Day Three--Compare and Contrast

Okay, you've done a free-write on your topic. You've written some expanded details to give your readers a clear picture of your topic (or setting or character or what-have-you). Now you are going to do some "Development and Support" in the form of a Compare and Contrast exercise. Things are getting more complicated now.

Take out your free-write and your expanded details. Now, think about your topic. Did you write an expanded detail describing common misconceptions about accountants? Maybe you described a character for a story. Or a setting. Or an action performed by a character. Or an action performed by an engineer.

Here's the tricky bit. Pick something to compare/contrast to that scene/action/character etc. Hmm. What does that mean, doggone it? Well, if you described a character, pick another character from the same story to compare him to. Described the hero? Compare him to the villain. Or compare him to his sidekick. Or to a similar character in another story. It's all good.

Described an action performed by an engineer? Compare it to a similar but not identical action that might also be performed by an engineer.

Described a scene in your story? Compare it to another scene. Compare/contrast two settings that will appear in your story. Or compare engineering to manufacturing.

It's important that you compare/contrast two fairly similar objects. Your hero and your villain are both humans (probably. More or less). They are engaged in a confrontation over a shared goal. If your human hero is battling extra-dimensional tentacled alien god thingummies, trying to compare them is going to be meaningless in terms of your project (just to prove me wrong, one of you will go out and do it brilliantly).

In a non-fiction project, you might compare an accountant to a bookkeeper because they have similar jobs and often work together (but only if that fits into your topic, otherwise it's a waste of your time). Or compare the cliched image of the accountant to a real-life accountant of your acquaintance.

Now that you have decided on something to compare/contrast, it's time to start making lists. You will need a column for similarities (compare), and another for differences (contrast). It doesn't matter where you start. Sometimes it's easier to do one list at a time. Or you might go back and forth between them as the spirit moves you.

Let's say you start with the hero and the villain. Let's say they are both: tall, driven, in love with Penny Pretty, popular, influential in their community etc. See if you can come up with at least ten of these, but don't sweat it if you can't. Your hero and villain are opposed to one-another, so it would make sense that they are more different than similar.

Now list the ways in which they differ. Villain is narcissistic, hero is empathetic. Villain is funny, hero is serious. Hero is a confronter, villain is a manipulator.Hero is influential because everybody likes him, villain is influential because everybody is scared of him. As you start listing these, you will begin to see how hero and villain will interact in your story.

In non-fiction, The engineer and the manufacturer may work on the same project (compare) and have a similar love for creating and developing technology (compare). However, engineering might be a largely intellectual pursuit, while the manufacturer is largely physical (contrast). And by the way, everybody get off my case--what the heck do I know about engineering or mechanics? (and extra credit for anybody who can tell me what you would call the guy who builds the prototype of the thingummy the engineer designs?).

And by the way, if it's easier for you to do this exercise in a paragraph--even in a free-write--that's absolutely fine.

Can you see now how this exercise can both clarify your own ideas about what you want to say, and give your reader some benchmarks for understanding your topic (or characters or seeing the setting, action or what-have-you?)

You won't necessarily use the stuff you've written down in this exercise directly. Maybe it will come out later in the way your hero and villain behave (villain sets trap for hero, hero plows right through it) or in the kinds of things that happen in different settings (fistfight in the bar, love scene in the boudoir). Or you may realize you need a chapter in your book for the engineer and another one for the mechanical type guy. That's great! Gosh, you're halfway to an outline/plan for your book.

Next lesson: Facts and Figures