Welcome, 2015. It’s been a few weeks since my last personal blog post. My absence was due to the typical summer holidays / Christmas break and going back to school havoc over the past month.

Through it all, I’ve been editing my first (second?) draft of a novel, and at a snail’s pace (maybe even something slower), renovating the study.

Messy Desk, Messy Mind, Creative Mind?

“The heart says yes, but the mind says no.” —Albert Einstein

“The mind says yes, but the heart says no, not yet.” —me.

I think I’ve come to an understanding. I previously didn’t believe that the state of an office desk could really negate a person’s productivity. Contrarily, I did believe the artist’s ideal – that a messy environment could mean more inspired creative thoughts.

That was before the renovation began.

Last year I worked in a study with a reasonably uncluttered desk (okay, sometimes), but surrounded by untidy cluttered bookshelves and units, most inherited by the previous house owners – the large desks and cabinets in this room were simply too large to move out, so they left them.

This worked for me, because my desk looks out through windows and doors over the treetops and into some Aussie native bush. It’s like having my dream treehouse — without the step ladder, but with a nearby toilet and easy coffee supply. I could avoid seeing all that untidiness while I worked.

Come the new year the drip-fed snail-pace reno has begun. Gone are the inherited cabinets – each took a day to dismantle – and I have completely blank walls, awaiting wall-paper stripping and painting. It’s so empty in here that the room echoes on any noise.

But – with my desk being one of the only remaining solid surfaces in the room, it’s being used to hold many miscellaneous items. The image with this post shows the desk, but does it an injustice in detail. There’s everything from my laptop, to a jar of metal bits off the old cabinetry (good to make found object robots (fobots) one day). There’s a cat asleep to the side of the laptop, a fan for the heat-wave days, some spray n’ wipe and spray sugar soap for the walls, screwdrivers, brushes, notebooks, curtain rails, oh, and a solar-powered bobble hand Einstein – which will make an appearance in the novel I’m meant to be editing.

Before Christmas – I managed to rewrite and edit my first draft through completely, bringing the novel to about the second to third draft on macro edits.

After Christmas – I’ve managed to create a very large to-do list, and have curated a lot of information on editing, motifs, character arcs and inner journeys, plot points, turning points, premise, theme, conflict, action, story arcs, and Einstein quotes.

But not very much actual rewriting or writing.

I’ve also organised meetings, volunteered myself for parent representation at the school, and organised family diaries full of sports games, pickups and dropoffs, debating trials, animal vet visits, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

All done sporodically and very briefly through this newly messy desk.

It’s an easy math’s equation. Messy desk = messy mind. And lack of productivity on the real job at hand. I can’t seem to be able to sit down at that messy desk for too long (good for my waistline, I guess).

But! As I’ve avoided the messy desk I’ve also found a new lease of creativity.

Exploring editing and  writing craft advice at this point in my revision process works – I’m through the major structural changes (I think) and have a lot of great ideas to make the story much better and stronger.

“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” – Albert Einstein

Importantly I try to browse quickly through all those reading resources I’ve found – browsing lets me form my own ideas more quickly than in-depth study – and then I need a little time (a day, sometimes a week) to properly ideate (or stew on) what my new learning means to my own story.

You will therefore find me whilst in this middle-ground editing phase, taking what looks like a great lot of time off – even stealing a few naps, or driving and waiting to pick-up my daughter from school (when she could be walking) – naps and driving (and washing dishes) open up my muse. Slowly those fresh ideas are making their way into the story.

Although my soul is crying out for a clean white uncluttered desk, there I am. Editing, rewriting and actually loving it. Who would have thought?

Messy Desk = Messy Mind (lack of productivity) or More Creativity? It appears to me in my own personal process, that both theories exist in parallel, that a truly messy desk may well cut down in bum-on-seat productivity but also allows more creativity outside of it. The secret is moderation, as always.

Sometimes when we read about editing and how to do it, we are told that the first draft is the creative draft – just write and get it on the page; while the editing phase is the more logical analytical phase – where the inner editor is allowed out. Again, I think both have a role within those first edits, at the macro to medium level.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein.

I am currently in the middle of a revision phase. Which means I now am gifted with a greater understanding of the phase and an even bigger realisation that I don’t (yet) have enough knowledge to get me through.  The self-editing stage is where all that writing craft knowledge comes into use.

There are hundreds of writing craft books, courses and WWW resources on structure, plotting and how to write a novel, but significantly less for the next process of revision, rewriting or self-editing.

But slowly more and more blog posts, writing books, and courses are opening up around the revision process for fiction.

I’ve curated some of the best as a resource collection for you, and posted this up recently at my Tumblr resource blog. I hope it’s helpful for all of those like me, who are in this phase of producing a manuscript worthy of contention.

Any other resources (particularly courses or books or good blog posts) I may have missed, either add a comment on the Tumblr post, or here on this one.

 Tumblr and my other E4W Masterguides

For those with further interest, I use the Tumblr platform as a resources or curation area, basically because it allows for most types of media posts, provides a reasonable tagging and search system, and has an environment of a few good writing advice blogs.

Whilst you can find most of the hundreds of resources (images, links, text etc) if you search and filter under a tag like, say #editing,  I also maintain some large masterguides – which basically are hand-written to sweep up all the best resources on a topic.

If you like the Revision Masterguide linked to above, you may like some of the others – there is one on plotting and outlining, another on word use. You will find an index to the E4W Masterguides here. All of my masterguides are kept updated regularly.

“Writing’s for fun, Reading’s your JOB” – Holly Lisle

Who needs an excuse to read? Well, sometimes as a writer it’s difficult to put aside a manuscript for the chore that reading can sometimes feel. (Anything which you know you should be doing  takes the pleasure out).

When Scribd went to a subscription basis, I baulked at it for a long time. I typically found what I needed through Amazon or elsewhere. And given my mountainous “to-read” pile, there seemed little point in going subscription with a similar offering.

Until just recently, with Scribd’s take-on of several larger publishers and now, a wrath of comics and graphic novels.

Anyone who has looked at digital comics through the normal apps and channels will appreciate just how expensive these are. Single digital issues are over the $10 mark. (And I have no idea where to go locally for hardcopy comics).

Now with Scribd, for $8.99-$9.99 mark per month, I have access to a lot of them, and also to some substantial books and text books. It’s like an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of reading with Scribd providing the virtual refrigerator to keep everything perma-fresh.

Scribd has recently added over 10,000 comics and graphic novels to its library – 500 are from Marvel, and you can catch up with old Archie comics, and several other publishers.

Now with such access and excuses, as I’m writing a YA Superhero, I am actually walking around town quite proudly displaying the fact that a forty-something woman is still reading superhero comics, all in the name of research, right?

Reading Avengers Assemble!

Image from Scribd blog.

