great choice that uses alliteration to its advantage. It works well because it shows that you are taken aback by the amazing colour of someone’s eyes.

• You have blindingly blue eyes. I almost don’t know where to look because I’m worried I won’t see them!
• Her blindingly blue eyes are a sight to see. You should behold them at least once.

“Cold” is a more negative word to use. It shows that you don’t like looking into someone’s blue eyes because they seem soulless or emotionless. You often won’t be able to tell much about someone’s expressions or feelings when they have “cold” eyes.

• You have cold eyes. I don’t know how to read them, and I don’t know if I want to try.
• She has such cold eyes. It makes her seem so angry most of the time. I hate that about her.

18. Magnetic

“Magnetic” shows that you are attracted to someone because of their brilliant blue eyes. It relates to the “magnetic” attraction you might get when you can’t help looking into someone’s eyes and falling in love with them.

• Your blue eyes are so magnetic. It’s like they beckon me in, and I can’t help but stare at them.
• You have such magnetic eyes. Everything about them is so perfect. I can’t look away.

19. Sympathetic

“Sympathetic” can apply to many eye colours. It implies that you can see caring and kind thoughts in someone’s blue eyes. It works well here if you are able to read someone’s eyes and know exactly what they might be thinking about.

• Her sympathetic eyes can tell a story. She doesn’t even need to say anything. She’s perfect.
• It’s all because of his sympathetic blue eyes. He’s got this look that makes it impossible to look away.

20. Telling

“Telling” is another great way to show that you can read someone’s eyes and figure out their thoughts. It’s great to include when you can see what someone is thinking because of the emotion and beauty in their eyes.

• Your blue eyes are very telling. They show me exactly what you’re thinking at all times.
• Your eyes are so telling because of how beautiful they are. Has anyone ever told you that?

21. Truthful

“Truthful” is a great word to use in this context. It shows you can see the “truth” in someone’s blue eyes. If you can gaze into someone’s eyes and work out what they’re thinking, you can figure out their “truth.”

• You have such truthful eyes. I feel like I can tell you everything, and you’ll never betray me.
• Stop having such truthful eyes! I think they’re so easy to lose myself in. I can’t quite believe it.

22. Expressive

“Expressive” shows that you can tell a lot about someone just by looking into their eyes. It’s a great way to show that you love looking at them because of the beauty you can see when you are face-to-face.

• You have very expressive eyes. It’s clear to see what you think before you’ve even spoken.
• I think she has very expressive eyes. That’s one of the things I love most about her.

“Kind” is a simple adjective, but it works well here. You can have “kind” blue eyes, meaning that someone can easily trust you because of the look you have in your eyes. It’s good to include this to show that someone is caring.

• Your kind blue eyes mean everything to me. I hope I never lose them from my life.
• You have very kind eyes, and I love that. I hope we get a chance to come across each other again.

24. Amazing

“Amazing” is a simple and complimentary way to refer to someone’s eye colour. It shows that you appreciate the colour of their eyes and think they are “amazing” to look into.

• She had amazing eyes, but I worry I’ll never see them again! I didn’t even ask her for her name.
• You have amazing eyes. I’m sure you always hear that, but it’s the truth.

25. Perfect

“Perfect” is another simple adjective showing how much you appreciate the colour of someone’s eyes. You should use this to show that you could get lost in the perfection of someone’s eyes because of the colour or appearance.

• Your blue eyes are perfect in every sense of the word. I hope you can see that yourself.
• You look beautiful. You have such perfect eyes. Never let anyone tell you differently.

Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here .

• 9 Best Words To Describe Beautiful Eyes (Compliments)
• 10 Best Ways To Compliment A Beautiful Family Picture
• 10 Best Words to Describe the Smell of the Ocean
• Is It Correct to Say “Beautiful as Always”?

Search for creative inspiration

19,890 quotes, descriptions and writing prompts, 4,964 themes

eyes - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

• light brown eyes
• light green eyes
• look and appearance
• whites of eyes

When the bond of love is made, my eyes give free passage to my soul.

Eyes that love you will catch your soul, even if you weren't aware of its falling.

Eyes will tell the truth whatever society permits.

I listen to eyes because they speak so much truth.

Eyes speak in emotion, the language of the soul.

From those eyes came a sense of home.

In the eyes is the "I' - the inborn soul of the baby heaven-given.

She reached out with her eyes has honestly as a babe reaches with open arms.

Even in the night his eyes lit the way, he was a seer, of that we were sure.

The eyes come as perfect flower buds freshly opened in the dawn.

Eyes that see are the greatest blessing, for they are as orbs that shine lights and make even the realisation of what healing must happen... possible.

In this early dawn your eyes are the dew, scattering the nascent rays, ever illuminating my soul.

They say the eyes are windows, the thing is, my love, I can see through them. I can see your pain and your gentleness just the same. I see how every emotion comes together to form the art of your soul. It forms a picture I see in an instant and comprehend with full depth. So, I see you, I do. When I say that your eyes are beautiful, its the truth, for it's not about colours or shape, it's about the loving sweet essence that is so clearly there.

He had eyes as open and honest as any child, a warmth and safety. In that moment I found my home, my place to find company when the cold winds blew.

He squinted at me through hardened eyes that once had been my salvation, but now they brought only the unfounded accusations of a jealous lover. Their color had only yesterday reminded me of my sea-port home, gazing out to where the blue of the ocean blended into the blue of the sky, now they were simply chilling. Every muscle in his face was tense and without a word he communicated intense mistrust, anger, despising. Now he stood between me and the only exit, glaring, seething, clenching his fists rhythmically...

Her eyes have frozen over like the surface of a winter puddle, robbing them of their usual warmth. She's in there, I know it, but it's like she just took a huge step back from life. I want to reach in and tell her it isn't hopeless, but she won't believe me. I want to rekindle her heat but her insides are too damp with uncried tears. I always knew she had pain inside, but now its visible on her face and I wish it would go away. I know that's a selfish want, people have a right to their pain, they don't ask for it - it just arrives like the gift you never wanted.

She looks at me like the fire in her eyes has been dowsed with ice water, if anything it makes the blue more pale. I'm not used to it, it unnerves me. I want her to give freely like she always does but she won't. It's like she just crawled right back inside some invisible shell and no matter how hard I try she's unreachable. She moves her eyes more slowly, like they're heavy, an effort to move. I want to crack my usual jokes but I know she won't laugh. I'm standing right next to her but she might as well be on the moon.

In her renewed silence, only her eyes glow. They aren't yellow like a comic book cat, but the softest of blue - like they soaked in the spring sky only hours ago and are now letting it radiate out gently into the twilight.

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What Is a Closed-Eye Exercise in Writing? Unique Techniques

My name is Debbie, and I am passionate about developing a love for the written word and planting a seed that will grow into a powerful voice that can inspire many.

Introduction to Closed-Eye Exercises in ⁤Writing

Benefits of closed-eye exercises for writers, 1.⁤ visualization:, 2. rhythm and flow:, unlocking creativity through​ closed-eye ​exercises, enhancing descriptive writing skills with closed-eye‌ exercises, 1. mind mapping:, 2.⁤ sensory visualization:, developing character​ and​ plot through closed-eye exercises in writing, frequently asked questions, wrapping up.

Writing ⁣can‍ sometimes feel like‍ a ⁤daunting task, whether you’re‍ a⁢ seasoned writer ‌or just starting ​out. However, there’s a creative and unique solution ⁢that can help ‌you overcome writer’s​ block ⁤and tap into your imagination: closed-eye exercises. Closing​ your eyes can help eliminate distractions‌ and allow you ⁣to⁣ focus solely on⁣ your thoughts and​ ideas,⁤ enhancing your writing skills ⁢in the⁤ process.

