It’s six thirty in the morning here and I’m settling down to write. I just got caught up after taking Tuesday off, so I’m at the 15,000-word mark.
Last week I discussed character-driven stories. This week I’m going to discuss plot-driven stories.
I read a book called Tarot Inspired Life by Jaymi Elford. A link is in the show notes. Last week’s card reading was taken from this book, but I put my spin on it. This week’s card layout is taken directly from the book, which has a chapter on how to use tarot for writing. She’s not paying me for this plug, but I want to give credit where it’s due.
She has a three-card layout for plots. I’ve been using it to develop subplots in my story.
Shuffle the deck thinking about having the cards tell you a story. You will chose three cards: beginning, middle, and end.
I wanted a subplot for Lena’s brother, Isaac. So I drew three cards.
In the beginning was The Moon. There’s a secret here somewhere that gets hidden or swept under the rug.
The middle was the seven of cups, and that’s usually the card of illusion. It’s a perfect continuation of the secret beforehand. Isaac has a secret, and he’s put together a complicated life to hide it.
The end was the King of Pentacles. When the secret is revealed, he’ll be a stronger man for it.
Hopefully that helps you with some story blocks you might have. Today I’ll be in a virtual write-in sponsored by Paper Angel Press. You can join me and some of the other authors and editors from Paper Angel Press, like J Dark, Steven Radecki and Laureen Hudson. The website is paperangelpress.com slash writein, all one word. I’ll be there at nine and five PST today, Sunday, November 10. You can log in and talk to me or other authors and editors. We’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about publishing, editing, writing or even just to chat. Come join us!
And here’s the end ad. I worked hard on this, so don’t skip it.
It’s office holiday time. You’ve selected someone you hardly know for your Secret Santa. Or you have what we call up here in the Northeast, “A Yankee Swap”, where everyone buys some stupid gift and you pick numbers. Number one picks the first gift, and also has the selection of all the gifts that go after them. the object of the game is to go home with a prize you want. Me, personally, I hate that game, because I’m the one who gets stuck with the non-working flashlight. Believe me, it happened.
Why not buy something that will make them feel better about their corporate lifestyle? That’s right, get them a copy of Corporate Catharsis, available at Paper Angel Press. For a price under your budget, you can bring enlightenment to your boss, humor to your cubie mates, and many “Oh, yeah, I can see that” moments to your coworkers. Check it out at Amazon—yep, you can use your Amazon Prime to get it in a couple of days—or paperangelpress.com.
Don’t forget the write-in. We’ll be lonely without you.
That’ll do it for now, and I hope you have a productive week with NaNoWriMo. Stay tuned for an update next week.