Playing with the Tarot

*blows dust off of blog* *cough choke*

Sorry it's been so long, everyone. There is something about the winter season that makes me want to hermit up. I decided I might as well roll with it, so this morning, I did a cool Tarot spread.

 My deck is the Visconti-Sforza deck, a 15th century deck, and one that I find the most beautiful.

I'm not a big Tarot chick - I find it a fun way to play with brainstorming, dream up psychological insights, and of course, work on archetypes. 

I found a spread called Create a Vision Statement in Barbara Moore's book, Tarot Spreads.
Super fun!

The spread looks like this: 

2     3

   1

4     5

Position One is who you are, Two is what you do, Three is how you do it, Four is who you do it for, and Five is the benefits to your clients/audience. 

And this is my very cool mission statement!

I discover and bring to life bold stories of adventure and passion for lovers and dreamers so we can create options for a better world. 

 *happy dances*

What is *your* mission statement?

(I drew the Eight of Wands, the Knight of Wands, the King of Wands, Two of Cups, and the Nine of Cups, if you are curious)l

Idea to Story, Part Two.

Previously, in Idea to Story,  I talked about Dr. Snickerdoodle and the tales of his youth.

Now I have an idea about a young man who cared very little for others feelings, a bully who possessed sheer animal magnetism. One of those people you just know that their comeuppance will be an ugly, ugly experience.

This begins the first draft. The first draft is about getting the basics out of your head. For most writers, the first draft includes notes, photographs or drawings of the characters, and the framework of where you want to go.

I do most of my brainstorming and first drafting by hand. Everyone is different, of course. Some writers can do it all on the keyboard.

I like handwriting since it gives me a chance to scratch things out, doodle, and go in multiple directions without worrying too much about making sense. The idea is to explore the limits of the idea. Is is a short story or full length novel? What is the setting like? Who the heck are these people??

I set my pen to paper and let it flow forth without thinking too much. Once I start thinking, I get uptight about what the story needs - setting, description, strong active verbs, shorter sentences here, longer sentences there, blah, blah, blah, you know the rest.

That comes in the second draft phase.

The first draft is about experimenting. Do what you need to do to free yourself. Go to the library or a coffee shop or the local playground or bird sanctuary or zoo or whatever and play with the idea.

And that messy, joyous, crazy, unorganized piece of weirdness is your first draft.