If you’re revising / self-editing in March (sticks hand up, looks around…) there are a couple of links for you –

NaNoEdMo

If motivated by a community and overall target challenge, NaNoEdMo opens up for March again this year. NaNoEdMo.

Last year there were prizes and articles to help.

Fiction University – Revise Your Novel in 31 Days

Janice Hardy is running a blog post series of At-Home Workshops which I’ll be following along. Here’s the initial announcement post.

There are already 3 prepping posts up.

For the first time in my life I sat through an Ebay bid war, and won something: This little red beauty, in working condition. She’s not one of those old solid black Remingtons of the 1940’s, and I won’t be sitting over her, snuggling a tumbler of whiskey under the manuscript.

But…she will do wonders as a display on my newly renovated study shelves, and she will also do wonders for my Writerly self – we all have a right to covet Writerly things after all.

And she will be given a workout by my daughter who’s never before appreciated the slowness and tap-tap thinking time of tangible keys and inky ribbons.

I feel like Christmas is coming early. On the same day I grew envious of Mac users once again (the reportedly fantastic Ulysses writing program has just released onto the iPad) I read of the released to in-house beta for Scrivener iOS.

And once through the thorough beta testing program, it's coming with the capability for both Windows and Mac desktop Scrivener users to sync through Dropbox.

Ah, it reminds me of my old software testing days. I'm very excited to watch how it goes.

Incidentally, for those like me who use Evernote and Scrivener on a daily basis, Gwen Hernandez has just posted an instructional on how to use Evernote notes inside of Scrivener. I suffer from similar problems in using Web based imports into Win Scrivener, but am impressed by Gwen's alternative option in exporting first. WTH had I not thought of that?

And if you still can't wait for ScriviOS, here's a techie post by Steve Hopstaken on editing Scrivener files on IOS devices via an RTF editor and iCloud sync.

Apparently, I don’t blog much anymore. Who woulda thought?

Well,  the spammers started noticing, which forced me back on. So – here’s a quick update.

1. I’m still alive (save for an Autumnal visit of the flu/cold lurgy) and writing.
2. I’m still working daily on a series of YA superhero fiction – it’s getting very complicated. I’m intending daisy chaining the release schedule when three-four are completed (including pro-editing).
3. I’m still taking the occasional online course to progress my writing experience and networks. The latest is on short stories – which have always flummoxed me, but I’m going to give them another go.
4. I still read a lot and try to keep abreast of writing and theory – everything I find is shared across at my E4W tumblr site. Which has 1100 followers, so I must be doing something right.  Occasionally I put up masterposts which point to the best links and resources on certain topics like structure, plotting etc. BUT I don’t spend time on answer boxes – I want to write (and plan, and edit) not write about writing much anymore. I don’t consider myself an expert, just a curator.
5. I am spending too much time (and doughnut money) on the addictive game Simpsons Tapped Out.
6. My study renovation is done. I have an entire office of pleasure. And I’m currently typing this out while overlooking the golden leaves of some native trees outside. It’s cold and windy, with a sharp taste of winter coming here in Sydney today.

Such is life for me. How is everyone else going?

I still have little of any thoughts to blog about. Most of my writing work is done offside at the moment, whilst anything I read of interest can be found as daily editions on my curation tumblr blog, Everything for Writers.

But occasionally I browse across to read Dean Wesley Smith’s blog, and would recommend his current sometimes series now winding up – Stages of a Fiction Writer. It makes for interesting analysis of our own writing processes and belief systems.

The series is interspersed with DWS’s regular (heading across year two now) writing in public series, in which he shares daily word count and thoughts. I don’t read those many posts, but have noticed lately he’s featuring a lot of photographs of his pet cat.

So here I am, using an excuse to feature (and finally post a few more blogs) my own menagerie of pets, starting with my regular writing companions.

The first is constant buddy, infinite puppy-hood, Dougy. Dougy is coming up to being a year old now, and in today’s photo taken in my study as I write, Douglas is in obvious need of a good grooming.(His regular groomer has gone MIA, and my own attempts with scissors have not been well received).

When Doug goes out in public – which is most days, he draws a great lot of attention because his breed is a new one around here. Australia has a plethora of the new age dog breeds, specifically poodle crosses. We previously had a Cavoodle – cavalier king charles crossed with poodle. Cavoodles are plentiful around here, and easily recognised.

But Dougy is a new cross, and one that a lot of people inquire about. He’s a border collie cross with a poodle, which in local terms is known as a Bordoodle. With this cross, you have an extremely intelligent dog mixed with an extremely playful one. In my forty years of dog ownership I can without a doubt say that Douglas is both the naughtiest and funnest dog I’ve ever had. And with his smarts on, he’s also one easily trained out of bad habits – once you catch him at it, which is the problem.

Thankfully he also makes a brilliant writing companion, and considers a sleep surrounded by shelves of books and accompanying tapping of keyboards just perfect in any morning.

Here are a couple of post links coming across my internet reading lately, and some thoughts towards these –

Being Creative

Fast Company has just published an article by Jane Porter based on Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and now of Big Magic. Big Magic’s subtitle is ‘Creative Living Beyond Fear’ and naturally the article discusses some of this topic.

In ‘What The Most Successful People Understand About Creative Work’, Gilbert suggests –

She has to force herself to sit herself into a chair to work by setting a timer for 20 minutes but… she doesn’t  get up once the timer goes off. Gilbert suggests that sometimes it’s at the 40 minute mark or later that “the exciting part happens“. In other words, she uses a timer as a small promise to sit down and get through the boring part and into the “big magic“.

Takeaway – and we all know this –

If we don’t force ourselves to do the hard work, we won’t make room for those breakthrough moments. In other words, without the work, there’s just no magic.

There are four other points in this article, well worth a quick read, especially the recognition of fear as a working factor in any creative’s life.

Also: if you want a refresher on some basics of creativity, on Tim Grahl’s blog recently, guest poster Ginger Moran discusses The 4 S’s to Sustained Creativity.  Moran gives some background via Jung and Freud on what they believed of creativity.

On Productivity

But the Gilbert article and particular point on timed work as a motivational enforcement also struck me with a merge of another article I plucked off the internet this week.

This was an older article (June 2015) by Mandy Wallace, still slowly doing the rounds via pinterest and other social links: How Writing to a Daily Word Count Can Sabotage Your Writing Success.

Wallace starts off by talking about a blogger who moaned about a “measley 2.8k words today” which made Wallace feel an idiot.  Because she can’t write that much per day.

I’m one of those writers who is fortunate enough to have a process and the time to write 4000-5000 words per day, regularly. If I was in a writing blast (like NaNoWriMo) I would certainly be able to do that, if I wanted to,  in which case 2. 8k might well be a legitimate let-down for me. But that’s by-the-by – each writer has a differing capability towards how much, how often and how they count work effort. I try (very) hard not to compare myself with anybody else, but can understand how writers get into that whole compare wheel – writing or anything artistic has a product as an outcome which is by sums, much smaller than the total cost of time and effort put into creating it.  How do we measure how productive we are being through that creative process?

