(Discover even more words in The Writer’s Body Lexicon.)

Shakespeare said, “The eyes are the window to your soul.” When he first coined the phrase, it was considered deep and meaningful. It was, and still is, but you’d better not use it in your writing. Nowadays it’s considered cliché, even though Shakespeare’s premise has withstood the test of time.

Beware of Clichés

If a word or phrase seems like a cliché, it probably is. Look it up in a thesaurus or dictionary and mull over what it means. With a little effort, you can create an alternative that readers will remember.

Check Google, remembering to use quote marks around phrases. If you find 500,000 instances of “baby-blue eyes,” it’s overused. However, 6,000 results for “hyacinth-blue eyes” is encouraging. Try “jellyfish-blue eyes.” Even more promising.

Every cliché started its journey as a memorable phrase. Readers loved it and repeated it, others joined them, and so on … and so on …

Why Should You Concentrate on Eyes?

Eyes broadcast emotions. A person might be able to hide a smirk or pout behind a hand, but the micro-movements of the eyes, eyelids, and brows will usually reveal the truth behind an emotionless face.

That’s part of the reason authors focus (pun intended) on eyes: eye colors, eye movements, arching brows, blinks and winks, and crow’s feet, to name a few. Can you hope to create something new and memorable when millions of writers are trying to do the same?

Yes.

View the adjectives and descriptions in this post, and leverage them as seeds.

Ready to go?

Also see Other Ways to Say “Roll the Eyes” and 125 Ways to Say “Look” (as in “to See”).

Consider Color

How often will readers tolerate emerald-green orbs, bottomless pools of blue, or doe-brown eyes?

Once.

Your task is to connect with your readers, not to bore them with the same-old, same-old.

While you search for inspiration, remember that nobody has irises of a single color. Go to YouTube, Google Images, or your favorite clip art sites. Scrutinize close-ups. You’ll notice a blend of colors that when viewed from a distance seems uniform.

The closer your protagonists move to one another, the more detail they’ll be able to notice in eyes. The description of an intimate encounter or a face-to-face meeting of enemies can intensify by describing the passion or fire with colors and patterns.

Start with basic hues such as those in the following list of color nouns. Then add flecks, streaks, or speckles of a different color.

Blue

baby blue [cliché], blue-jay blue, bluebell blue, blueberry blue, bluebird blue, bruise blue, china blue, cornflower blue, crystal blue, denim blue, electric blue, forget-me-not blue, gunmetal blue, ice blue, indigo, lagoon blue, lake blue, laser blue, lilac blue, lobelia blue, ocean blue, river blue, robin’s-egg blue, sapphire blue, sky blue, steel blue, ultramarine

Black

anthracite, coal black, crow black, ebony, grease black, ink black, jet black, leather black, metal black, midnight black, night black, obsidian, oil-slick black, onyx, pitch black, raven, sable, smoky black, sooty black, spider black, velvet black

Brown

acorn brown, almond brown, amber, auburn, autumn brown, Bambi brown, beige, brandy brown, bronze, buckeye, camel brown, champagne brown, chestnut, chocolate brown, cognac brown, cookie brown, copper, cork brown, desert-sand brown, drab, ecru, espresso, fawn brown, football brown, ginger, golden, hazel, honey brown, kiwi brown, loam brown, mahogany, maroon, muddy brown, nut brown, peanut brown, pigskin brown, rust, sepia, sienna, taffy, tan, taupe, tawny brown, teddy-bear brown, topaz, tourmaline, umber, walnut, wheat brown, whiskey brown

Grey/gray

aluminum grey, ash, battleship grey, boulder grey, carbon grey, cement grey, charcoal grey, cloud grey, crater grey, dove grey, elephant grey, exhaust grey, granite grey, graphite grey, gravel grey, gunmetal grey, iron grey, knife grey, lead grey, mercury grey, meteor grey, mummy grey, nail grey, nickel grey, pepper grey, pewter grey, pigeon grey, rat grey, shadow grey, shovel grey, silver, slate grey, slug grey, smoke grey, steel grey, stone grey, stormy grey, tank grey, sword grey, wax grey

Green

army green, artichoke green, asparagus green, avocado, blue green, bottle green, camouflage green, cat’s-eye green, chartreuse, clover grey, cyan, electric green, emerald green, fern green, forest green, grass green, jade, jelly green, jasper green, leaf green, LED green, lime, mint green, moss green, neon green, olive, pear green, Perrier-bottle green, pine green, sea green, shamrock green, spring green, tea green, teal, viridian, yellow green

Find more writing tips and word lists in

The Writer’s Lexicon series.