During ⁣closed-eye exercises,⁣ you can⁢ use ⁣your imagination to‌ visualize characters, settings, and⁣ plot⁤ lines. This technique ⁤encourages your brain ⁤to think in a more abstract and imaginative way, resulting in more vivid​ and innovative ⁣writing. ​To get started,‍ find a quiet​ and comfortable space where you won’t be ‍interrupted. Close your eyes and take a few ⁤deep breaths to center yourself. Now, let your mind wander freely‍ and start visualizing different‌ scenarios. Imagine yourself in ⁣a particular setting or try⁣ to envision a⁢ unique character for your story.​ Take note of any interesting ideas or ⁤details that ⁣come to mind. You‌ can​ even experiment with different genres or styles to expand your writing ⁤repertoire. Remember, these exercises are not about creating‍ a perfectly polished piece of writing right away. ‌They ⁣are about ⁣embracing ‍the creative process and allowing your ideas to flow freely. So, don’t be afraid to let your imagination run ⁣wild and have fun with it! With closed-eye exercises, you’ll ​discover a whole new world of possibilities​ for your writing. So, ⁣close ⁤your eyes, let⁣ your creativity take the‍ lead, and⁣ watch your writing⁢ skills soar.

An often overlooked aspect of writing⁤ is the power of imagination. When writers engage⁤ in closed-eye ​exercises, they​ tap into their creativity in⁤ a ‌way that allows ‌their thoughts‌ to flow more ⁢freely. This unique practice enhances their writing skills and brings forth a multitude of​ benefits:

• Boosted Visualization: Closing your ​eyes⁣ during writing⁣ exercises stimulates your mind’s eye, helping you form vivid mental images. This enhanced ability to visualize not only adds depth⁢ to ‌your descriptions but also allows readers to immerse themselves in⁢ your written world effortlessly.
• Enhanced Focus: By⁣ shutting out external distractions and ⁣honing your focus inward, closed-eye exercises promote concentration. This heightened⁤ attentiveness allows writers​ to delve deeper into their thoughts and emotions, ultimately resulting in more⁤ profound and ‍compelling storytelling.
• Improved Dialogue: When ⁢you close your eyes, your ears become more attuned to sound. This increased auditory awareness helps writers to develop more‍ authentic dialogue‍ as they ⁣tune in to the rhythm, tone, and⁢ nuances of spoken language. This skill proves invaluable in⁢ creating believable⁣ and engaging conversations between their characters.
• Heightened Sensory​ Detail: Closing your eyes triggers​ a heightened awareness of your remaining senses. By paying closer attention to sounds, smells, tactile sensations, and ​tastes in ‌your mind’s eye, you ​can infuse ⁣your writing with ​rich ​sensory details, making it ⁣more ​engaging and immersive for readers.

Exercising your mind’s eye through closed-eye techniques ⁤can provide ‌writers with a⁤ valuable toolset to unlock their creativity ⁤and improve their writing skills.‍ The benefits of ⁤enhanced visualization, focus, dialogue​ development, and sensory detail can transport readers‌ to captivating worlds, allowing them to experience your ‌stories in a​ uniquely​ vivid ‌way.

Techniques for Performing Closed-Eye⁤ Exercises in ⁢Writing

Engaging in closed-eye exercises can be​ a powerful ‌tool for enhancing your writing skills. By closing your eyes, you eliminate visual⁣ distractions and allow your mind to ⁣focus solely on the task at⁣ hand.‌ Here are some effective techniques to make the most out of closed-eye ⁤exercises:

Immerse yourself ⁣in your writing by visualizing the scene or ​concept you want to convey. Tap⁣ into ‍your imagination and let ​the words flow based on the vivid⁤ mental pictures you create. By closing your eyes, you can ​deepen your connection to your story or topic, harnessing the‌ power of visualization⁢ to bring your ⁢words to life.

When writing with ‍your eyes closed, focus on the rhythm and‌ flow of your sentences. By solely relying on​ your auditory⁣ senses, you’ll be​ able to better‌ identify any awkward phrasing or ⁤disruptions in the flow of your writing. Listen to⁤ the cadence of ‍your words, ensuring they ‍are harmonious and engaging for your readers.‌ Pay attention to⁣ the way your writing sounds, utilizing natural⁤ speech patterns​ to captivate your ‌audience.

By incorporating these techniques into your‍ closed-eye exercises, you can‍ elevate your writing​ to new heights. Remember to embrace the ⁣power ⁣of visualization and refine ‌the rhythm⁤ and ⁣flow of your words to create writing that is both compelling and captivating.

When it comes to ⁢enhancing creativity, ⁣many of us turn‌ to ⁢traditional ⁢methods like brainstorming sessions or seeking inspiration‌ from others.‍ However, there is an unconventional yet incredibly effective ‌technique that often goes overlooked: ​closed-eye exercises.‍ By temporarily‍ shutting out the visual distractions of the external world, we ⁤open ⁤up a ‌gateway to the vast unexplored realms of our imagination. Here‍ are a few compelling reasons why incorporating⁤ closed-eye exercises​ into‍ your creative routine can help ⁤unlock your full artistic potential:

• Enhanced visualization: With closed eyes, our mind’s‌ eye becomes the canvas where imagination flourishes. This intense focus cultivates the ability⁤ to vividly⁣ visualize ideas, characters,⁣ and scenarios, crucial for any ⁢creative pursuit.
• Heightened sensory exploration: ⁤ Without‍ relying‍ on sight, our other senses become more‍ attuned. This allows for a deeper‌ understanding and​ appreciation of textures, sounds, tastes, and smells, ultimately enriching the ⁢creative process.
• Expanded problem-solving capabilities: ‌ By shutting off visual distractions, our brains are freed ​to explore⁤ unconventional solutions to creative challenges, ‍leading to innovative​ breakthroughs and‍ unique perspectives.

​ Engaging ‌in closed-eye exercises‌ can‌ be ​as simple ‍as dedicating‍ a few moments each day to ⁤sitting comfortably, closing your⁤ eyes, and allowing your⁢ mind to wander. It is during ⁣these moments of introspection that the ‌seeds of inspiration are sown, blossoming ⁤into ‌extraordinary creations.

One effective⁢ and unconventional way to ‍enhance ​descriptive writing skills is through closed-eye⁤ exercises. These exercises encourage writers ​to ⁣rely solely on their imagination and sensory experiences, resulting‍ in vivid and ⁤engaging ​descriptions ⁢that ​captivate readers.‌ By temporarily shutting ‌off the visual sense, writers can unlock a world of imagination and creativity that may otherwise go ‍untapped.

During closed-eye exercises, writers can begin by⁢ focusing ‍on their breathing and​ visualizing a specific‌ scene⁤ or ⁢object⁣ in‌ their mind’s eye. ⁣By ‍consciously tuning in to their other senses, such as touch, smell, and ‌sound, writers can cultivate a deeper understanding of the elements that contribute to descriptive writing. Engaging in these exercises regularly⁣ not only ‍sharpens descriptive skills but also trains writers‌ to pay closer attention to the small ‍details that‍ help‌ bring characters, settings,⁣ and events to life within their narratives. To​ further⁤ enhance the​ effectiveness of closed-eye exercises, writers ​can incorporate the use of sensory aids or‌ prompts, like​ scented candles, soft background music , or tactile objects, to stimulate​ their imagination and encourage more‌ sensory-rich​ descriptions.

• Improve sensory details and ⁤imagery in‍ writing
• Strengthen ‍ability to engage readers⁣ through vivid descriptions
• Cultivate a deeper understanding of the⁤ five senses
• Develop a⁢ more ⁤imaginative and creative approach to writing

Overall, closed-eye exercises provide a unique and valuable tool for ⁢writers⁢ looking to elevate ‌their descriptive writing skills. By ⁢harnessing the power of⁤ their imagination⁣ and immersing ⁢themselves in a ⁣world of⁢ sensory experiences, writers can create⁢ more engaging and vibrant narratives that ⁢leave a lasting impact​ on readers.