I know a lot of writers who base their own routines and measurements of success on targeted word counts, and it works for them. But – Takeaway:

Wallace goes on to make a valid point – word count only counts in the actual writing process. It’s not a useful measurement on productivity anywhere else in the writing process – editing, publishing, even pre-planning or research – much of which can take a heck of a lot more time than the actual drafting.

Which is where the article and I agree – a better way of putting some kind of measurement factor onto our writing is to time it. An even better way is to set an amount of time for our writing – routinely. For many this is daily; for me, it’s weekdays, which isn’t to say that I don’t spend a lot of time on writing work on the weekends also.

But for weekdays, I can measure exactly the time spent on productive writing work. Weekends I may “think” over writing or muck around on a writing app on my mobile devices while out watching sport, or over lunch before shopping or do it while watching a television movie with my family (I can’t just sit and watch anything, I have to be doing something more useful). Those times are difficult to measure and I seriously don’t want to.

Writers never turn off, or shut the office door. We’re always “on writing”.

But for the sake of having some measurement towards my productivity I know my routine times and hours of writing where time is dedicated specifically to those tasks.

I sit down to “write” – which at the moment actually means not writing, but planning and preparing for next month’s NaNoWriMo effort – from 8am to at least 12 noon every weekday. Often longer, depending on many factors.

I don’t strictly time it. I very occasionally stick on a pomodoro tomato timer if I have a task I know should only take me 20 minutes, but I more naturally work to an Ultradian Rhythm of 90 minutes (Ultradian Rhythms equal our REM state rhythms and fit within the stream of chronobiology and natural states). 90 minutes suits me personally – like Elizabeth Gilbert suggests, her first 20 minutes or so are the boring state, and she’s more likely to have an epiphany or Big Magic into the 40 minute or later mark.

I’ve noticed something similar also – but my cycle is towards flow. The first 20 minutes are pure sludge. Around 40-50 minutes I often notice I’m in flow (noticing you’re in flow often throws you out of that state of flow, sadly).  Flow can take me through another solid – and amazingly quick 30 minutes of productivity. Then my Ultradian Rhythm starts kicking in – I slow down, get tired, lose flow. At the 90 minute mark my body – if not my mind – is demanding to have a rest. My bum gets cramped, my legs get giggity, my eyes shift off the keyboard or screen too many times. It’s a good time to take a long break to refresh myself also. Especially in Sydney right now, when facing sweaty temperatures.

Flow may mean good work, even very occasionally the “big magic” Gilbert talks about. But more often than not, the big magic ephiphanies come while I’m not actually writing – when I’m reading, or looking up to a television show, or reading local news off Facebook or washing dishes.., That’s because I’ve put the work time in for my writing tasks and left my brain to process any problems or issues on it’s own time. Going back to the first article above, and quote – “If we don’t force ourselves to do the hard work, we won’t make room for those breakthrough moments.”

When it comes to drafting, I do use word count – both as an incentive, a target and a measurement of production.  I also set other targets: by such and such day, the outline for nnnn will be completed, today I will work on and complete nnn…  It’s a shame you can’t easily measure all the prep work I’ve been doing lately – if I ran the outlines or character development sheets through a word count I would be surprised if I haven’t already doubled the actual 50K target of NaNoWriMo in prep word count. Most of it won’t even be consulted when it does come to the writing process but that’s not the point – it’s helping my brain to sort out how to start and go on. And occasionally the big magic happens too.

How do you know you’re being productive? Do you measure it?

I’ve recently finished a wonderful online course teaching one method for structuring a heroine’s journey. The problem with female characters – and male characters who are following an internal transition arc – is that I find they often don’t fit well in the typical Hero’s Journey. But there’s a secondary issue here – a heroine’s journey isn’t as clear-cut as I perhaps wanted it to be.

The Heroine’s Journey – Is it Needed?

‘The Hero’s Journey’ – was defined by one/two books only – Joseph Campbell‘s notion of “the hero’s journey” or “the monomyth” from his book, ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ and Christopher Vogler, from the book ‘The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers’.

Since then you can find it everywhere – infographics and diagrams all across the web, explained regularly across the blogosphere somewhere, as templates, beat sheets, lists and taught through our educational systems and beginner writer workshops.

But a Heroine’s Journey isn’t as clearly cut – there are at least five, probably more heroine’s journeys out there, and for a long while, even less diagrams or blog posts explaining these structures.  Thankfully, more and more information is now being shared as writers create female main characters, and like me, seek alternative narrative structures.

But is a heroine’s journey really needed?

Here are several posts from series at Fangirl, Scott Myers and others which make a good debate about why The Hero’s Journey doesn’t fit with many female character needs –

• The Heroine’s Journey: How Campbell’s Model Doesn’t Fit – Fangirl
• The Heroine’s Journey: Defining Concepts – Fangirl
• The Fangirl blog also has several posts on strong female characters, and a series on Steampunk for Heroines.
• Scott Myers – The Heroine’s Journey Part 1 ,  Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 – in Part 1 he links to several hard-hitting articles by female journalists discussing the need to look at our heroines, and the possible rise of the “Shero” in characters like Katniss Everdeen.  Note that Kim Hudson comments on the Part 1 post;  in Part 2 he discusses Valerie Frankel’s Heroines’ Journey, and in Part 3 Hudson’s The Virgins Promise is discussed.
• Heroine with a Thousand Faces: The Rise of the Female Savior by Lynn Stuart Parramore.

There are also several books relevant to the analysis of female characterization; amongst them –

• ‘Heroines of Comic Books and Literature: Portrayals in Popular Culture’ by Maja Bajac-Carter
• ‘Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture’ by Norma Jones (this book suggests in Chapter 5 that Harry Potter is a female heroine type, given he conquers with love).
• ‘Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology’ by Jennifer K. Stuller
• ‘The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines’ by Mike Madrid
• ‘Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology’ by Jennifer K. Stuller

Recently there has been a lot of media and web interest on the topic, some as a backlash against Joseph Campbell’s original stance that a female doesn’t need a journey (as they are the home the hero returns to). But Campbell’s work was originally published in 1949, and should be seen as an example from those times.

More interest has derived from our recent and welcomed movies and books featuring strong female lead characters. But the debates continue over whether Katniss Everdeen et el are actually strong females with or without agency or whether our newest female examples are on a heroine or hero’s journey.

There are several writers – including female writers – who don’t agree with the need for a differentiation based on gender. Their arguments may include the fact that we are, in essence, talking about an external journey vs an internal journey OR a plot-driven vs a character-driven story. But as we know it’s not a this vs that situation – most good stories should and usually include both anyway. Even epic hero’s journeys found in the more visual film mediums still involve a hero’s change, which must include a psychological or internal change.

