Welcome to Week 2 of this fun tarot experiment where we will be working on a very simple outline using a 3-card spread for the Beginning, Middle, and End of our story.
I shuffled and pulled three cards, laying them down side by side. I usually start by looking at each one individually and then together in pairs. I take notes and jot down all of my thoughts. To save space, I’m not going to bore you with all of my ideas and notes — literally, it was about 3 pages of handwritten scribbles – but I will share some things I’m thinking about over on Instagram this weekend so make sure you’re following along there to help me decide!
And speaking of Instagram, they really came through big time this past weekend and my lovely Page of Cups main character has a name — I’d like you to meet Paige (gotta love the play on words)!!
Okay, so here’s the down and dirty outline I came up with. What do you think? What do you see in these cards? What would you add or change?
Beginning
A happy family, happy memories of being together — something happens, a death/self-destruction and jail? The happy memories are gone. Paige has to act like the adult, her father is not handling things well.
Middle
During all of this, Paige falls in love – with someone she shouldn’t — someone who is connected to who hurt her family and brought them down in the first place – the cop’s son or a young FBI agent. Basically, he’s part of the system that’s now tearing her family apart.
Ending
Paige’s father tries to assert dominance, become the patriarch again by going back to old rules/old regulations/old religious ways of thinking about women. This causes an even further tear in his relationship with his growing daughter – who should be getting ready for college or her next steps and now she’s terrified for her life and for her freedom.
I have so many questions:
- Who is this person she’s fallen in love with?
- What happened to her mother?
- Why is her father so down on his luck?
- What happens after she falls in love?
- What will she do when her father starts acting so differently?
Whoo boy! So many questions!!! This is exactly where you want to be when you start working on a new idea.
If you’re writing a longer novel (or series even) you’d want to then move on to a longer story arc type spread, work through the entire hero’s journey to come up with your plot points, subplots and all the other things you need when cranking out 60,000+ words. You’ll also want to pull cards to help with character development and help you create any additional characters.
For me, I have some basic understanding of my overall story now and what Paige is up against – bad luck, karma, old vs. new, and the cycle of life that one must go through to become an adult sometimes.
I was going to jump straight into the beginning of my story next week, but I feel like I need to know more about my main character’s wants and needs and inner struggle. I also want to pull cards for her love interest and her father. Then I will be prepared to write the beginning in Week 4 followed by the Middle in Week 5 and Ending/Finishing up in Week 6.
Thanks for joining me on this journey. Let me know what you would do with these cards? I had about four other ideas written down but this one felt the most interesting. I do have some things though that I’m thinking of tossing in so follow me on Instagram to help me choose this weekend.
It’s going to be so much fun!!
Check out Week 3 – Let’s Meet The Rest of Our Cast HERE
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