rolanni | Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Somewhere around the blogosphere lately, I came across a statement to the effect that a character with jewel-toned eyes must fall under suspicion of being a Mary Sue. People, after all, don't really have violet eyes, nor emerald, and therefore writers should give over already pretending that they do.

To which I reply: Hooey.

I'm in the business of telling lies, for Thing One. If I tell you that Er Thom yos'Galan, for a handy example, has purple eyes, my job is to convince you that this is so. And I Swear To You that Er Thom is not a Mary Sue.

For Thing Two, it seems to me that we are impoverishing the language, if we insist that Sally has brown eyes, and Jon has brown eyes, and Clara has brown eyes and -- Wait, wait! Sally's eyes are more yellow than brown -- may I say that they are amber-colored? Just to, yanno, distinguish her eyes from Jon's, which have a slight red tinge to them, like a mud puddle that's been agitated by a sudden rain shower. And Clara's eyes -- they're so brown, they're almost black. And then there's Julie, who has silver eyes -- not grey; silver, with a dark ring around the iris. And Sam, who's got grey eyes, too, but steel-colored, really, not like Julie's at all...

People -- and characters -- are unique. Why not use descriptors that celebrate their uniqueness?

So, anyway.

Today, there was cereal for breakfast, and afterward vacuuming, more laundry, and fish and potato salad for supper. Very soon now, it will be time for dinner, and! Tomorrow is Monday.

Progress on Mouse and Dragon