Colour Prompts

When describing something as blue is simply not enough

Sometimes describing something as blue doesn't do justice to what you're describing. Not at all. If I was describing the lake above as blue, my reader wouldn't know that it was actually an unnaturally bright turquoise. That it reminded me of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. That it stopped me in my tracks. The reader would have no idea what a stunning view they were missing out on. And so, this month, we're going to do prompts about colours in which you can make use of similes and metaphors, use compound words, and create new words to describe exact colours.

1. In one sentence, compare the three blues in the above image. You have the blue sky and the two different blues of the lake. Avoid the word 'blue'.

2. Look at yourself in the mirror and describe the exact colour of your eyes as though you were a character in a story.

3. In last month's blogs we were looking at birds. This time, I want you to think about a robin and how we describe its breast as 'red'. Is it really? If you don't have robins in your garden or park, look for an image of one and then describe the colour of its breast as accurately as you can, without using the word 'red'.

4. Your character enters a room and everyone stops and stares because of what she is wearing. It's a striped dress of hideously clashing colours. Describe this dress. Which colours clash and why?

5. Describe the lack of colour in a black and white photograph that your teenage character has found in her mother's bedside table. It is a wedding photograph but where, she thinks, is all the colour? You can either describe the various shades of black, white and grey, or you can describe the colours (very specifically) as your character believes they should be.