Using​ Closed-Eye Exercises to Overcome Writer’s Block

​ Writer’s block can be incredibly frustrating,‍ but there are ​various techniques that can help you ⁢overcome it. One unconventional‍ yet effective ​method‍ is closed-eye exercises,‌ which‍ can offer a unique creative boost. By⁢ closing your eyes and ⁤engaging in these exercises,​ you ⁢unlock a world of imagination​ and tap‌ into ‌your subconscious ⁢mind. Here are two powerful ⁤closed-eye exercises that can help you overcome ‍writer’s block:

Close your ‌eyes and let your mind wander freely. Start ⁤by thinking about your ‌writing project or ‌topic,‍ and then allow your thoughts to flow organically. ⁢Try to‌ visualize related concepts, ideas, or ⁣images that ⁤come ​to mind. Once you ‌feel a mental image forming, open your⁤ eyes and⁣ create a mind map‌ on ‍a piece of paper or a digital tool. ‌Mind maps are great ⁤tools for‍ organizing thoughts and identifying ​connections between‍ ideas. They can provide ‌you with a⁣ clear visual ​representation of‌ your writing project, acting as⁢ a⁣ valuable ‍source ⁢of inspiration and direction.

⁤Close ​your eyes and take a‌ few deep‍ breaths to‌ calm your mind. Now, envision yourself stepping into⁢ the ‌world you want to write about. ‍Focus on ‍the sensory‌ details: What do you ​see, hear, ​smell, taste, or touch ⁣in this world? Let your‍ imagination run‍ wild and try to make the experience as vivid as possible. ​Once you’ve spent enough time exploring this imaginary realm, come back to reality and ⁣start writing. By ‍engaging ⁢your ⁢senses through visualization, you⁤ will find it easier to ‌describe scenes, evoke emotions, and create authentic experiences in your⁤ writing.

When it comes to⁢ crafting ‍engaging⁤ stories, writers often find themselves facing⁢ the challenge of creating ‍well-rounded characters and captivating plots. One‍ technique that ⁣can help in ‍this endeavor is the use⁣ of closed-eye exercises. By closing your eyes and immersing yourself in ⁢your imagination,⁢ you open the ‍door to unlocking the depths‍ of your ‌creativity.​ This allows​ you to delve⁤ into the⁤ minds⁢ of your characters⁢ and explore the twists and turns of your ​plot in a unique⁤ and vivid way.

During closed-eye exercises, it is ⁣important to focus on all the ⁤senses to bring your writing to ​life. By imagining the textures, ‍scents,‌ and sounds within your story,‌ you will immerse yourself in the world you‍ are creating. Pay close⁢ attention to the following aspects:

• Emotions: Visualize the emotional journey of⁤ your characters. How ⁢do they ​react to different⁣ situations?⁣ Explore their fears, hopes,⁢ and desires.
• Settings: Envision the surroundings of your story.‍ What⁤ does it look like? What can your⁢ characters see, hear, ‌and feel? Create a detailed ⁣mental image that encompasses ⁣all the senses.
• Dialogue: Step into⁢ the⁣ minds of your characters and listen to⁣ their conversations. ​What are their voices like? How do they communicate with ​one another? Allow their words to flow naturally.

By regularly practicing these closed-eye⁤ exercises, you will find that⁣ your writing becomes more authentic and engaging. ‌The depth you bring to your characters,‍ along with the intricacies ‍of your plot, will captivate your readers and keep them eagerly ⁣turning the pages.

Q: ​What ⁤is a closed-eye exercise in writing? A: A closed-eye exercise in writing is a unique technique​ where a writer closes their eyes and focuses ‍on their imagination, allowing their ‍thoughts to flow freely‌ onto ⁣the page without the hindrance of ⁣distractions.

Q: How does a ​closed-eye exercise differ from traditional writing methods? A: Unlike ⁤traditional writing methods that require constant visual input, closed-eye exercises⁣ encourage writers to tap into their subconscious mind, enhancing creativity and encouraging a more organic approach to storytelling.

Q: What are the benefits of ​using a closed-eye exercise ⁤in writing? A: Closed-eye exercises can have ⁢several benefits for⁢ writers. They help to ⁢overcome‍ writer’s block, stimulate imagination, and allow for a deeper ⁤connection with one’s emotions.⁤ Additionally, they promote a more sensory and descriptive approach to⁣ writing.

Q: Can closed-eye​ exercises ​be useful for all types of writing? A: Absolutely! Closed-eye exercises ‍can be ⁤beneficial for⁤ various forms of writing, including fiction, poetry, memoirs, and even academic work. It can help writers⁣ to think‌ outside the box and bring a fresh perspective⁣ to their work.

Q: How does‌ one begin a closed-eye exercise in⁢ writing? A: To start a closed-eye exercise, find a quiet and comfortable space.​ Close⁢ your eyes ​and take a few deep breaths ‌to ‌relax. Then, focus on your thoughts and⁢ let your imagination take over. Without judging or censoring, allow your ‌mind to wander and let‌ the words‌ flow naturally.

Q: Are there any specific techniques‍ to enhance closed-eye exercises? A: Yes, ⁢there are ​a few ‌techniques that can enhance closed-eye exercises. One popular method is visualization, where you imagine ‍yourself in different settings or scenes ‍related to your writing. Another technique is to ⁣ play soft ​background music that helps to stimulate creativity. Experiment with different techniques and ⁤find ⁢what works best for you.

Q: How can one incorporate the ideas generated during a closed-eye exercise ‍into‌ their writing? A: After ⁣completing⁢ a closed-eye exercise, take a moment to reflect on the ⁣ideas, ‌emotions, ⁢and‌ vivid imagery that⁣ arose during the session. ⁣Jot down ​key points or outlines while the thoughts are still fresh​ in ⁣your mind. Use these insights as a foundation for your‍ writing, expanding upon them ⁤and integrating them into your‌ work.

Q:⁣ Is​ it‍ necessary to do closed-eye exercises regularly, or can‌ they be ​used sparingly as⁤ needed? A: The⁢ frequency of closed-eye exercises‍ is subjective⁣ and can‌ depend on individual ⁢preferences. ⁢Some writers ‌find regular ⁤sessions helpful, while others may choose to use this technique as needed, particularly during moments of creative blockage. ‌Ultimately, it’s about ‍finding a balance ⁢that works​ best for ⁤you and your writing ⁤process.

Q: Can ⁤closed-eye exercises benefit writers who struggle with creativity? A: Absolutely! Closed-eye exercises ‍are especially ⁢beneficial for‍ writers who ‌struggle with creativity. By engaging ‌the⁤ subconscious mind, these ⁢exercises unlock a⁤ wellspring of⁢ thoughts, ideas, and emotions that ‌can greatly ‍enhance creative output and fuel new inspiration.

Q: Are⁢ there any precautions or ⁢potential challenges with closed-eye exercises? A: While ⁤closed-eye⁤ exercises are generally safe and beneficial, it’s important to be ⁣mindful of your surroundings. Make ​sure‌ you are in a safe ⁣and comfortable​ environment, free‍ from any potential⁤ hazards. Additionally, ⁤some writers may find it challenging to⁤ stay focused with closed ⁢eyes,‍ especially in the beginning. However, with practice and patience, it becomes easier ‌to embrace the ⁤technique.

In conclusion, ⁣closed-eye exercises in writing are unique techniques that can help unleash⁤ creativity and improve writing ⁤skills. ‍By ​engaging our imagination ‍and removing visual ⁤distractions,⁣ we ⁤can tap into⁢ our innermost thoughts and ⁢produce truly original‍ and authentic content.

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At Creative Writing Prompts, we believe in the power of words to shape worlds. Our platform is a sanctuary for aspiring writers, seasoned wordsmiths, and everyone. Here, storytelling finds its home, and your creative journey begins its captivating voyage.

