Contrast & juxtaposition

This lesson is all about contrast (and its avatar, juxtaposition).

Contrast is arguably the most important concept in narrative—possibly in writing in general, maybe even in life.

Here's an example of contrast in photography:

(By Abbas)

And here's an example of contrast in narrative writing:

This lesson has one simple thesis:

If you focus on contrast when writing a story, everything else will take care of itself.

That's not completely true—otherwise, this would be the only lesson you'd ever need.

But if you had to choose one thing to focus on, then contrast is a good starting point because is underpins everything else.