Michael Hauge’s 6 Stage Plot Structure emphasizes an internal journey alongside the external. Some Hero’s Journey diagrams such as that below (by Drammatica) also have an inner character arc alongside the external journey.

Looking at it from a gender role, the Heroine’s Journeys described below are as useful for male characters as female – in fact in the first journey detailed below by Maureen Murdock, the Mythcreants have used the narrative structure to analyse several male villains.

Commonalities in a Heroine’s Journey

Of the five or six Heroine’s Journey structures found below, there are some recognisable common factors to a female or heroine’s journey –

• They are a spiritual or an inner journey towards internal growth. There are a lot of spiritual mother-earth or goddess type archetypes through some of these journeys.
• They are cyclic just as the hero’s journey is.
• Most come from books that at some point have been described or catergorised as coming from a feminist/psychological stance rather than sitting as outright narrative structure. In fact, a couple of the authors of the books sourced below are Psychologists who have since found some work teaching their custom journeys to a writer audience.
• Most provide some archetypal female characters in several forms – both good and bad girls. This makes a nice change from Joseph Campbell’s singular “Goddess”.
• There is a link with our common folk or fairy tales. Several writers suggest The Hero’s Journey is largely derived from mythological archetypes whereas The Heroine’s Journey has come from our folk or fairy tales. There are many differences between myths and folk/fairy tales, of course, but one chief distinction is that myths focus on themes of obligation and place in the world whilst fairy tales concentrate on self  – worth and identity. Masculine heroes do things they need to, or are obligated to do – with their brains. Feminine heroines do things they want to do – with their hearts.
• The Heroines Journey differs from the hero’s journey in one other major aspect – a heroine’s journey isn’t about an epic action adventure (the external journey) into a different world, then returning; it’s about changing the world around them – perhaps slowly and by changing their selves from a state of being dependent on some aspect of that world, to a state of independence and happiness.

So, all of that may not answer the hairy question on the table – do we need a Heroine’s Journey at all? My own response is that I like the choice, and alternative views that these structures give me. These structures can supplement and/or complement each other, and are relevant to both female or male – or non-gender-specific characters.

Maureen Murdock – The Heroine Journey

Maureen Murdock’s interpretation of a Heroine’s Journey is perhaps the best known, and credited as the originator of the concept of a female journey. It is linked to from Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey website.

Murdock describes the heroine quest cycle through the UnderWorld descent and resurrection stories of Greek goddess Persephone and Sumerian goddess Inanna. When researching ‘the heroine’s journey’ Inanna’s name – in particular –  often pops up.

Murdock continues to offer classes for writers teaching her structure based on her book ‘The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness’ (there is also a workbook), and her website has a few links to associated articles published across the web, including this one – Paging Joseph Campbell where Murdock’s cyclical structure is introduced.

Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey has a lot of similar events or stages as the hero’s journey, and can be worked in unison with the typical 12 steps of Vogler’s Hero’s Journey but splits off at the start into a feminine cycle, to later integrate the masculine with the feminine at the end.

Some of the better introductions to this structure – if you can’t make one of Murdock’s U.S. workshops, are found in these links –

• Mythcreants: Using the Heroine’s Journey (The graphic below is via Mythcreants)
• Mythcreants: Five Villains who follow the Heroine’s Journey

Heroine’s Journey via ‘The Virgin’s Promise‘ by Kim Hudson

Laurie Schnebly Campbell teaches a couple of writing workshops now on the Heroine’s Journey found in Kim Hudson‘s book ‘The Virgin’s Promise’. The Hero’s Journey also likes this particular structure, the book contains a forward from Christopher Vogler.

Hudson’s website is found here – but the domain has never been renewed. Click on the X to get rid of the warning text to see the full site.

Hudson’s Teaching Support Materials page provides details of the 13 steps, and 12 core female archetypes. This page also links the Heroine’s Journey structure from The Virgin’s Promise with that of fairy tales (more on fairy tales below), and with some well known film examples. Here, at The Writer’s Store, Hudson explains the structure linking it with several well known movies.

As Schnebly Campbell defines this, this internal journey can also be for male characters (call it ‘The Prince’s Promise’ in this respect) and can lead to the motivation through the story, conflicts towards the character goals, and a very thourough working of the character’s flaw. Schnebly Campbell’s recent course is the one I just completed, and found extremely beneficial for understanding many of my own characters.

Laurie has mapped 13 different steps in this Heroine’s Journey (compared to Vogler’s 12), and through her courses offers a template of these steps through the story structure. These map extremely well with the Hero’s Journey steps but add in additional details like “dressing for the part”. Having already outlined my own work through the hero’s journey I found using the Heroine’s Journey taught here allowed me to stretch my outline in ways I’d not seen before (even working backwards in one part of the class).

If you can’t pick up one of Laurie’s courses or masterclasses taught on the subject (you will find these online at WritersUniv.com amongst others), read about some of this Heroine’s Journey via these articles –

• Using the Heroine’s Journey for Inner Conflict – Writers in the Storm.
• Her Bonus Step – Romancing the Genres.

Laurie Schnebly Campbell isn’t the only teacher of Hudson’s structure, however. Diana Cranstoun provided a popular workshop on Kim Hudson’s The Virgin’s Promise at the 2014 When Words Collide Conference, and later blogged on it. You can find Diana’s three posts here:

• The Virgin’s Promise Part 1
• The Virgin’s Promise Part 2
• The Virgin’s Promise Part 3

Also, Christopher Husberg has blogged a two part series on The Virgin’s Promise in which he uses Vogler’s forword in the book to elaborate the Heroine’s Journey as an inward spiral. Husberg used this definition to form a hand-drawn diagram of The Virgin’s Promise (below) – which is the only diagram or graphic I can find of the actual structure. The Part Two of these posts contains two hand-drawn diagrams. In the one featured below, The Virgin’s Promise has been incorporated into Dan Harmon’s famous story structure also.

Valerie Frankel’s Heroine’s Journey

Frankel has two books (amongst many other parodies and fanfiction works based on later day fiction) based on this premise – ‘From Girl to Goddess‘ and ‘A Girl’s Guide to The Heroine’s Journey‘ – both books focus on re-tellings of ancient or native myths.

On Frankel’s website there is also –

• a step by step through her Heroine’s Journey,
• a graphic of female archetypes suggested for the structure, with details of each archetype
• a table mapping Frenkel’s Heroine’s Journey with that of The Hero’s Journey.
• a powerpoint is also valuable and can be found here – http://www.frankelassociates.com/calithwain/Heroine%20mainstream%20literature.ppt

Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s Feminine Journey

In ‘45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters’,  Victoria Lynn Schmidt distinguishes the Heroine’s  Journey from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.

Her Heroine’s Journey is similar to Maureen Murdock’s arc but offers nine stages; several  with greater details. The book also contains seven female archetypes.

