Doubles and Dichotomies

Dichotomy is a superb engine of narrative tension. Take the scene in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca in which the narrator appears at a costume ball dressed like the portrait of her husband's ancestor that hangs in the hall. To her, it seems clever and striking. She doesn’t know she's doubling not just the ancestor but the first Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca, who had appeared in a nearly identical costume at the last ball she presided over, shortly before her death. The doubling, and the dichotomy between his two wives, sends Max into a terrifyingly quiet rage.

 PROMPT

Play with the similarities and differences between doubles in your text, look for and foster repetitions, echoes, shadows, different iterations. And keep in mind that doubling's not just about doppelgängers — doubles can be any sort of narrative object — places, props, events.