Relationships

Contrast can highlight the strengths, limitations, and complexities of a relationship.

Posters from the movie The Lobster, which show a woman and a man both hugging empty silhouettes and looking sad

In this snippet, there are several sources of contrast. Which contrast gives you the deepest insight into the relationship between the woman and her father?

It was always a strange thing for my siblings and me. As our mum was raised by a white father, there was no cultural knowledge for her – or us – to inherit. Despite being raised by her birth father in a home filled with complete and utter love, unconditional security and protection, the one thing he couldn’t give my mum was the knowledge of who she was as an Aboriginal woman.

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia(2018)

This snippet is about a racial contrast—a mixed-race Aboriginal woman with a white father—but that doesn't tell us anything about the relationship.

The contrast that makes this relationship vivid is the father's unconditional love and security, against his inherent inability to pass on any knowledge of her Aboriginal culture.

If we were to find a more general contrast in this snippet, we could express it as 'having everything you could want... but still there's something missing'.

Here are a couple of worked examples that contrast what you have and what you need in a relationship:

Mikolaj had a lot of respect for the old man. He’d taught Mika how to navigate, operate the boat, find fish, set nets, unload, clean, even sell the catch. Everything you needed to survive. But what he didn’t have was ambition to grow. Jakob was content to stay afloat, whereas Mikolaj was hungry for a big score, something that would jump him to a max new level.

We spent a lot of time together. Texting. Listening to music. Kicking the footy. On one level it was fun and relaxed, but at the same time there was always a kind of distance, an emotional detachment that left me confused and wanting more. It grew a kind of yearning in me.

Think about the relationship between two of your characters.
Imagine that one of them wants something specific from the other person that they can't get.
Then begin by describing everything they do get from the relationship, before revealing what is missing.

This is similar to the previous page: you can either write a straight description as per the examples, or you can incorporate a bit more action if you prefer.

Describe a relationship that has everything, but still something specific is missing.

Since relationships are at the heart of most stories, let's look at some more interpersonal sources of contrast.

For example, what happens when people have different social expectations and norms?

Contrast & juxtaposition