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When I’m writing fiction, I only realize what a story is really about when it’s very near completion. Only then does it become clear that it’s about ‘control versus letting go’, for example, or ‘security versus freedom’. I realize I need to go back and find the places in the text where these tensions arise, and explore them more deeply. Identifying opposing elements in a storyline can expose underling conflicts and reveal potential themes.
Here's an exercise that can help bring these opposing elements into our awareness:
- In two columns, list at least five pairs of ‘opposites’ within your story. You might identify opposing elements in relation to emotion, action, beliefs, characters, place or weather, for example.
- Freewrite or reflect on the relationships between these pairs of opposites.
- Identify places in your work where you may want to consider these paired relationships further, or point up the contrasts.
Here's the list I scribbled for my own WIP - a children's novel about time travel. It made me realize that (among other things!) it would be effective to introduce contrasts in the weather and setting each time they move forward or back in time, and that I need to convey the vastness of the universe, as well as focus on the detail of the moment.
At a writing workshop for visual artists recently, I asked them to consider opposites within their work. Participants identified conflicts they hadn’t previously given much thought to: movement and stasis; smooth and rough; child and adult. These tensions triggered ideas around the themes of their work.
Have you fully explored the implications of the ‘opposites’ in your project? Try this exercise on a book, or even a situation in your life. It might help you identify hidden tensions that reveal a theme.
Heather Dyer is a children's author, editor and writing tutor. She also delivers workshops in creative thinking techniques. Her children’s novel 'The Girl with the Broken Wing' was one of Richard and Judy’s book club picks, and 'The Boy in the Biscuit Tin' was nominated for a Galaxy Best British Children’s Book award. Heather teaches creative writing for the University of the Creative Arts.
Royal Literary Fund Consultant Fellow
3 comments:
This is very good advice and I must sit down and try it with my next story.
Interesting! Thanks Heather - will try it.
Good luck both - I found it quite helpful, it prompted me to increase the contrast between certain elements, like increasing the contrast on a scanner or in a painting, it seems to make the whole thing crisper and more dynamic.
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