Moving from Darkness into LIght

I wish!

It's pretty dark here and  lots of that sleety stuff  is drizzling down outside in a can't be bothered kind of way, as if the very idea of getting any momentum going so early in January is out of the question, and I'm feeling so enervated I can hardly stay vertical, just looking at it.

But I am vertical, sitting at my desk, trying to add some momentum to my thoughts, thinking about what gets you going and keeps you going. In that vein, it seems to me that it isn't just the story itself which sustains a book, but the way that it is told, and that a crucial way of adding a sense of internal drama (and momentum) to your work is through contrast.

Think of all the different ways that you can achieve contrast in what you are writing : you can change the depth of focus from close-up to longshot, you can move from interior to exterior, or from action to contemplation.  You can change from narrative to dialogue. You can move from the subplot to the main plot and back again, or mix something serious with some light relief. Anything, rather then get stuck in a linear this happened and then this happened rut.

See if it helps you move from darkness to light in what you are writing at the moment, from snow to thaw, from winter to spring....