You'll probably be surprised by what you'll experience. Many people who try this exercise report hearing background noise like wind, birds, and waves. You might feel the heat of the sun, or a cool breeze, or the grass underneath your feet. You might even smell flowers, grass, and salty sea air.
Writing Practice
Pull a single card, and think of it as a doorway into your story. Visualize yourself stepping through that entry point and into the scene pictured on each card. Write about the characters you meet there, along with the sounds, smells, tastes, and physical sensations you experience. Here's one example:
I'm in the Death card. I smell smoke, gunpowder, and blood. Death's white horse is sweating, and steam is rising from his back. The ground shakes a little when he stomps his hoof. It's dawn, and there's dew on the grass. Everything is strangely silent; there's no weeping or groaning, like I would have thought. There are no birds singing, either. The only noise I hear is the mumbled murmuring of the bishop; I think he's praying, but I can't be sure. He sounds very old and very tired. Far away in the distance, a child laughs.
The Five Senses
You can expand your practice by collecting sensory information from a number of cards. Try pulling details and imagery from five cards-one for each of your senses. Take, for example, these impressions:
Sight
Sound
Smell
Taste
Touch
Sight-Knight of Swords. Clouds race across the sky, and trees bend in the wind.
Sound-Queen of Wands. A cat meows.
Smell-The Sun. The air smells hot, with a hint of dry, black dirt on the breeze.
Taste-Seven of Pentacles. The flavor of fresh tomatoes.
Touch-The Page of Wands. The ground is hard underfoot.
Description
A good description entails more than a rote account of the landscape or interior design. As you write, try to combine sensory details with emotional impact, by describing the surroundings' effects on your characters' emotions. Your settings might remind your protagonist of his childhood, or fill your antagonist with a sense of despair that dates back to a storm or a terrorist attack.
As you use tarot cards to develop your descriptions, look for symbols and motifs that can add telling information about a character's physical and psychological environments. Use strong nouns to describe those symbols, rather than weak adjectives and adverbs. Keep straight exposition to a minimum, and be judicious in your use of telling details. Let your readers connect some of the dots.
A Sense of Style
There's more to good storytelling than characters and plot, of course. The cards can also help you with pace, point of view, style, and voice.
Pace describes the rhythm and movement of a story. Whether you're working on a five-hundred word vignette or an epic novel, you'll want to maintain a comfortable pace throughout the course of your story. Think of it like running: people can sprint for short distances at a pretty good clip, but most of us don't have the endurance to maintain breakneck speed through a marathon story. Adjust the pace of your writing so readers can catch their breath occasionally. Tarot cards can help: if you shift between the Major and Minor Arcana, or cards that show a lot of action and cards that depict a more leisurely reaction to events, your story will naturally flow at a comfortable pace.
Point of View. When you choose to tell a story from your protagonist's point of view, you're telling a "first person" story. If you choose to use a first-person point of view, however, you'll need to develop a character with remarkable powers of observation-because he or she will be your reader's only source of information. If your protagonist doesn't see, hear, or know about an event, it won't have an avenue into the story. Happily, you can use tarot cards for insights and information about your first-person character's feelings, thoughts, and experiences.
Tarot cards are also a good tool if you'd like to reveal the thoughts and feelings of an entire cast, adopting a third-person point of view. You have two choices here. "Third person limited" describes stories that delve deeply into the thoughts and feelings of a single character; an outside narrator is able to reveal the details of the protagonist's personal experience, as well as report objectively about other events in the story. "Third person omniscient" puts the narrator in a godlike position; every character's most private thoughts are an open book, and they can play out in full view of the reader, too. No matter which type of third-person point of view you choose, you'll be free to reveal whatever you learn from your background tarot readings.
Style. Your subject will often determine the style you'll use in your writing. You might take a journalistic approach, or aim for a scholarly tone. Your style could be descriptive, conversational, humorous, or reserved. If you'd like to experiment with various styles, try writing from the perspectives of several cards in your deck: the Emperor tells a different story than the Hanged Man does.
Voice. Your voice should be as clear and distinct in your writing as it is in your everyday conversations. While you can obsess about vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and syntax, the easiest way to develop your voice as a writer is simply to read your work out loud-just as you would read tarot cards for a friend or family member. If you stumble and stammer over some of the sentences, you've got some rewriting to do. If all the words flow as naturally from your lips as they did from your pen, you've found your own voice.
Figures of Speech
"To me," Truman Capote said, "the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make." Tarot cards can help you make music with your writing, too. They can help you tap into your most artistic self, and they can help you access a universe of symbols, imagery, archetypes, and allegories.