Available in both digital and print editions.

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Include Shape and Condition

Once again, consider the basics and mold them for your purposes.

How else could you describe almond-shaped eyes? bloodshot or filmy eyes?

We are all born with specific eye shapes, but a protagonist might have plastic surgery to change that. Plot twist?

Why would eyes become bloodshot or filmy? Sub plot.

A to F

allergic, almond, astigmatic, beady, bloodshot, bulging, cat-like, clear, cross-eyed, deep-set, elliptical, elongated, farsighted, feline, filmy

G to R

gimlet-eyed, goggle-eyed, moon-eyed, myopic, nearsighted, obscured by cataracts, oriental, oval, owlish, pale, pink, rheumy, ruddy, round

S to W

sensitive, shark-like, shortsighted, slanted, slitted, sloe-eyed, sunken, tired, twenty-twenty vision, unresponsive, wall-eyed, watery, wide

Eyelids Might Be:

C to W

crinkled, folded, heavy, hooded, monolid, raw, swollen, wrinkled

Or maybe they’re almost invisible.

Did You Remember the Lashes?

Eyelashes could be:

D to T

dark, dense, full, long, lush, luxurious, pale, sparse, sweeping, thick

Some men have eyelashes that rival those of a make-up model. How would that make them feel?

Brows Enhance Descriptions

Try these adjectives:

A to L

angled, arched, aristocratic, bestial, boomerang, burly, bushy, dark, dramatic, drawn on, elegant, fierce, full, heavy, knitted, level

P to W

painted, plucked, raised, refined, satanic, sparse, straggling, straight, sweeping, thin, triangular, tufted, wing-like, wispy

Eyes and Brows Move

Verbs and phrasal verbs that show motions of eyes, gazes, lashes, and brows include:

A to I

anchor on, assess, bat, blink, caress, cock, cruise, devour, dip, drill, flay, flicker, flutter, focus, follow, inspect, inventory

L to R

lie still, lift, linger, lower, meander, narrow, peruse, probe, pry, raise, rake

S to W

scan, search, shift, shoot, sight, slam shut, squeeze shut, stray, tilt, track, travel, tremble, unglue, wander, wink, wrench away

Does Your Protagonist Rely on Glasses or Other Eye-Assist Devices?

Few people have perfect eyesight, but it might not be obvious nowadays with wide access to contact lenses and laser surgery. Exploit poor vision to produce hurdles for your protagonists. For example, they could lose contact lenses in embarrassing places or experience side effects of laser surgery; or they might use eye-assist devices to view things at a distance.

Consider the multitude of props you can use for your characters. Here are a few.

B to S

bifocals, contact lenses, glasses, goggles, horn-rimmed glasses, lorgnette, lorgnon, loupe, monocle, opera glasses, pince-nez, progressive lenses, spectacles, sunglasses

But Maybe You Want a Single Word or Phrase

If you need a list of straightforward adjectives, try these on for size. Many of the words will break the Show, Don’t Tell rule, but they might be exactly what you need when trying to cut words.

A to C

angry, anxious, astute, avid, beautiful, beseeching, bewildered, blank, blazing, bright, bug-eyed, burning, chaotic, chilly, close-set, cold, come-hither, commanding, cool, crystal

D and E

dancing, dazzling, dead, demonic, disappointed, disapproving, discerning, disdainful, disoriented, dispassionate, dissatisfied, drowsy, dull, emotionless

F to H

fierce, fiery, flashing, flat, flickering, frigid, frightened, gleaming, glinting, glistening, glittering, glowing, gooey, guileless, hard, hollow, hooded

I to L

icy, impassive, imploring, innocent, intelligent, intense, intent, inviting, iridescent, irritated, judicious, lecherous, lifeless, limpid, liquid, luminescent, lustrous

M to R

magnetic, mellow, mocking, monstrous, murky, mysterious, narrowed, numb, oily, opalescent, penetrating, piercing, prominent, quick, quiet, remorseful, riveting

S

sardonic, saturnine, seductive, sexy, sharp, shimmering, shining, shiny, shrewd, skeptical, sleepy, slick, small, snapping, sneaky, soft, sparkling, squinting, steely, stretched, striking, surprised, sympathetic

T

twinkling, unreadable, unwavering, velvet, warm, wide-set, wild

Feedback

Have you ever encountered or created unforgettable eyes in writing or poetry?

📝 I’d love to hear about them.

Find more writing tips and word lists in

The Writer’s Lexicon series.

Available in both digital and print editions.

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