The Write Way Café welcomes Arwen Lynch, who shares her technique for getting more acquainted with her characters.
Hey y’all. I’m here to talk about Tarot and writing. Or maybe writing and Tarot. Any way I look at it, the two are inextricably entwined for me. Like many, I’ve always written. Unlike many, I’ve also used Tarot for a pretty long time—since 1981 to be exact. I want to share how I use Tarot to go deeper into my characters with a modified version of my Character Background check.
First, let me tell you a bit about Tarot. It’s a visual system that uses 78 cards. Some use it to play games (Tarocchi is very popular in Europe) while others use it for divination, spell work, and introspection to name just a few of its many incarnations. Tarot has been vilified by the Roman Catholic church primarily because of its use as a card game for wagering. It has been around since at least the 15th century and possibly longer. It is not, as is commonly believed, a Romany tradition. That group of wanderers used playing cards more. But now many readers use Tarot. Other types of cartomancy include the Oracle Belline, Kipper, Lenormand and Oracle decks. The popularity has only grown leaps and bounds since I began in the 80’s.
I write as Marilu Mann with my high school bestie, Cai Smith. She wasn’t a Tarot aficionado then but has become one. When I began using Tarot with our writing, we were both surprised by how it helped. Sounds odd coming from me, right? I mean I was doing this professionally but didn’t think it could help my writing? Just goes to prove you can always learn something. Anyway, that first spread was to see how a character might react. But what we got was backgound information as well. We learned that the reason she might respond to a threat had connections to her past. The Tarot helped us create a more layered character who leapt off the page.
The way we did that was to ask a question “What would Joie do if Malcom did this?” The card we got seemed odd for Joie so we pulled a clarifying card. Now some of you may be saying, “Duh, Arwen, that’s why we have imaginations.” First, it’s mean to say “duh, Arwen”. Secondly, we were stuck. I mean like rock/hard place/pan/fire. So we pulled cards which gave us the answer that she would blow a gasket. Since our heroine was pretty laid back, we wondered why. The card we pulled told us she’d been cheated on by someone and that was one thing she didn’t take lying down.
Think of Tarot as a visual storyboarding technique. The truly fabulous thing is that you don’t need to memorize 156 meanings (in Tarot, there are reversal meanings as well as upright meanings.) You lay the cards out then tell yourself the story you see. It helps if you have questions or assigned spots such as “childhood”, “now”, “her mother” for examples. A wonderful deck that can help you with this is Tierney Sadler’s
The Deck of 1000 Spreads: Your Tarot Toolkit for Creating the Perfect Spread for Any Situation. You can use this to help you with the spread or layout.
But let’s get to the layout now, shall we? I am going to show you how I might do a reading for a character in one of my own stories. I like to do this before starting to dive into the meat of the character. This is actually how my book on using Tarot for writing starts—with the character. As Henry David Thoreau reminds us,
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one. For this, you would pull out only the Court cards of your Tarot deck.
COURT CHARACTER SPREAD
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1. What was your Hero like as a young person?
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2. What does your Hero do for a living?
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3. Who is your Hero’s role model?
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4. What is your Hero’s weakness?
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5. What is your Hero’s strength?
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EXAMPLE:
1. What was your Hero like as a young person? The card that I pulled was the Page of Wands. This card traditionally brings the message of being eager and passionate. Often seen as someone with anger issues. I would say that my hero was easy to anger and quick to fight.
2. What does your hero do for a living? I got the Queen of Cups for my male hero. So perhaps he’s a male matchmaker or maybe he’s a marriage counselor. This is where you will need to be flexible. It could also be his boss or that he works for his mother. I decided he was someone others turned to for comfort in times of emotional distress. So a grief counselor was my thought.
3. Who is your Hero’s role model? Now this card could be called the mentor, but role model is a bit different. This is who he wanted to be when he grew up. The King of Pentacles is an emotionally unapproachable older man who is very protective of his family. Boundaries are important to him. For me, this would be my hero’s grandfather who was a bit of a loner after his wife died but never failed to do what his family needed. He made sure they were financially safe.
4. What is your Hero’s weakness? Now we go back to the passion suit of Wands with the Knight of Wands who charges off on his horse. The theme here can be about learning to choose battles wisely. I think my hero likes to win but isn’t careful about whom he insults. This has created some enemies for him. He may need to watch his back more than the average Joe.
5. What is your Hero’s strength? Here the King of Cups lends credence to the second card which was the Queen of Cups. But instead of a grief counselor, I wonder if he might be something a bit more secretive. The King of Cups looks like a good secret keeper. So a psychologist maybe? Or a therapist? But when I look at that Page of Wands, I think he’s more of a white knight. So maybe he’s one of those bikers who volunteer to help abused women and children move out of their homes safely. He knows how to keep a secret so maybe he is an investigator as well? And part of his work as a PI shows him what women are in need of his White Knights Agency’s moving service?
So to bring that all into one package, you have a man who makes his living finding out who’s cheating on whom (expressing that Page of Wands passion with the Queen of Cups) but doesn’t have a relationship of his own (King of Pentacles). He wants one like Grandpa and Grandma had, but his current job leaves him with a bad taste in his mouth. He can’t talk to anyone about what he does because of confidentiality issues.
Your turn. You can even do this exercise with playing cards since they have the court cards as well. Leave me a comment to let me know how this worked for you. Here are a few additional resources as well as a recommendation of three very different Tarot decks. Since it’s a visual art, pick one that you like.
Resources:
Hero’s Journey, Arwen Lynch
Tarot for Writers, Corrine Kenner
The Writers Journey, Christopher Vogel
Waite-Smith Borderless Tarot (an updated version of a classic)
Steampunk Tarot
Gaian Tarot
About Arwen: Stephanie Arwen Lynch-Poe has been published since 2009. Her Tarot career dates back to 1981 where she swears it was uphill both ways in the snow to reach the High Priestess. She resides in New Mexico where she wears the hats of professional joy seeker, Tarot consultant, medium, psychic and magazine owner. You can find her online at
http://www.tarotbyarwen.com and
http://www.thecartomancer.com She also offers a free promo service for her fellow published authors. If you want her to do a character reading to help you get the word out about your published book, contact her at readings@tarotbyarwen.com.
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