Working with Opposites: a craft essay

Writing my first published novel, The Wolf Tone, I found myself inside a nest of opposing ideas. From the book’s general theme to the characters’ dissimilar ages, every idea seemed to have a counterpart.

I didn’t exactly plan this. I did not draft the book thinking: I know! I’ll work with incompatible themes and characters who are opposite in every way and see what happens! In fact, I was two drafts in, years in, before I caught on to any sort of design. Now that the book is out and I have some distance, I can see how these intersections helped me overcome my resistance to conflict.

I wrote two novels and was toying with the ideas that would become The Wolf Tone before I understood my fear of conflict.

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