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KathySteinemann.com: Free Resources for Writers and Poets

Word lists, cheat sheets, and sometimes irreverent reviews of writing rules. kathy steinemann is the author of the writer's lexicon series..

100+ Ways to Say “Roll the Eyes”: A Word List for Writers

Should You Ever Make Your Characters Roll Their Eyes?

Roll the eyes is a commonly used idiom. Many editors don’t like it, insisting that the expression makes readers envision eyes rolling across the floor like marbles. However, people understand what a writer means by the phrase. In my opinion, some editor biases are old-fashioned, and I was born when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.

Nevertheless, rolling of the eyes is cliché, best reserved for dialogue and children’s or young adult books. But even in books written for kids, overuse of any expression is taboo.

Effective Dialogue Helps

Anything a person would say in real life can be incorporated into written dialogue. Note how the following snippets of speech include the dreaded idiom in a way that won’t offend your editor.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, you insensitive jerk.”

“If you don’t smarten up, I’m gonna take those rolling eyes and use ’em for marbles.”

“You got a problem? Maybe I should glue your eyes in place to keep them from rolling around that empty space inside your head.”

Why Do People Roll Their Eyes?

If you understand character motivations, you can substitute suitable emotion beats and physical manifestations.

Rolling eyes could indicate:

A to S annoyance, boredom, contempt, disbelief, impatience, nonchalance, sarcasm, scorn, skepticism, smugness

Consider a Few Alternative Ways to Show These Emotions

Annoyance clenched jaw crossed arms tapping foot throbbing vein in the neck

Boredom drumming fingers lethargic movements sighing unfocussed gaze or staring

Contempt pinched lips sneering snorting stuck-out tongue

Disbelief gaping mouth inability to speak rapid blinking widened eyes

Impatience hair-twirling or other habitual behaviors pacing tapping one’s foot watching a clock or wristwatch

Nonchalance changing the subject cheesy grin joking shrugging

Sarcasm overstatement raised eyebrows statements with double meanings uneven smile

Scorn crossed arms dismissive hand gesture tightening of the upper lip wrinkled nose

Skepticism condescending smile muttering disagreement shaking the head shrugging

Smugness blustering speech rocking on heels strutting or swaggering leaning toward another character and invading their personal space

If you need additional beats, consult a body language dictionary . (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Try sentences like the following:

She propped her hands on her hips and gave him a look that told him he’d be sleeping on the couch again.

His eyes bulged so much they looked like billiard balls.

She screwed her face into a grimace that reminded him of his neighbor’s pug.

He curled his lip and stared at the ceiling.

Let Your Characters Tell About Their Feelings

Protagonists know how they’re feeling in the moment. They can reveal their emotions via dialogue or internal sensations.

“Do you really mean that, or are you full of baloney? As usual.”

“Yeah, right. That’s never gonna happen.”

She gave me a dismissive blink that made me feel like an insect.

Jolene’s flirtations annoyed Jim more than his mother’s incessant nagging.

Shirley’s impatience filled her with a suppressed urge to tap her foot as she waited for Bill to finish his lame joke.

Try Direct Replacements for Roll the Eyes

When you need something concise, this list might provide what you’re looking for.

B to D bait, balk, belittle, bellyache, blink, bluster, bridle, bristle, chaff, challenge, clown around, complain, cringe, criticize, cut up, demur, deride, disdain, disparage, dissent, dodge

F to K flinch, frown , gape, gawk, gawp, glare, glower, goad, goggle, grimace, gripe, grouch, grouse, grumble, harrumph, jeer, jest, joke, josh, kid around

L to P leer, look askance, look sideways, make a face, make fun of, moan, mock, mumble, mutter, narrow the eyes, object, pace, poke fun at, pooh-pooh, pout, protest, provoke, pull a face

R and S rag, raise the eyebrows, rant, razz, rebuff, recoil, revile, rib, ridicule, scoff, scorn, scowl, shrug, sigh, simper, smirk, sneer, snicker, snigger, snort, spurn, stiffen, suck the teeth

T to W taunt, tease, titter, tsk-tsk, twit, whine, whinge, wince

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14 thoughts on “ 100+ Ways to Say “Roll the Eyes”: A Word List for Writers ”

What about “invisible eye-roll”? Example: you’re sitting in church and the pastor says, ” I watched a reality show on T.V. and . . .. and she was looking at me when she said it. Later I wrote her a letter saying: ” in spite of my invisible eye roll, your sermon was terrific! My wife says I didn’t make that up, it’s commonly used. I say, Baaa Hummbug! Your take? Sam

Well, Sam, it is used. However, I prefer “mental eye roll.” What do you think? Try googling both phrases, in quotes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dear Kathy,

Thank you for the tons of description on body language expressions/emotions on word list for use in writing. However, I found that there is one body language expression which cannot be expressed in writing or are they any pictures in any book or on the internet to illustrate it.

It is an angry, silent expression of the eyes with the eyelids pressed down in slow motion to express silent anger or disgust at somebody.

Would you care to email to me to elaborate on the facial expression of the eyes so that you could give the most apt description to that expression for inclusion to the word list, and for which I could be the first person to earn compliment/credit for surfacing that facial expression.

I look forward to your reply.

Thanks for stopping by, Indurani.

I would suggest wording such as

• to narrow one’s eyes and glare

Or replace glare with glower .

Good luck with your writing!

Thanks so much for your post! I’ve used it many times. Would you be kind enough to recommend some of the best body language dictionaries? I clicked the link you provided and didn’t find any. I likewise tried “body language dictionary” on Amazon, but it is very hard to tell which book has what I am looking for as a writer. Thank you!

Thanks, Emily.

Regarding a body language dictionary, it depends on what you’re looking for. I would recommend that you read descriptions and reviews, and then use Amazon’s “Look inside” feature to read the first few pages of the books that appeal to you. Pick one that matches your needs.

Happy writing!

Thanks for these words! They really helped pick my writing up so I wasn’t using the same adjectives and adverbs 24/7.

My pleasure, Sadiee. I’m glad you found them useful.

For once, my search for a synonym for a phrase, yielded results! Often, the thesauri only react to specific words, such as “roll” or “eyes”. This blog post helped me change the eye rolling of a character trapped on the ratlines, to phrases much more evocative. Thank you!

Thanks, Holly.

Thanks for dropping by, and stay safe!

I definitely need to eliminate those “rolling eyes” from my novel.Thanks for the reminder.

Thanks for stopping by, Blanche.

This is helpful thanks

Thanks for stopping by, Jane, and for taking a moment to comment.

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The department of english and creative writing responds to the may 1, 2024 events and arrests on campus.

We the faculty and staff of the Dartmouth College Department of English and Creative Writing write to condemn the decision-making process that led to the presence of multiple militarized police units on our campus. One of these units, the New Hampshire Special Weapon and Tactics , defines itself as a highly-trained squad,

with expertise in weaponry and specialized tactics such as rappelling and building assaults. The purpose of the SWAT Unit is to be able to respond to high-risk incidents such as barricaded suspects, hostage takers, high-risk warrant service, active shooter situations and executive (VIP) security, as well as other incidents in which the lives and safety of the public are in extreme danger.

As in-person observers of the protest—representing a range of political views within the department—and as faculty who've consulted with students representing a range of political views, we affirm that the following played no role in the protest:

—barricaded suspects,

—hostage takers,

—standing warrants,

—active shooters,

—executive (VIP) security.

The decision to call in law enforcement, leading to the presence of militarized police, made this a case of "SWATting," the practice of summoning militarized police to a non-threatening situation to increase the risk of violence​. This decision endangered the safety of every member of the Dartmouth community.

The protest in question obstructed nothing and threatened no violence. Before this administration took power, there was no precedent in Dartmouth history for responding with law enforcement to language that is not explicitly threatening. There is no precedent in Dartmouth history for responding to any protest with militarized police units created to respond to life-or-death situations.

