The Importance of Contrast: Giving Your Stories Power

Writing Craft
2025
Featuring Clay Stafford

This audio session is available to KNU members.

Explore Membership Options

ABOUT THIS SESSION

Contrast is one of the most powerful tools in storytelling. Clay Stafford explores how differences in character, tone, setting, and theme create emotional texture and narrative momentum. This session shows how contrast shapes rhythm, sharpens impact, and turns an ordinary story into one that lingers with the reader.

MORE LIKE THIS


How Suspense Really Works: Making Readers Hold Their Breath
Charlie Donlea, Dianne McCartney, J.L. Delozier, Kaira Rouda, Lynette Eason, Rick Treon
2022
Balancing Creativity, Life, and the Work of Being a Writer
Clay Snellgrove, Mary Burton, Nelda Copas, Paul Parsons, Scott Pearson
2012
How to Make a Powerful Impression on the First Page
Bill Rapp, Jane B Lee, Lawrence Allan, Linda Duncan, Michael Bradley, Robert Mangeot
2023
Writing Like a Pantser Without Losing Control
Charles D'Amico, Jim Nesbitt, Mark Jones, Peter Rosch, R. Weir, Robert Mangeot
2025
Inside the Mind of a Character
Beverle Graves Myers
2009
Writing Through the Lives of Your Characters
Chris Pavone, Gayle Lynds, Hannah Dennison, M. P. Cooley, Rory Flynn
2014
Giving Characters the Tools They Need to Succeed
Domenic Stansberry, Janet Dawson, John Rector, Julie Smith, Mette Ivie Harrison
2016
Writing Women Who Wear the Badge
Allison Brennan, Deborah Crombie, John Billheimer, Karin Salvalaggio, Kendra Elliot, Naomi Hirahara
2014