Symbolism. Symbols come in many forms: visual images and descriptions, objects, situations, incidents, settings, speeches, and characters. The one thing that symbols have in common is that they all represent something greater than themselves. Almost everything associated with tarot is a symbol. The card images are symbolic. The numbers and words on the cards are symbolic; so are the colors. Even the structure of the deck is symbolic. A single card-and a single symbol-can actually represent several layers or dimensions of meaning. The Fool, for example, usually symbolizes youth, inexperience, and innocence. It also represents birth, rebirth, the descent of spirit into matter, and beginnings and endings.
Archetypes. Some of the most obvious symbols in tarot are the archetypal characters in every card. Archetypes are cosmic stereotypes that transcend the limits of time and place.
Allegories. Those symbols and archetypes can be arranged-and rearranged-into allegorical stories that illustrate the human experience. The Fool's journey, for example, is an allegory.
Personification. You can also use tarot cards to personify symbols, so that plants, animals, and inanimate objects in the cards can assume human qualities. Think of the moon, for example, as a goddess. Picture a cloud as a fleeting thought. Play with the concept of water as emotion. You can breathe life into any image or symbol you spot in the cards.
Motifs. Some symbols appear throughout the deck. There are trees and birds throughout the deck, along with other topographical features like rivers, lakes, and streams. Man-made elements like pillars, walls, and castles are a common element in many cards. Even the symbols of the four suits-wands, cups, swords, and pentacles-recur as a motif you can use in your writing. Repeated symbols, imagery, and concepts can unify your composition and help you develop your theme.
Similes and Metaphors. Occasionally, a tarot symbol can work its way into your text as figure of speech-like a simile. Your antagonist's hatred for small children, for example, could be like the three sharp lances that pierce the heart in the Three of Swords. Meanwhile, your protagonist could be experiencing life on a metaphoric level: you might spot the Two of Wands, and realize that your hero really does hold the whole world in his hands.
It's time for brainstorming. We've covered characters, storylines, sett
ing, and description. Your head should be buzzing with story ideas and half-finished novels ... but if you're still looking for something to write about, turn to the next chapter.
"I saw the white horse galloping across the field, and the grim-faced rider bearing down on me. The look of quiet desperation in his eyes mirrored my own. Quickly, I tried to assess my options. I could run. I could play dead. I could duck. In the end, I decided to fight back."
-WRITING SAMPLE BASEL) ON THE DEATH CARD
ny blank page can be intimidating. When you have a tarot deck, however, inspiration is as close as the nearest card-and you'll be amazed at how quickly your ideas will flow.
At first, it might seem like magic. In tarot writing, the ideas seem to come from a mystical outside source and flow straight through you, from the cards on the table to the pages of your notebook. Don't be fooled, however. The real magic is happening inside your head. Tarot cards simply help you tap into your subconscious mind-the true source of archetypal images and symbolism.
Instant Inspiration
Here are some ways to use tarot cards to get words flowing onto a blank page.
Complete Description. Describe a single card in as much detail as you can muster. Start at the top and work your way down. Then describe the background and work your way toward the foreground. Notice the predominant colors as well as the mood and emotion in the card. Describe the scenery, characters, and action-and don't be surprised to find an entire story unfolding as you work.
The Language of Symbols. Choose a card and list every symbol you can see in it. Then write about what each one means to you, your characters, or your story. If you're unsure about meaning, consult a symbol dictionary.
Zoom Lens. Find one small detail in a card. Describe it completely, and then zoom out to incorporate that description in the larger picture.
Mix and Match. Pull characteristics from the figures in two or more cards and combine them to create an entirely new personality.
Timed Writing. This is a staple of many writing practices: simply set a timer for five or ten minutes, and begin. It doesn't matter what you write; your only goal is to start writing, and keep writing, until your time is up. Timed sessions force you to write without overanalyzing your efforts or doubting your talents. They also help unblock your communication skills and prime the pump for further work.
If you're doing a limited timed-writing session, you must stop when the timer goes off. If you're using the session simply as an icebreaker, however, you can keep writing for as long as you like.
You might like to start by writing,
"This card reminds me of 1)
"This image makes me feel
"This card makes me think 1)
11 "This card makes me want
Snapshot. Choose a single card, and write a one-page story that explains or describes what's happening. Try to add drama. Be imaginative.
What Happens Next. Draw a card and write about what you imagine might happen next.
Flash Fiction. Write a very short story-between 250 and 750 words-based on a single card. Try to include all the elements of a more traditional story: exposition, foreshadowing, inciting force, rising action, crisis, climax, falling action, resolution, denouement, and conclusion.
Alternate Point of View. Choose a card and write a story or poem from the point of view of any person in the card-or for that matter, any animal or even any thing in the illustration. Then write the same story or poem from the point of view of any other figure in the card.
Inanimate Object. Write a story from the point of view of an inanimate object in the card.
Outer Space. Write about the space that surrounds an object in the card.
Role Reversal. Write about a card that falls upright-and then turn it upside down, and write about it from a reversed perspective.