Therefore, w e call for the College to formally revise its dissent policies, in consultation with the faculty, so that police and militarized police will never again be used in response to peaceful protest.

In solidarity with students and with the many departments and programs across our campus that have issued statements denouncing the administration's actions, we reiterate and affirm the demands articulated by our colleagues in the Department of History and African and African American Studies that the Dartmouth administration

• acknowledge publicly that the deployment of state police and armored vehicles was an excessive and punitive response to peaceful protests, which will not be repeated,
• announce publicly that you are asking prosecutors to dismiss all criminal charges against the faculty, students, and staff who were arrested on May 1—a request that in no way infringes on prosecutorial discretion—and charges against the two students arrested in the fall, Roan V. Wade and Kevin Engle, should also be dropped immediately,
• make it officially and publicly known that academic freedom includes the right to peacefully express support for Palestinian rights. The college should permit nonviolent protest and restore faith in fair process and commitment to free speech on campus.

This statement was agreed upon by a clear majority of 26 yes votes, with 1 no vote, 1 abstain vote, and 9 uncast ballots.

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Bring back the pleasure of reading in classrooms

Ruth Allen says the soul has been knocked out of learning English and maths. Plus letters from Amy Lewis and Mary Smith

I read your editorial in delighted agreement with much of its argument ( The Guardian view on English lessons: make classrooms more creative again, 2 May ). My particular experience is working with the youngest children as they begin learning to read. Since 2021, schools in England have been required to follow the highly prescriptive systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) scheme. The “fully decodable” books approved for SSP schemes must focus on the spelling pattern to be learned, usually at the expense of a good story or any literary merit. Right from the start of school, enjoyment of books is being squeezed out.

However, your contention that the curriculum model of little blocks of tightly controlled content is “more suited to science and maths” must be challenged. My other role is as a maths tutor to teenagers. I find that they have been rushed to learn ever more complicated formulas and procedures without time to investigate ideas, to make links between topics or to develop thinking skills.

Mathematics is a deeply creative subject. Advances are made by finding new ways of thinking rather than by applying known formulae. Just as with English, the current fact-heavy GCSE and A-level maths curriculums squeeze out the joy of learning. A general curriculum review is needed. The soul has been knocked out of the English curriculum, but mathematics has been just as badly served. Ruth Allen Nottingham

It was so cheering to read your call for the pleasure of reading to be restored to the classroom. We all get the joy of sharing a picture book with young children, looking at the pictures, laughing together, perhaps enjoying the rhyme as we talk the words off the page. But for many children, that simple joy of reading gets lost when they learn to read.

They have to work hard to sound words out, and the story can become dull and restricted by what phonic sounds they are able to recognise. Language is stripped down to its component parts, reading becomes a chore, and parents and children get trapped in a reading battle.

Many schools are shifting the tide on this, and classrooms and corridors are beginning to buzz with reading-friendly spaces, brilliant books are positioned to tempt and children are encouraged to chat about their reading choices. But it’s an uphill battle. Let’s support schools, parents and carers to get children back to a place of sharing a book because they really want to. The benefits to all are clear. Amy Lewis Head of Coram Beanstalk

I couldn’t agree more with your editorial. I have taught English at secondary level for almost 50 years. For the first 25 years or so, the text was king. We read, discussed, engaged, argued, talked about life, society, morality, emotion – literally everything writers write about. Then, gradually and insidiously, the assessment objectives and mark schemes usurped the text. Thinking and responding gave way to spotting. It became less important to discuss why Hamlet asks “To be or not to be?” and what that suggests about the human condition, and more important to identify the rhetorical device Shakespeare used.

Teachers became obliged to value what could be measured rather than continuing to teach what is valuable, and the subject became a shadow of its former self. Mary Smith Bearsted, Kent

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Book News & Features

Ai is contentious among authors. so why are some feeding it their own writing.

Chloe Veltman

The vast majority of authors don't use artificial intelligence as part of their creative process — or at least won't admit to it.

Yet according to a recent poll from the writers' advocacy nonprofit The Authors Guild, 13% said they do use AI, for activities like brainstorming character ideas and creating outlines.

The technology is a vexed topic in the literary world. Many authors are concerned about the use of their copyrighted material in generative AI models. At the same time, some are actively using these technologies — even attempting to train AI models on their own works.

These experiments, though limited, are teaching their authors new things about creativity.

Best known as the author of technology and business-oriented non-fiction books like The Long Tail, lately Chris Anderson has been trying his hand at fiction. Anderson is working on his second novel, about drone warfare.

He says he wants to put generative AI technology to the test.

"I wanted to see whether in fact AI can do more than just help me organize my thoughts, but actually start injecting new thoughts," Anderson says.

Anderson says he fed parts of his first novel into an AI writing platform to help him write this new one. The system surprised him by moving his opening scene from a corporate meeting room to a karaoke bar.

Authors push back on the growing number of AI 'scam' books on Amazon

"And I was like, you know? That could work!" Anderson says. "I ended up writing the scene myself. But the idea was the AI's."

Anderson says he didn't use a single actual word the AI platform generated. The sentences were grammatically correct, he says, but fell way short in terms of replicating his writing style. Although he admits to being disappointed, Anderson says ultimately he's OK with having to do some of the heavy lifting himself: "Maybe that's just the universe telling me that writing actually involves the act of writing."

Training an AI model to imitate style

It's very hard for off-the-shelf AI models like GPT and Claude to emulate contemporary literary authors' styles.

The authors NPR talked with say that's because these models are predominantly trained on content scraped from the Internet like news articles, Wikipedia entries and how-to manuals — standard, non-literary prose.

But some authors, like Sasha Stiles , say they have been able to make these systems suit their stylistic needs.

"There are moments where I do ask my machine collaborator to write something and then I use what's come out verbatim," Stiles says.

The poet and AI researcher says she wanted to make the off-the-shelf AI models she'd been experimenting with for years more responsive to her own poetic voice.

So she started customizing them by inputting her finished poems, drafts, and research notes.

"All with the intention to sort of mentor a bespoke poetic alter ego," Stiles says.

She has collaborated with this bespoke poetic alter ego on a variety of projects, including Technelegy (2021), a volume of poetry published by Black Spring Press; and " Repetae: Again, Again ," a multimedia poem created last year for luxury fashion brand Gucci.

Stiles says working with her AI persona has led her to ask questions about whether what she's doing is in fact poetic, and where the line falls between the human and the machine.

read it again… pic.twitter.com/sAs2xhdufD — Sasha Stiles | AI alter ego Technelegy ✍️🤖 (@sashastiles) November 28, 2023

"It's been really a provocative thing to be able to use these tools to create poetry," she says.

Potential issues come with these experiments

These types of experiments are also provocative in another way. Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger says she's not opposed to authors training AI models on their own writing.

"If you're using AI to create derivative works of your own work, that is completely acceptable," Rasenberger says.

Thousands of authors urge AI companies to stop using work without permission

But building an AI system that responds fluently to user prompts requires vast amounts of training data. So the foundational AI models that underpin most of these investigations in literary style may contain copyrighted works.

Rasenberger pointed to the recent wave of lawsuits brought by authors alleging AI companies trained their models on unauthorized copies of articles and books.

"If the output does in fact contain other people's works, that creates real ethical concerns," she says. "Because that you should be getting permission for."

Circumventing ethical problems while being creative

Award-winning speculative fiction writer Ken Liu says he wanted to circumvent these ethical problems, while at the same time creating new aesthetic possibilities using AI.

So the former software engineer and lawyer attempted to train an AI model solely on his own output. He says he fed all of his short stories and novels into the system — and nothing else.

Liu says he knew this approach was doomed to fail.

