Using Contrasts in Your Writing

Today has been a day of contrasts, weatherwise. This evening it was very warm, dry and close, uncomfortably so. I've been flinging windows open all over the house, but even that didn't really help to cool the place down.

Then about half an hour ago, the heavens opened. We had a torrential rain-storm, so loud you could hear the rain battering on the ground. It was a complete contrast, but obviously what we needed to cool down. We suddenly went from warm and humid to torrential rain in a heartbeat.

You can use striking contrasts like this in your writing too. You can lull the reader into a false sense of security or a state of torpor, then BANG! Everything changes! Suddenly there is a threat or a crisis or danger.

You can use this contrast technique in lots of different ways. You can have a sudden change in the weather; an unexpected incident; even someone suddenly falling in love.

In the Latin work by Virgil, The Aeneid, you get these combined. There is a thunderstorm during which Aeneas and Queen Dido take shelter in a cave and suddenly become a whole lot closer!

The main thing is that all of a sudden, everything has changed, everything is different.

Your characters will be thrown into turmoil by the sudden change and it will also unsettle your readers and make them curious to find out what it going to happen next.

Spend a few minutes thinking about a piece you're in the process of writing, about to write, or one that you've been working on. Think about how you could introduce a startling contrast to really things up. Then write or rewrite your piece using this contrast.

Keep your original idea or draft so that you can compare your versions and see what a difference it has made introducing a contrast.