A criticism of Murdock’s work is that the book was written for women and therapists, offering help through various life changes, whereas Schmidt’s work is focused specifically for writers.

Here, blogger Flutiebear describes Schmidt’s Heroine’s Journey in two posts : Part 1 and Part 2.

Heroine Journey by Victoria Schmidt, drawing by Katie Paul at head-heart-health.com

The Fairy Tale Heroine’s Journey – 13 Hours & Another

13 Hours Fairy Tale Heroine’s Journey

The diagram and description comes from artist and writer Ookami Kasumi’s article found here, but this full article is also published on Goodreads by Morgan Hawkes with no credits, and you may find the diagram peppered across other websites and Pinterest without credit.

There are Thirteen stages in the Fairy Tale Heroine’s Journey. Thirteen hours in her clock of adventure – one for each full moon in a year.

These 13 steps or hours are described here, including fairy tale examples, and some archetypal characters. The steps also have a commonality with The Hero’s Journey, although in some cases are reversed – for instance, it’s suggested that instead of Refusing the Call (to adventure), the fairy tale heroine will be Obedient to the Call.

Theodora Goss – Fairy Tale Heroine’s Journey

In a similar vein, Theodora Goss made some links between fairy tales and a heroine’s journey in a series of posts. Here is a recent post – Heroine’s Journey: Leaving Home. At the post bottom Goss links to the previous blogs in the series.

In Gosses’ 12 Steps (below), there are many similarities with those found featured in several structures above, around internal growth and identity.

1. The heroine receives gifts.
2. The heroine leaves or loses her home.
3. The heroine enters the dark forest.
4. The heroine finds a temporary home.
5. The heroine finds friends and helpers.
6. The heroine learns to work.
7. The heroine endures temptations and trials.
8. The heroine dies or is in disguise.
9. The heroine is revived or recognized.
10. The heroine finds her true partner.
11. The heroine enters her permanent home.
12. The heroine’s tormentors are punished.

Other Heroine Journey Diagrams and Additional Resources

In some cases the diagrams below  have been shared across the internet so often that the originator to credit is lost. If you do know who created these, please contact me so that I can credit fairly.

Via: Core Creatives

The Healing Journey contains aspects from both The Hero’s Journey and a Heroine’s Journey, and may also be useful for characters going through grief or (acceptance of) mental health issues. Via: The Heroine Journeys Project, Pictorial drawing of healing journey from Buddhist Library website.

Note – the above graphic is a simple relabelling of one entitled “The 17 Stages of Joseph Cambell’s Monomyth” which in turn has almost lost it’s originator credit, but may have been created by www.royalsocietyofaccountplanning.blogspot.com (a planning parody blog) based on the Monomyth wikipedia page.

Via: Questcycles.com

More Resources:

• Heroine’s Journey Worksheet – this PDF (direct link) is by Camy Tang and built from Murdock and Schmidt’s works as a series of questions.
• The Heroine Journeys Project is a website which provides analysis of stories to a heroine’s journey – they use Murdock and Schmidts (both below) plus a Healing Journey, and provide local presentations and workshops on the topic.
• The Heroine’s Journey Podcast celebrates female geekiness and characters. News and episode also on this Tumblr.

It’s Friday morning my time – eta on NaNo: 40 hours away. With this looming month of torturous writing upon me, I have come to the slow understanding that my initial plans for writing during the challenge were scarpered a few weeks ago.

So, to achieve success, I’m rejigging those plans and objectives for the marathon. Because we own this, so we are at liberty to plan our own successes (possibly by cheating).

My initial plan to make use of the huge writing marathon was to rewrite a novel completed last year.

This month I’ve spent in re-planning and re-plotting mode. I’ve used a combination of plotting strategies – including a run through a heroine’s journey, mapping onto various plot paradigms (like this one, free), some further character development using enneagrams, myers-briggs types and other psychometric typologies, and some work in the more visual of outlining methods. And naturally, I’ve also explored and picked apart my old manuscript.

The upshot is that this morning I look ahead to the next month, and have managed to put some consideration into a niggly gut feeling I’ve had for several days – realising that I need to put a bit of a distance between my plotting and the actual writing.  I’m too close, and I’ve spent a lot of effort in development, perhaps too much – but I’m of the ‘fill-up-the-well’ type of planner – it may not be used, but it’s useful.

Although the passion for the work remains, I feel a need for time to aid clarity and alleviate writerly fear – fear of failing at something that means so much to me. A bit of distance will allow me that.

Also, I’m scheduled on an all day softball tournament this coming Sunday – and I’m the scorer. The tournament was moved from last weekend , and now appears on NaNo beginning day. It seems I may be getting a little hint from above too.

Anyone who’s attempted to focus on a little ball and some often debatable or weak umpire calls, for five games and ten hours on-the-trot will have some idea of the amount of recovery time my older brain needs to get back fully into action. Last tournament it took me two days before I was out of my jet-lag phase.

That’s three possible days out of NaNoWriMo right at the start.

So, I’ve rejigged.

NaNoWriMo is changing lately. Many writers appreciate the camaraderie of the international challenge, but are taking the “No” out of it, and writing 50K of something else. There’s a large group of short story writers in the NaNo community, and a growing group of poets or other short form, and non-fiction book writers.

My Plan B is somewhat piecemeal but continues in the same story world of my project.: For NaNoWriMo this year, I aim to produce 50K or more of new fictional words based on my WIP storyworld –

• Short stories (totally unplanned, but will plotted out the night before)
• Supplementary storyworld lexicon work – these are supplementary documents which I intend making available at some point around the novel(s).
• Diary entries from main characters through the events
• Social media (fake) statuses for main characters
• Some creative works (sketch drawings etc) – won’t count for wordcount, but will keep me happy and creative.
• Other works as I see fit.

The one rule is that these all must fit within my fictional storyworld, so additional writing like these blog posts or any other fiction does not count for NaNoWriMo.

Because of the sporadic nature of this plan, there may be days where I will not post word count added, and other days which may contain an amalgamated word count.  I will still commit to writing the minimal 1600 words per day.  I don’t intend publishing these to this blog on a daily basis – perhaps just a weekly checkin of wordcount and what’s been achieved will keep me honest with myself at least.

The NaNoWriMo websites suggests I have a 60% better chance of succeeding if I upload a cover image. I’m not too worried if I win or not this year – any amount of new words is a bonus, and I already feel some success from the outlining work I’ve just gone through. But I quickly threw together a collaged design for this year’s cover, shown above.

To all the NaNo or non-NaNo writers out there, I wish you all the best of luck, and more importantly, several hundred or thousand new words.

Over on my tumblr blog I just put up a post linking to resources I’m collating as NaNoWriMo helper posts – these come in two categories – the #NaNoPrep posts of October (which I’m still discovering); and the current #NaNoPeptalk posts being published.