That's because the entire life's work of any single writer simply doesn't contain enough words to produce a viable so-called large language model.

"I don't care how prolific you are," Liu says. "It's just not going to work."

Liu's AI system built only on his own writing produced predictable results.

"It barely generated any phrases, even," Liu says. "A lot of it was just gibberish."

Yet for Liu, that was the point. He put this gibberish to work in a short story. 50 Things Every AI Working With Humans Should Know , published in Uncanny Magazine in 2020, is a meditation on what it means to be human from the perspective of a machine.

"Dinoted concentration crusch the dead gods," is an example of one line in Liu's story generated by his custom-built AI model. "A man reached the torch for something darker perified it seemed the billboding," is another.

Liu continues to experiment with AI. He says the technology shows promise, but is still very limited. If anything, he says, his experiments have reaffirmed why human art matters.

"So what is the point of experimenting with AIs?" Liu says. "The point for me really is about pushing the boundaries of what is art."

Audio and digital stories edited by Meghan Collins Sullivan .

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What Is Beauty? A Christian Creative’s Perspective

I was asked this question today. What Is Beauty? About an hour ago, I was on my Zoom call for Christian Creatives, which was started by Dr. William Barnett over at International Network of Creatives and the question was posed. What is beauty? It’s harder to define than you think and that concerns me. I will confess for a person who has spent his entire life in the arts in one form or another, I was struggling to define beauty. What is Beauty?

What Is Beauty? Beauty Is Like Love

I started off the conversation, though about half way in, I felt like I was rambling and it may have been better to wait to hear from the others. The one thing I came up with is “Beauty is like love. It’s hard to define but you know it when you see it.” From there I started to think about things that people might consider beautiful, and I realized that beauty is more than aesthetics. Beauty is complex. Sometimes a part of of a whole can be beautiful even if the larger whole is not aesthetically pleasing.  

What Is Beauty? Beauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder

This is also true. Beauty is subjective. What might be beautiful to one person may be anything but to another. Further beauty goes beyond the visual. A beautiful piece of music can touch the heart like few other art forms can. Music is subjective too. I remember one time sitting down with a person who had devoted a large portion of her life to teaching choral music. She had this amazing voice, and put together some really fantastic classical performances for her students. What surprised me was when she started sharing her love of Bob Dylan with me. Clearly he is an immensely gifted songwriter, but as a vocalist… Well, let’s just say, I was surprised by my friend’s reaction. While Dylan may not be a virtuoso singer, something in His music touched her heart, and that was beautiful.  

What Is Beauty? Beauty is More Than Skin Deep

In our Zoom group, one person went to physical human beauty, saying “What if a person is aesthetically beautiful, yet has a mean spirited demeanor?” Is that still beauty? How about a person who may not be what a culture defines as physically beautiful, and yet has an amazing heart? I don’t think we were really going into what makes a person beautiful, with this line of discussion. Rather we were trying to define the term. Is beauty skin deep or is there something more?  

What Is Beauty? Let’s Go Deeper

From this point forward the question was deepened. We were asked to look at beauty as an attribute of God. After all if God is the Creator of all, then God is the Creator of beauty. So what we see as beautiful may rightly be seen as a reflection of the Creator. From there, the conversation widened greatly. Bill Barnett led us into a discussion based around this verse Romans 1:20 , For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  

What Is Beauty? Beauty As a Reflection of God

If God’s invisible qualities are seen in His creation—if His eternal power and divine nature are understood from what He has made, then when we look at the beauty of His creation, we can see a pale image of the beauty of God. Looking closer, we can see the amazing creativity that goes into His works of beauty. Consider a cloud floating in the sky, You know one of those big fluffy cumulus clouds that looks so beautiful on a bright sunny day and even more spectacular at sunset. Would it surprise you to learn that cloud may weigh upwards of 1,400,000,000 pounds ! Yet with all that weight and volume, it floats up their appearing to be nearly weightless.   That is the beauty of God’s creation.

What Is Beauty? The Lord Is In the Details

I was reminded of the time I looked at a single maple leaf through a magnifying glass. There are the veins that run through each leaf that are clearly visible, but if you get closer, you will see a near infinite mesh of other much smaller capillaries, that form an intricate design defying the imagination. That was a single leaf. I read on this website that a maple tree with a three foot diameter trunk, will have around 100,000 leaves , each with that level of detail. At the end of the season, those leaves will fall to the ground, feeding the plant to repeat the cycle in Spring This is the amazingly complex beauty of God seen in His creation.  

What Is Beauty? Do You See the Beauty?

Look at the beauty around you. It’s not very hard to find. It’s found in the big and in the small. It’s everywhere if your eyes are open to it. Think about the most beautiful place you have ever seen. Now know this: it is a pale reflection of what God intended. The world that we live in, even though there are things of breathtaking beauty, is a shadow of what God intended. It was tainted at the fall and it was tainted by sin. There will come a time when it will all be made right. And I believe at that time, the blinders will come off and we will truly see.

What Is Beauty? Colors Beyond Comprehension

Is what we see all there is? I sincerely doubt it. Vision varies by species. Take for example your pets, your dog or cat. Their eyes contain two color receptors. This limits their ability to see color. You and I have three color receptors and as a result, we can see the vast array of colors we can envision. Butterflies have five color receptors which scientists say makes them able to see all that we see, and in addition, into the infrared and ultraviolet spectra, but then there is the Mantis Shrimp . These amazing sea creatures, are basically a big technicolor shrimp (there’s an oxymoron for you). Their eyes have 16 color receptors in them, which I believe makes them able to see colors only God can see. There is more to this world than meets the eye.

What Is Beauty? Don’t Miss the Masterpiece

One of the things that amazes me is how we will travel the world to see it’s beauty, the mountains, the valleys, the oceans and more, and somehow miss the masterpiece. We miss the ultimate beauty. We miss it, not because it’s hard to see, but because it is everywhere—so “everywhere” that it becomes commonplace, If the evidence of God is seen in His creation, then His masterpiece is the thing He created in His image, the truest reflection of His beauty. Do you know what it is? It’s you! It’s me! It’s humanity. We are the truest reflection of His beauty, because He made us to be like Him. Notice the humanity around you pray for them, bless them, help them and one more thing.

What Is Beauty, and What Are You Going to Do About It?

Hebrews 1:3 says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” We are God’s masterpiece, created in His image, but the exact representation of His being is found in Jesus. If we want to see true beauty, it is found in God’s love and the greatest expression of God’s love is found in His one and only Son, laying down His life for you and me. His love is beauty. His grace is beauty and we who have been created by God with creative abilities, must use those abilities to reflect God’s beauty and the beauty of His grace into the dark corners of our world. If we will do that, beautiful things will happen.    

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Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening?

All vaccines have at least occasional side effects. But people who say they were injured by Covid vaccines believe their cases have been ignored.

Shaun Barcavage, 54, a nurse practitioner in New York City, said that ever since his first Covid shot, standing up has sent his heart racing. Credit... Hannah Yoon for The New York Times

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By Apoorva Mandavilli

Apoorva Mandavilli spent more than a year talking to dozens of experts in vaccine science, policymakers and people who said they had experienced serious side effects after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.

• Published May 3, 2024 Updated May 4, 2024

Within minutes of getting the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, Michelle Zimmerman felt pain racing from her left arm up to her ear and down to her fingertips. Within days, she was unbearably sensitive to light and struggled to remember simple facts.

She was 37, with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, and until then could ride her bicycle 20 miles, teach a dance class and give a lecture on artificial intelligence, all in the same day. Now, more than three years later, she lives with her parents. Eventually diagnosed with brain damage, she cannot work, drive or even stand for long periods of time.

“When I let myself think about the devastation of what this has done to my life, and how much I’ve lost, sometimes it feels even too hard to comprehend,” said Dr. Zimmerman, who believes her injury is due to a contaminated vaccine batch .