Personality Profiling. Observe strangers in public, and match them to cards that seem to suit their personalities. Alternately, find cards that remind you of people in your own life. Record your results.
Parts of Speech. Draw a card to represent a noun, an adjective, and a verb. Then write a story incorporating those three words into a story.
Patterns. Throw three, five, or seven cards onto the table in a random pattern. Then make sense of them. Explain their connections. Weave them into a story. What relationship do you see among the cards?
Seventy-eight-line Stories. Go through the tarot deck. For every card you turn up, write one sentence of a story.
House of Cards. Stack a few cards like the floors of an apartment building, and write about the tarot card characters who live on each level. Describe who they are, how they decorate, and how they get along with the neighbors.
Changing Rooms. Pull a character from one card and plop him into another cardpossibly displacing the original inhabitant in the process. Or take a character from any card and put him in a completely new location: try a high school dance, a car dealership, or a grocery store. Send him into a pharmacy, a fitness club, a hotel bar, or a taxi. Experiment with your own favorite places.
Flashback. Pull a card, and write about a character as a young child.
Flash Forward. Pull a card, and write about a character as an old man or woman.
The Narrator. Choose a character from any card to narrate your story.
Keywords. Most tarot cards have titles printed on them; some even include keywords. Any words you spot on a card can free your imagination. Write an impromptu story based on a card's title or keyword. Feel free to play: you don't have to take them literally. Perhaps when you see "Stagnation," it's time to send your character to a bar called "Stag Nation." You can also develop your own keywords for each card, and use them for inspiration.
Book, Chapter, Verse. Use the title of a tarot card as the title of a story, a chapter, or a poem.
Little White Book. Almost every tarot deck comes with a little white book of abbreviated interpretations for the cards; tarot readers commonly refer to it as the "LWB." Close your eyes, open your little white book at random, and put your finger on the page. Use the phrase or sentence you land on as the opening line of a short story.
Headline News. Choose true stories from the day's news to diagram with the cards, and lay out additional cards to fictionalize the story. You might want to try a Celtic Cross spread to get an overview of the past, present, and future of a story.
Memory Game. Draw a card, and imagine that it represents a snippet of memory from your own childhood, or from the childhood of a fictional character. Embellish it, disguise it, and turn it into a story.
Aesop's Fables. Find an animal in the cards, personify it, and write a fable.
Sixth Sense. Describe a series of supernatural characters, each one stranger than the one before. Use all five senses in your descriptions.
Pros and Cons. Develop a debate between two characters-for and against an idea.
Point of View. Describe the same scene from the viewpoint of several characters.
Games for Writing Groups
As a creative tool, tarot cards truly come to life when they're used in the company of others. Any of the ideas in this guide will take on new dimensions when shared with other people, but the following ideas are designed specifically for writing groups.
Checking In. As your meeting begins, ask everyone to choose a card to describe his or her recent work. Invite participants to go through the deck and find their own cards-or draw cards at random to challenge everyone's symbolic awareness and storytelling ability.
Gifts and Talents. What specialties do your members bring to the writing table? Have everyone draw a card from the deck, facedown, and explain to the group how the card illustrates their gifts, talents, and abilities. Others in the group may add to each person's comments.
Instant Inspiration. Have each member of your group draw a card and use it as the inspiration for a paragraph, scene, or story.
Prompt Attention. On slips of paper, copy some "Writing Prompts" ideas from the card descriptions in
Part III of this book-at least one for each member of the group. Pass them around, or have members pull them at random from a stack.
Assigned Writing. Ask everyone to draw a card, and then use it to develop a writing assignment for someone else. That way, a single card will get both people thinking about the elements of the story. If one writer draws the Page of Cups, for example, he could tell his partner to write about the fish jumping out of the cup.
Thirty-second Stories. You'll need a timekeeper for this game-someone with a good watch will do. Pass around a well-shuffled tarot deck and ask each player to draw a card. The first player starts telling a story based on the card in his or her hand. After exactly thirty seconds, the narrative immediately passes to the next player-mid-sentence, if necessary-who incorporates his own card into the storyline. Continue around the table until everyone has had two or three turns to add to the tale.
Casting Couch. Pick a popular movie or television show that everyone in the group has seen. Then recast it with characters from the tarot. Choose cards to represent the setting, the plot, key scenes, and important locations as well.
Reporter's Notebook. For straightforward story development, try a classic journalistic construction based on the five Ws (and an H): who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Groupthink. Shuffle the deck and deal one card to each person, then use them to write a story together. Assign one story element to each player, starting with the basics: a protagonist, antagonist, setting, and storyline. As you work together, pull additional cards to add color and details, including physical descriptions, personality quirks, secondary characters, unexpected crises, and subplots. Conclude with cards that represent the resolution of your story.
Tarot for Writers Page 9