I am taking any of these as I find them and reblogging or linking to them every day over November. To save you the time, here are the direct links to the tag searches, which will give you an index page of all these posts. You may find them useful for times when you get stuck.

#nanoprep (previous posts from October)

#nanopeptalk (current and growing index of posts to help through November)

Day 13 in the big brother house…

Sorry, wrong unreality show. Briefly, here’s an update and my learnings –

This afternoon on a balmy thunderstuck Friday afternoon in Northern Sydney I unofficially passed NaNoWriMo’s 50K target – by 1233 words according to my independent yet undependable wordcount within Scrivener.

I expect I’ll get nothing done again this weekend, so this may or may not be my final balance in the scheme of things. NaNo doesn’t allow us to officially win until the 20th, so with seven days to go, who knows?

Of the 50K I have done, most has been storyworld building and will never actually see the light of day inside my novel. The total does include one large new scene in my WIP, and a very small short story or piece of flash set within the same work.

Naturally, the actual novel or fiction writing was the toughest of the days. I wouldn’t be admitting anything surprising to suggest I am completely addicted to world-building and surely there’s some medication for the disease?

But my storyworld work has brought many positive surprises – I’ve written some dynamics to resolve issues I didn’t know existed, and it will make for a much more connected story ultimately. I can now perfectly understand the tale behind JK Rowling spending 5 years in the planning stages before ever writing that first HP.

I have plans for more scenes and more storyworld work in the following half of NaNo, but now that I’m out of the stress zone of wanting to “win” I’ll take it a little easier, and make plans for the actual drafting come December.

About Scrivener: I’m not using it for the storyworld work – my story bible is going into OneNote – I like the multiple levels of structure and organisational aspects of the app, and it’s got good cross-platform compatibility now. Putting so much visual and textual elements into Scrivener would have just slowed it down too immensely, even in a separate project from the draft. Those hourglass minutes of auto-backups just kill it.

I never saw myself admitting it, but I actually like OneNote a whole lot now. That’s one (I’m only willing to give one) to Microsoft development.

Eleven days after posting this unofficial win, I admitted defeat.

I thought that in the next two weeks of NaNo I might be able to add a significant amount more words to my project. I thought wrong.

Anyone who lives in Australia, and Sydney in particular last week will fully understand. I personally sweltered through three days (and nights) of heat from 39 – 42 degrees Celsius – in my study which is one of the few rooms in the house without air conditioning. That’s 107.6 Farenheit, and the .6 counts too.

On the good side, I believe I’ve lost some weight. On the bad – I also lost words.

The other reason for my defeat this week is I’ve been working on some creative world-building projects rather than writing. Moving a mouse around with colours is a little easier on the brain than actual word-smithing. Or so I hoped – turned out it took three days for a job which should have taken one tops.

On the good side – I now have coats of arms, mindmaps and several visual symbols for my story world. No bad side really.

This week I’ve managed to add a full 2000 more words to the 13th’s wordcount. Sometimes world-building doesn’t take lots-of-words, just lots of thought to find just-the-right words.

So, I gave in and validated with the NaNoWriMo website.  Somehow, between my project stats in Scrivener and the NaNo validator there is a discrepancy of 5000 words – so my extra 2000 of this last ten days helped considerably.

This year we have the option to continue to add word count after validating. I probably will,  just as a matter of record of the rest of the work this week.

Good luck to all the Wrimos yet to win, about to win, or with absolutely no chance of winning. Every word counts, I am proof of that.

I used to be a big plotter. I spent many days if not weeks on developing plot before “going in”. This year I’ve noticed a change in my writing process, with character development taking a turn at the forefront.

Provided it ends up balanced, I’m happy with the shift. December brings a discovery of my own tilt between the two, shifting the scales of my own writing processes.

When I first started writing, it was through one of those many “write a book in a month” books – I forget which one.  I used to suggest I followed the book formula or steps to get to the novel I wrote. But looking back, even then, I broke the steps, added in further craft knowledge gained from other books, and never properly wrote down a full outline. What I do know is that I did even less along the lines of character development,  preferring to explore my character once writing.

I next moved to thrillers, where plot and action takes precedence. It’s in that genre that I became a true plotting fiend, completely understandable now, given the genre requirements.

Now back into the fantasy and YA realm, I’ve this month found I’m not willing to finish that first incomplete draft without further character development. I had the plot (kind of) long ago, although really pantsed the first draft to near completion. But all this time, something has been missing, niggling at me that I can’t go on until I understand – and like  – my main characters.

Character development seems the key to me. This makes sense not only from a genre perspective, but from a time of personal growth in my real world. My daughter is currently getting on a plane to come home from Houston. She’s been at Space Camp for the past couple of weeks – the longest period she’s ever been away from home. Space Camp has been packed full of scheduled opportunities for her. Even watching them reported in photos hours later, I feel somewhat exhausted. Talk about character growth.

But not for her, for me. Because having her away found me acting all mumsy and being concerned and worried for her, missing her, and lacking a motive for filling my own days – even when my husband took me away for our first short break together for fifteen years. My own character appears lacking when I’m out of my domestic routine. I need to explore and change that, because it’s only a few years now before my daughter will be moving out, and exploring her own adult life. My sense of purpose and identity has to alter with that upcoming shift.

In exploring character archetypes, personality types and development for my fictional characters, it seems much can be applied to myself.

I’m currently learning about Goddess archetypes, mostly based on Ancient Greek goddesses, but of course, having a down under perspective, I’m also researching many other nation’s goddesses.  My background history puts me personally as an Athena type, as much as I wanted to be the pop-culture favoured Artemis. That realization helped me understand one of my main characters, who displays many of the same Athena traits. It also gave her a much better background story.

Through Christmas and this holiday season I will continue to gather and apply more character tools to my fictional characters and perhaps too, myself.

The holidays and coming New Year is also a good place to take a look at our own writing processes – what has changed, and what needs to change, and to make some plans or strategies for 2016. Looking back at where I “failed” has also been character-building too.

Credit for graphic – KM Weiland, shared on her blog here, but also featured in her writing craft book, Outlining Your Novel Workbook.

In case somehow you missed this.

Goodriter is a new website startup. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday you will receive an email with writer offers – on books, courses and writerly services. Signup is completely free, but you’ll want to do that within the next seven days, as Goodriter is currently giving away over $1000 of writerly stuff – books, courses and services, for first signups.

Give yourself something free for the holidays. Click on the image links or here to go to Goodriter.com.

It’s not never too late to gift the writer in your life with two reasonably cheap reference resources they will appreciate for a very long time.

1. Storybundle’s 25 writing craft ebooks package
2. The Miller’s Compendium – brand new

Storybundle’s NaNoWriMo Bundle

I wrote about this back in November here. But the NaNoWriMo writer’s craft bundle of e-books is still available to the end of the year – for whatever you want to pay for it.