The Covid vaccines, a triumph of science and public health, are estimated to have prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths . Yet even the best vaccines produce rare but serious side effects . And the Covid vaccines have been given to more than 270 million people in the United States, in nearly 677 million doses .

Dr. Zimmerman’s account is among the more harrowing, but thousands of Americans believe they suffered serious side effects following Covid vaccination. As of April, just over 13,000 vaccine-injury compensation claims have been filed with the federal government — but to little avail. Only 19 percent have been reviewed. Only 47 of those were deemed eligible for compensation, and only 12 have been paid out, at an average of about $3,600 .

Some scientists fear that patients with real injuries are being denied help and believe that more needs to be done to clarify the possible risks.

“At least long Covid has been somewhat recognized,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist and vaccine expert at Yale University. But people who say they have post-vaccination injuries are “just completely ignored and dismissed and gaslighted,” she added.

In interviews and email exchanges conducted over several months, federal health officials insisted that serious side effects were extremely rare and that their surveillance efforts were more than sufficient to detect patterns of adverse events.

“Hundreds of millions of people in the United States have safely received Covid vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history,” Jeff Nesbit, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an emailed statement.

But in a recent interview, Dr. Janet Woodcock, a longtime leader of the Food and Drug Administration, who retired in February, said she believed that some recipients had experienced uncommon but “serious” and “life-changing” reactions beyond those described by federal agencies.

“I feel bad for those people,” said Dr. Woodcock, who became the F.D.A.’s acting commissioner in January 2021 as the vaccines were rolling out. “I believe their suffering should be acknowledged, that they have real problems, and they should be taken seriously.”

“I’m disappointed in myself,” she added. “I did a lot of things I feel very good about, but this is one of the few things I feel I just didn’t bring it home.”

Federal officials and independent scientists face a number of challenges in identifying potential vaccine side effects.

The nation’s fragmented health care system complicates detection of very rare side effects, a process that depends on an analysis of huge amounts of data. That’s a difficult task when a patient may be tested for Covid at Walgreens, get vaccinated at CVS, go to a local clinic for minor ailments and seek care at a hospital for serious conditions. Each place may rely on different health record systems.

There is no central repository of vaccine recipients, nor of medical records, and no easy to way to pool these data. Reports to the largest federal database of so-called adverse events can be made by anyone, about anything. It’s not even clear what officials should be looking for.

“I mean, you’re not going to find ‘brain fog’ in the medical record or claims data, and so then you’re not going to find” a signal that it may be linked to vaccination, Dr. Woodcock said. If such a side effect is not acknowledged by federal officials, “it’s because it doesn’t have a good research definition,” she added. “It isn’t, like, malevolence on their part.”

The government’s understaffed compensation fund has paid so little because it officially recognizes few side effects for Covid vaccines. And vaccine supporters, including federal officials, worry that even a whisper of possible side effects feeds into misinformation spread by a vitriolic anti-vaccine movement.

‘I’m Not Real’

Patients who believe they experienced serious side effects say they have received little support or acknowledgment.

Shaun Barcavage, 54, a nurse practitioner in New York City who has worked on clinical trials for H.I.V. and Covid, said that ever since his first Covid shot, merely standing up sent his heart racing — a symptom suggestive of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome , a neurological disorder that some studies have linked to both Covid and, much less often, vaccination .

He also experienced stinging pain in his eyes, mouth and genitals, which has abated, and tinnitus, which has not.

“I can’t get the government to help me,” Mr. Barcavage said of his fruitless pleas to federal agencies and elected representatives. “I am told I’m not real. I’m told I’m rare. I’m told I’m coincidence.”

Renee France, 49, a physical therapist in Seattle, developed Bell’s palsy — a form of facial paralysis, usually temporary — and a dramatic rash that neatly bisected her face. Bell’s palsy is a known side effect of other vaccines, and it has been linked to Covid vaccination in some studies.

But Dr. France said doctors were dismissive of any connection to the Covid vaccines. The rash, a bout of shingles, debilitated her for three weeks, so Dr. France reported it to federal databases twice.

“I thought for sure someone would reach out, but no one ever did,” she said.

Similar sentiments were echoed in interviews, conducted over more than a year, with 30 people who said they had been harmed by Covid shots. They described a variety of symptoms following vaccination, some neurological, some autoimmune, some cardiovascular.

All said they had been turned away by physicians, told their symptoms were psychosomatic, or labeled anti-vaccine by family and friends — despite the fact that they supported vaccines.

Even leading experts in vaccine science have run up against disbelief and ambivalence.

Dr. Gregory Poland, 68, editor in chief of the journal Vaccine, said that a loud whooshing sound in his ears had accompanied every moment since his first shot, but that his entreaties to colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explore the phenomenon, tinnitus, had led nowhere.

He received polite responses to his many emails, but “I just don’t get any sense of movement,” he said.

“If they have done studies, those studies should be published,” Dr. Poland added. In despair that he might “never hear silence again,” he has sought solace in meditation and his religious faith.

Dr. Buddy Creech, 50, who led several Covid vaccine trials at Vanderbilt University, said his tinnitus and racing heart lasted about a week after each shot. “It’s very similar to what I experienced during acute Covid, back in March of 2020,” Dr. Creech said.

Research may ultimately find that most reported side effects are unrelated to the vaccine, he acknowledged. Many can be caused by Covid itself.

“Regardless, when our patients experience a side effect that may or may not be related to the vaccine, we owe it to them to investigate that as completely as we can,” Dr. Creech said.

Federal health officials say they do not believe that the Covid vaccines caused the illnesses described by patients like Mr. Barcavage, Dr. Zimmerman and Dr. France. The vaccines may cause transient reactions, such as swelling, fatigue and fever, according to the C.D.C., but the agency has documented only four serious but rare side effects .

Two are associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is no longer available in the United States: Guillain-Barré syndrome , a known side effect of other vaccines , including the flu shot; and a blood-clotting disorder.

The C.D.C. also links mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to heart inflammation, or myocarditis, especially in boys and young men. And the agency warns of anaphylaxis, or severe allergic reaction, which can occur after any vaccination.

Listening for Signals

Agency scientists are monitoring large databases containing medical information on millions of Americans for patterns that might suggest a hitherto unknown side effect of vaccination, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the C.D.C.’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“We toe the line by reporting the signals that we think are real signals and reporting them as soon as we identify them as signals,” he said. The agency’s systems for monitoring vaccine safety are “pretty close” to ideal, he said.

Those national surveillance efforts include the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). It is the largest database, but also the least reliable: Reports of side effects can be submitted by anyone and are not vetted, so they may be subject to bias or manipulation.

The system contains roughly one million reports regarding Covid vaccination, the vast majority for mild events, according to the C.D.C.

Federal researchers also comb through databases that combine electronic health records and insurance claims on tens of millions of Americans. The scientists monitor the data for 23 conditions that may occur following Covid vaccination. Officials remain alert to others that may pop up, Dr. Daskalakis said.

But there are gaps, some experts noted. The Covid shots administered at mass vaccination sites were not recorded in insurance claims databases, for example, and medical records in the United States are not centralized.

“It’s harder to see signals when you have so many people, and things are happening in different parts of the country, and they’re not all collected in the same system,” said Rebecca Chandler, a vaccine safety expert at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

An expert panel convened by the National Academies concluded in April that for the vast majority of side effects, there was not enough data to accept or reject a link.

Asked at a recent congressional hearing whether the nation’s vaccine-safety surveillance was sufficient, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the F.D.A.’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said, “I do believe we could do better.”

In some countries with centralized health care systems, officials have actively sought out reports of serious side effects of Covid vaccines and reached conclusions that U.S. health authorities have not.

In Hong Kong, the government analyzed centralized medical records of patients after vaccination and paid people to come forward with problems. The strategy identified “a lot of mild cases that other countries would not otherwise pick up,” said Ian Wong, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong who led the nation’s vaccine safety efforts.

