Contrast & juxtaposition

Current and future self

Photo portrait of young woman with illustrated doodles that suggest her future imagined self
Who are you now? And who do you imagine yourself to be in the future? By Yoniest Chun (Source)

Another source of contrast is the gap between our current and future-imagined selves.

What is the difference between Harriet's current and future self in this snippet?

MODELLING COULD TRANSFORM ME. And I’d no longer be Harriet Manners – hated, ignored, humiliated. I’d be… someone else. Someone different. Someone cool. Because if I don’t do something now, I’m going to be me forever. I’m going to be a geek forever. And people are just going to keep hating me and laughing at me and putting their hands up. Forever. And things will never, ever change.

Unless I do.

Geek Girl(2013)
  • Currently, Harriet sees herself as hated, ignored, humiliated.
  • But imagining herself as a model in the future, she sees herself as cool.

Can you see the contrast between current and future self in these worked examples?

"Fishing is dead, Jakob! It’s all over!" Mikolaj tossed his tin mug into the sink so hard it bounced straight back out and rattled on the floor. "The fish are gone, and whatever’s left they’re not gonna let little guys like us catch. It’s alright for you, you’re old, you can hang on by your fingertips and then die. But I’ve got a whole life to live, and I need something that can grow big. And this is it! I caught a monster! I’m a monster hunter now! I could run expeditions for rich people, sell merchandise, they’ll give me a reality show… I’m going to be a star." 

He tossed the footy in his hands and looked at the bright goalposts with a far-off expression. The sky behind him was darkening into purple and gold, and the floodlights gave his hair a copper halo.

"You should go professional, Ivan," Ainsley called out to him. "I can see it. The stands full, everyone cheering, you going kick to kick, showing off your arms. Everyone waving their flags when you score a goal."

Shut up, Ainsley, I thought. You don’t know what you’re talking about.  

  • One way to approach this is to pick something your character could be dissatisfied about, describe it, and then describe an alternative future (as in the first example).
  • If you want to be more subtle, describe the character's present situation without judgment, and then describe a contrasting future (as in the second example).
Contrast a character's present version of themselves with an imagined future version.

To wrap up this section of the lesson, let's look at one last source of contrast: divisions in the world.

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