There are 25 writing craft books in this bundle, and you can gift it also, allowing your writer to select the type of ebook file they will need for their e-reader app or device.

Storybundle NaNo Bundle – get here.

Miller’s Compendium of Timeless Tools for the Modern Writer

I was one of the Kickstarter backers for this huge ebook of writing resources, and the full ebook is just now available, in the nick of time for holiday giving. When I got my copy I just salivated – although the author can’t possibly include all the most excellent writing resource links out there, he’s done a good job of covering most, including many I was unaware of.

Broken into story, character and other categories, there are plotting techniques, character development techniques and many more resources linked to, and in many cases, diagrammed out. A superb reference and go-to book for any writer.

It’s over 400 pages long, and a large download. Because the compendium references over a thousand online references, it’s an e-book available via Kindle. Using the free kindle apps, it can be read across PC’s, OSX or mobile devices and will remain open for many writers in any point of the writing or planning processes. The vintage-like graphics also make the guide huge fun to explore.

This would, in itself, be an awesome present for the writer in your life.

Get the compendium here on Amazon (not an affiliate link). It’s expensive as ebooks go, but I believe worth it.

There are a thousand and one blog posts out there at the moment concerning setting goals and resolutions for writing this year. This is not one of them.

I do have some minor plans – to read 50 new books this year (done 2), for instance, and of course – get some writing projects completed. But I won’t bore you with huge graphs, charts, business plans and the like. Instead, I’ll give you My One Word for the Year.

I have two, actually. One as a personal issue. That one is “Kick it!” (I cheated with an extra word, so kick me, hah-uh). It should be something like “discipline” but I like something more action-ating (did I just make that word up? Maybe I should use that one….).

At least for writing, it’s pretty obvious to me what one word is necessary. So for my writing, it’s “Characters“.

This year for me is all about character. For my WIP I have a highly complex plotline and structure, but it’s the characters who are causing me difficulty. They just won’t play nice and sit in easy archetypes. One of them, the main one naturally – I can’t get a good grip on at all. They want (need) a lot from me, so the first part of this year is all about finding tools and knowledge to better understand their personality, voice and character arcs.

I’m considering putting some of this collated knowledge onto a post series in April for the A-Z Blogging Challenge, but in the meantime please be prepared for a lot of posts on character development tools over the foreseeable future. Starting with a slightly left of center one on using the tarot.

Graphic credit via SimpsonCrazy.com, where you can select each character interactively to find out their name.

Writers have always used all sorts of random generating tools to prompt and help develop their writing. Popular choices include the random story making dice or cubes available, the many writing prompt books and posts, or using images for inspiration.

Tarot Card Decks provide some very beautiful images (with meaning) as inspiration for both plot and characters. In fact, proper tarot decks are organised into archetypal groupings which can be helpful for character development. This post features some of the best resource links out there for using the Tarot for writing inspiration.

Corrine Kenner, author of “Tarot for Writers”, explains that well-known writers, such as John Steinbeck and Stephen King, have used tarot cards for inspiration.

Despite the past association with mysticism, nowadays tarot cards are seen as a tool for asking questions and receiving insights from one’s own intuition, much as writer questionnaires, random prompt generators and image banks (like Pinterest) do. In fact, tarot decks these days come with so many excellent illustrations and themes to the cards that they can work at many levels as intuitive tools for our muses. As with any writing tool, and certainly any story being engineered, your milage may vary.

My own introduction to using the Tarot for writing has come only recently, with my enrollment in a current online course on the subject, led by Mary O’Gara at SavvyAuthors.com. While over the next few weeks Mary leads me through learning in-depth what the tarot cards actually mean, I went off to find out if I could also learn a little about the tarot from a writing perspective elsewhere. I found a lot of helpful articles and directions, which are shared here with you.

Index

This post is split into a series of sections for brevity (Sadly, the post pagination code doesn’t work to break the post up further). Indexed, the sections are –

• This Section- Introduction and General Tips on the Tarot
• Section 2 – Using the Tarot for Writing Resource Lists
  • Web Resources
  • Writing Craft Books
• Section 3 -Using the Tarot for Writing Resource Lists cont.
  • Tarot Spread Templates for Writers
  • Tarot and Writing Courses
• Section 4 – My Own Example Card Readings

General Tips on the Tarot

1. Find a good tarot deck which is personal to yourself – there are hundreds of these out there, available at retail shops or online. Choose one which speaks to you with the images. There are some beautiful animal ones, nature ones, fairy-tale decks, and even a zombies deck, if you want to avoid those which are themed more towards occult or other practices. I currently have a steampunk one, and an app deck with cats.
2. If you can’t find them locally, major online book retailers have these. I found many on Amazon, but ordered from my largest local online book retailer here in Australia called Booktopia.com, which also had a huge selection.
3. Choose a deck which is a proper tarot deck of 78 cards (or more) broken into major and minor arcanas. A good popular starter deck is one by Rider-Waite (with medieval images and interpretations). But it’s also a good idea to get a more modern deck, as these are less harsh in meaning for some of the cards, and the illustrations themselves will be more applicable (unless you’re writing in the medieval genre, that is).
4. You want the minor suites to include images – not pips (or numbers)- so make sure every card in your deck has an image on it.
5. Note that there are many other decks called Oracle Decks, which often feature less cards. These are useful for inspiration also, but the cards often don’t have the same meanings as traditional tarot.
6. Tarot cards have meanings and are set into archetypes. Most new tarot decks come with instruction books as guides to what each card means, often these guides are in the form of a prompt or questions for you.
7. Whilst waiting for a couple of decks to arrive to play with (physical play is the best) I also discovered that many of the same decks of cards are available as apps on my iPad or iPhone. This is a much cheaper option to get yourself a few full tarot decks (with deck guides also) if you want a selection of image themes to inspire you with.
8. Selecting a display of tarot cards by drawing them, and then looking at their meanings, or simply being prompted by the images, can help with both plot and character. A plot spread template is provided below.
9. I am using the major arcana as an archetypal prompt for my characters. The minor arcana suites are also interesting as prompts go, because the four suites represent the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – each is another way to catergorise character types and provide relevant traits (another topic for a post later).

Using the Tarot for Writing in General [Resource List]

Web Resources –

• Start by reading this brief post at Write to Done, published way back in 2009. It quickly describes the Major Arcana archetypes, and how the minor arcana cards are grouped. The Tarot as a Tool for Writing Your Novel
• Top Pick –> For a comprehensive overview, Raelyn Barclay provides an eight part post series published in May 2011 with the first part here: Using Tarot in Writing. Whist the middle posts deal with plotting, character creation and the hero’s journey, the final post also mentions the card links with the four elements. The series also includes many good resource links.
• Here are some other ideas for using tarot cards for various writing projects – Tarot: ideas generator tool for writers and creatives >>via Tarot Study; and Writer’s Toolkit: Tarot Cards >> via Inkpunks.
• Tarot for Writers: Using Tarot to Find & Nurture Your Creative Muse by Sarah Ockler >> Adventures in YA Publishing (2013). This article also includes some examples of tarot being used in YA novels.
• This brief article at Llewellyn explains some of the many writer benefits of using tarot cards, but I particularly like the ending quote –

“According to mythology, there were nine muses. With the Tarot, you’ve got seventy-eight! And that is just one deck!”