That included the finding that in rare instances — about seven per million doses — the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine triggered a bout of shingles serious enough to require hospitalization.

The European Medicines Agency has linked the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to facial paralysis, tingling sensations and numbness. The E.M.A. also counts tinnitus as a side effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, although the American health agencies do not. There are more than 17,000 reports of tinnitus following Covid vaccination in VAERS.

Are the two linked? It’s not clear. As many as one in four adults has some form of tinnitus. Stress, anxiety, grief and aging can lead to the condition, as can infections like Covid itself and the flu.

There is no test or scan for tinnitus, and scientists cannot easily study it because the inner ear is tiny, delicate and encased in bone, said Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, an otolaryngologist at Stanford University.

Still, an analysis of health records from nearly 2.6 million people in the United States found that about 0.04 percent , or about 1,000, were diagnosed with tinnitus within three weeks of their first mRNA shot. In March, researchers in Australia published a study linking tinnitus and vertigo to the vaccines .

The F.D.A. is monitoring reports of tinnitus, but “at this time, the available evidence does not suggest a causal association with the Covid-19 vaccines,” the agency said in a statement.

Despite surveillance efforts, U.S. officials were not the first to identify a significant Covid vaccine side effect: myocarditis in young people receiving mRNA vaccines. It was Israeli authorities who first raised the alarm in April 2021. Officials in the United States said at the time that they had not seen a link.

On May 22, 2021, news broke that the C.D.C. was investigating a “relatively few” cases of myocarditis. By June 23, the number of myocarditis reports in VAERS had risen to more than 1,200 — a hint that it is important to tell doctors and patients what to look for.

Later analyses showed that the risk for myocarditis and pericarditis, a related condition, is highest after a second dose of an mRNA Covid vaccine in adolescent males aged 12 to 17 years.

In many people, vaccine-related myocarditis is transient. But some patients continue to experience pain, breathlessness and depression, and some show persistent changes on heart scans . The C.D.C. has said there were no confirmed deaths related to myocarditis, but in fact there have been several accounts of deaths reported post-vaccination .

Pervasive Misinformation

The rise of the anti-vaccine movement has made it difficult for scientists, in and out of government, to candidly address potential side effects, some experts said. Much of the narrative on the purported dangers of Covid vaccines is patently false, or at least exaggerated, cooked up by savvy anti-vaccine campaigns.

Questions about Covid vaccine safety are core to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. Citing debunked theories about altered DNA, Florida’s surgeon general has called for a halt to Covid vaccination in the state.

“The sheer nature of misinformation, the scale of misinformation, is staggering, and anything will be twisted to make it seem like it’s not just a devastating side effect but proof of a massive cover-up,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at Johns Hopkins University.

Among the hundreds of millions of Americans who were immunized for Covid, some number would have had heart attacks or strokes anyway. Some women would have miscarried. How to distinguish those caused by the vaccine from those that are coincidences? The only way to resolve the question is intense research .

But the National Institutes of Health is conducting virtually no studies on Covid vaccine safety, several experts noted. William Murphy, a cancer researcher who worked at the N.I.H. for 12 years, has been prodding federal health officials to initiate these studies since 2021.

The officials each responded with “that very tired mantra: ‘But the virus is worse,’” Dr. Murphy recalled. “Yes, the virus is worse, but that doesn’t obviate doing research to make sure that there may be other options.”

A deeper understanding of possible side effects, and who is at risk for them, could have implications for the design of future vaccines, or may indicate that for some young and healthy people, the benefit of Covid shots may no longer outweigh the risks — as some European countries have determined.

Thorough research might also speed assistance to thousands of Americans who say they were injured.

The federal government has long run the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program , designed to compensate people who suffer injuries after vaccination. Established more than three decades ago, the program sets no limit on the amounts awarded to people found to have been harmed.

But Covid vaccines are not covered by that fund because Congress has not made them subject to the excise tax that pays for it. Some lawmakers have introduced bills to make the change.

Instead, claims regarding Covid vaccines go to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program . Intended for public health emergencies, this program has narrow criteria to pay out and sets a limit of $50,000, with stringent standards of proof.

It requires applicants to prove within a year of the injury that it was “the direct result” of getting the Covid vaccine, based on “compelling, reliable, valid, medical, and scientific evidence.”

The program had only four staff members at the beginning of the pandemic, and now has 35 people evaluating claims. Still, it has reviewed only a fraction of the 13,000 claims filed, and has paid out only a dozen.

Dr. Ilka Warshawsky, a 58-year-old pathologist, said she lost all hearing in her right ear after a Covid booster shot. But hearing loss is not a recognized side effect of Covid vaccination.

The compensation program for Covid vaccines sets a high bar for proof, she said, yet offers little information on how to meet it: “These adverse events can be debilitating and life-altering, and so it’s very upsetting that they’re not acknowledged or addressed.”

Dr. Zimmerman, the neuroscientist, submitted her application in October 2021 and provided dozens of supporting medical documents. She received a claim number only in January 2023.

In adjudicating her claim for workers’ compensation, Washington State officials accepted that Covid vaccination caused her injury, but she has yet to get a decision from the federal program.

One of her therapists recently told her she might never be able to live independently again.

“That felt like a devastating blow,” Dr. Zimmerman said. “But I’m trying not to lose hope there will someday be a treatment and a way to cover it.”

Apoorva Mandavilli is a reporter focused on science and global health. She was a part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the pandemic. More about Apoorva Mandavilli

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Eye on AI - turning generative AI talk to action, to unlock business growth

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By Jenni Baker, Senior Editor

May 8, 2024 | 4 min read

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Digital advertising leaders from Skyscanner, Dentsu Creative and Microsoft Advertising demystify generative AI in a new three-part video series to explore how brands can unleash productivity, creativity and growth.

The Drum invited three generative AI pioneers to share their insights on the potential of generative AI / The Drum

It’s an exciting time to be a marketer. The paths to progress and growth are changing faster than ever, and emerging technologies are unlocking new ways for people and businesses to interact with the world around them, at lightning speed. This exponential pace of work, the crush of data, information, and always-on communication is outpacing our ability to keep up.

Efficiency and efficacy are top of mind right now, and, with the democratization of generative AI tools, people both in and outside the workplace are being empowered to level up skills and capabilities in a way that hasn’t been seen before – at least not at this scale.

Rewind to 2023. It was considered by many the ‘break out’ year for generative AI as generative AI tools such as Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini, and Open AI’s ChatGPT, became a popular medium for play and creativity. We’ve gone from the Agricultural Revolution to the Industrial Revolution, to the Digital Revolution, and now we’re in the ‘AI Revolution’.

Yet, amidst all the excitement and pace of innovation around generative AI, there is still uncertainty, that perhaps stems from a lack of know-how around its true capabilities and implications.

To provide some much-needed clarity, we invited three generative AI pioneers - Friederike Burge, director of paid marketing, Skyscanner; James Thomas, global chief technology officer, Dentsu Creative; and Ravleen Beeston, regional vice-president, Microsoft Advertising UK - to share their insights on generative AI’s potential to empower advertisers, unlock new opportunities, and drive business growth.

Over the next few weeks, you’ll learn:

How the democratization of generative AI is reshaping everyone’s daily digital interactions at work and at play

Ways digital marketers can collaborate with everyday AI companions, to do and achieve more

A blueprint for future success built on partnerships and innovation to drive business growth.

2024 will be a pivotal year for generative AI as it becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives, amplifying our productivity and creativity. The promise of AI is not some distant future, it’s not even tomorrow, it’s now. All that remains to be asked is, what will you do?

Watch the teaser for the ‘Eye on AI’ video series above and stay tuned for part one, next Wednesday May 15, which explores the applications of this exciting new technology in everyday experiences.

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