An easy way to add depth to a story is to introduce one of the most marvelous techniques known to writers: juxtaposition.
Juxtaposition is the art of contrast, the foundation of dichotomy, and the tool of both subtlety and boldness. In using juxtaposition, you are able to take two seemingly incompatible things and combine them in a way that highlights both to greater advantage.
Juxtaposition is what gives us killers with a conscience such as Jason Bourne, fanatically loved villains such as the Phantom of the Opera, and charming scoundrels such as Han Solo.
The battle scene that takes place in a posh ballroom, the car chase in a minivan, the happy reunion in the midst of a thunderstorm—all offer an unexpected element that boosts the scene from ordinary to memorable.
5 Ways to Add Juxtaposition to Your Story
So how do you go about power-packing your fiction with juxtaposition? Start by asking yourself the following five questions.
1. What Would Be Unexpected?
This is a question authors should ask themselves at every important juncture in their stories. Originality is hard to come by these days (or is it?); if you can find a new ray of light—however tiny–to shine on an old story/character/setting, readers will sit up and take notice.
2. What Is Expected?
Sometimes you can find the answer to the first question by knocking on the back door. If you know what readers will expect from your stories, you can sometimes work to turn those expectations on their heads.
3. What Contrast Offers the Most Depth?
Often the most striking juxtapositions are those that are most startling:
- The heartless warlord who is kind to orphans
- The rough and ready cowboy who can play piano concertos
- The genial butler who strangles kittens
Go beyond pedestrian choices to find those that tell you something about the heart of your character.
4. What Props Can Be Used as Illustration?
In his essay “Subversive Details and Characterization” in Naming the World, Pulitzer finalist Lee Martin suggests:
[Make] a list of all the props associated with that character, all the things they touch, use, handle, and so on, in the story…. [Then] add another prop to the list, one you’ve just created on the spot, and make it a prop that doesn’t quite fit in with the others.
What does this tell you about your character’s unexpected personality traits?
5. How Can the Setting Support the Juxtaposition in Character?
Juxtaposition in setting is fabulous in itself, but when used in concert to further characterization, it reaches a whole new level. Perhaps the entire setting is in contrast with the character (a Victorian society belle in the wilds of Africa), or perhaps the setting can mirror and strengthen the character’s inner juxtaposition (in Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, the phantom’s subterranean lair is both beautiful and freaky).
Juxtaposition provides the entry point to an endlessly fascinating process that allows you to deepen your characters—and, as a result, your stories—in myriad ways. Bring on the originality, intensity, and memorability!
Wordplayers, tell me your opinion! What’s one way you’ve used juxtaposition in your stories? Tell me in the comments!
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About K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland
I really love this K.M. I’d like to use it for my next writer’s group meeting. Well said and a great concept.
Blessings.
Jan
I’m honored! Thanks, Jan. I hope your group finds it useful.
It’s a big word, but hey – love the concept. Opposites make great characters. The unexpected make great plots. That’s basically all this is saying.
Almost every post on this blog is extremely helpful. I’ve got to add this to my blogroll over at Write Big. Keep up the great work!
-Brayden Hirsch
http://writebig.wordpress.com/
Juxtaposition is at the heart of all great fiction. At its heart, juxtaposition is nothing more than conflict.
Your posts always gives me something to think about… even in so far as improving a screenplay I’m working on right now. Indeed, writers save the world! I can’t thank you enough:)
Pat from the Philippines
Pathfinder50.blogspot.com
I’m so glad you’re finding the posts useful! Best of luck with the screenplay.
One author I know said when she works on a scene, she considers her plot points, a hook for the end, and a surprise for the reader.
I try to avoid the ‘obvious’ — my six-foot-six cop didn’t play basketball and he has two cats, not a big, mean dog.
Great advice
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
As I’m working on my own writing, I refer to the “surprise for the reader” as a revelation. What’s the revelation in this scene? If there isn’t one, I know I need to do some more digging.
Juxtaposition certainly adds interest to the story. Your post has heightened my awareness about my NaNo entry for this year which I think definitely contains elements of unexpected contrasts. Now I be paying closer attention to props and situations as I write.
Lee
Tossing It Out
The best story ideas usually contain inherent juxtapositions, but it’s our awareness of those elements that really bring them to life. Good luck on NaNo!
Hmm… I have no idea how I’m going to use that, but I know I need more of it. 🙂 Your posts always help me work on improving my writing! Thank you! 😀
Hope you think of something spectacular!
This is an excellent article. Thanks for writing it.
Very practical and useful and I plan to use it.
Glad you found it useful!
When I think of juxtapositions, I think of memorable scenes in a movie. You know how a movie can instantly become a classic because of “that scene?” In writing a scene with contrasts, I like to think about it as a potential movie–if this story were a film, which scenes in it would have the startling contrasts and surprising twists of a classic scene? Which ones would people remember? Jurassic Park mastered this! Raptors chasing kids in a kitchen makes you feel that there is nowhere safe to hide, and it’s one of the most memorable scenes in the film.
The Pixar movie Up, has really unusual contrasts. The house with floating balloons is at once bizarre and beautiful, and one of my favorite scenes is when (in the midst of a bustling city), thousands of balloons come flying out of the chimney and hoist the house into the air.
Guardians of the Galaxy is also interesting because it incorporates loads references to the 80s that many people would find comforting and relatable–but in space. It’s part of the main character’s personality.
Also, in the TV show “Taxi,” Reverend Jim is a dazed junkie whom nobody expects to know anything about anything, but every now and then he surprises his coworkers with a burst of unexpected knowledge or revelation (because he used to be a totally different person).
These are just a couple that come to mind, but it’s very interesting to think about! Thank you for the post!
http://www.outofourmindsblog.blogspot.com
This article has comprehensive types of juxtapositions, but what do they mean? It is only mentioned that juxtaposition makes situations memorable, which is true, but what is noticeable on the surface always have deeper subtext. What does using juxtaposition entail on a deeper level? In this article, Mrs. Weiland, you start from the visible tip of the iceberg, the juxtaposition itself, and then ask us to try and guess its unconscious foundation. The path of the article is in opposite of what it should be, in my respectful opinion. How can we start with a truth, and use juxtaposition to convey it to subconscious readers? How can a writer reflect a truth through juxtaposed symbolism; what does it signify, and how can author achieve that? Please clarify.