Writing Craft Books –

There is one writing craft book on the subject, and it has good reviews –

Tarot for Writers, by Corrine Kenner.

Note that Kenner is also the author of a writing craft book on astrology. Other more general books on learning the tarot can be found listed in several of the web resources listed above.

Tarot Spread Templates for Writers

There are several spread templates engineered for writers. Many can be found shared on the Aeclectic Tarot forum site. Where those are listed below, I’ll indicate with an AT beside the link. You can use these spreads in the full tarot reading method of using intuition and energy polarisation, or simply pull cards out randomly to meet the spread positions, to see what inspires you from the images on the cards.

• Jennifer Neff has gathered a few tarot spreads on her Pinterest board: Writing – Storytelling with Tarot/ Working with Tarot.
• In 2012 a blog was started called Tarot for Fiction Writers. There were only 3 posts published there, but each holds a spread template – in text and graphic form. You will find –
  • 8-point story arc spread
  • Fleshing out your bit players
  • Fictional Cross
• The Tarot Parlor also has a few spreads specifically for creative writers. These are great because the posts show the spread design, and a draw of cards, with explanations of reading/interpreting those cards.
  • Creative Writing – Basic Plot Development Tarot Spread
  • Three Card Creative Writing Spreads – Part 1 and Three Card Creative Writing Spreads – Part 2
• Story Idea spread for writers (AT)
• Possibilities: What happens next? (Tarot Spread for the Writer – created by Arwen) (AT) – uses a female and male character, so good for romance. This spread has also been shared in graphic form on a Tumblr blog (see final bullet point below)
• Goal, Motivation, Conflict (Tarot Spread for Writers) (AT) This spread has also been shared in graphic form on a Tumblr blog (see final bullet point below)
• Plot (For the writer with writer’s block) (AT) – this is a two part spread, one for the writer herself, the other for plot.
• Characterization Spread (Tarot for Writers) (AT) – character development, with some relationship work also.
• Character Creation (or “Smiley Face”) Spread (AT) – basics on new character. Similar to the graphic template below.
• People Spread (AT) – I would call this a more character basic traits spread.
• for writers – short story spread (AT) – elements of beginning, middle and end plot, and character journey. Read down in the comments also, as this spread was modified for a music piece.
• A couple of spreads for questioning your own writer/artist muse – For the artists…(AT) and Exploring your Artist’s path – SPREAD (AT)
• Tarot Spreads for Writing >> Happy Fish Tarot.
• The Character Insight Spread >> One Word at a Time
• Plot Wheels And The Tarot >> Karen Woodward developed a comprehensive spread explained through this post, and completed in Part 2.
• Author Jenna Reynolds held a yahoo group called Tarot and Writing (not used for years) where several spreads for writers were shared. You can see some of these spreads used in the series of posts by Raelyn Barclay (top pick above).
• The Fandom Hipster tumblr blog has a couple of graphic tarot spreads which are accredited to Arwen Lynch (mentioned above and below). I can not find these on Arwen’s blog, so in the meantime, here they are reblogged at Fandom Hipster – Writer’s Possibilities Spread and the GMC Spread.

This character spread (for a hero’s journey) appears on many Pinterest boards, but the originator is unknown

This image was credited to the Arcane Mysteries Tumblr blog, which is now defunct.

Tarot and Writing Courses

There are several courses available for writers wishing to learn to use tarot cards. Several are made available from time to time in major cities. I have a small list of e-courses below also –

• Corrine Kenner, author of Tarot for Writers, offers workshops on the topic.
• Your Characters are in Your Cards with Mary O’Gara via SavvyAuthors.com – keep an eye on this course being repeated or elsewhere.
• Tarot for Writers: Mapping the Hero’s Journey E-Course by Arwen Lynch. Arwen is the person behind several of the writing spreads linked to below. She also has an ebook available – Fairy Tales Tarot Spreads eBook by Stephanie Arwen Lynch

My First Reading, An Example

In a previous post I discussed the fact that this year has a one word goal for my writing – “characters”. That’s because my WIP is complex, but well plotted. My difficulty lies in a few cantankerous master characters. I decided to put these tarot spreads above at test.

My sample problem is the fact that I don’t have a well-considered villain as yet. I have an antagonist, who may change through the book, but a real villain – not so much. I decided to randomly draw cards from two-three decks onto the same small spread (below) and see what they triggered from the illustrations themselves, then I read up on what each card may mean regarding a more concentrated tarot reading. I also asked myself a specific question – “Who is the narrator?” and drew only one card for the answer (second sample below).

I found that randomly drawing cards has a zen-like quality that both surprised me, and added a sense of mystery. I had been so busy thinking and thinking… and thinking(!) over the issues that I’d wound myself up into a conflicted ball. By using a random tool to prompt me, I turned my brain off enough to allow my muse to jolt me with fresh ideas on several of these cards. It gave me a big push forward.

Not all of the cards drawn were productive, of course. And I have a very mediocre understanding of the cards, so most of my thoughts are very primary, but a good start. I have the Tarot for Writer’s book on order, and given the good reviews, expect that the book will clarify some of my own character development and card readings.

Here are those sample spreads –

My Villainous Spreads

For a base spread I chose a very simple three-card spread, this one from The Tarot Parlor –

And here’s the randomly drawn cards through three different decks (drawn in the order above) –

Deck 1 : The Victorian Steampunk Tarot

Note: it seemed almost sacrilege to draw these beautiful cards onto a table, should have been onto velvet cloth for sure. On the other hand, I’m a writer, and the coffee rings on the desk prove it!

Deck 2: A Giant Rider-Waite

This is the standard tarot deck, just in slightly larger size. I like the happy yellows used on the cards. This deck has the basic minor arcana suites –

• Wands correspond to Clubs, representing the element of Fire (wood burns), – spiritual experience.
• Cups or Chalices correspond to Hearts, represent the element of Water, – emotional affairs.
• Swords correspond to Spades, representing the element of Air (swords cut through the air – thought and communication.
• Coins or Pentacles correspond to Diamonds, representing the element of Earth – physical, material, and financial realities.

Note – I didn’t shuffle and mix this deck well, as I didn’t want another reversed card. I simply cut and drew where I felt it. Second note – when I was putting this deck away, I turned the full deck over to find the Magician card looking out at me. Now, that magician really spoke to me regarding my villain.

Deck 3 – Rosetta Tarot (ipad App)

I was tempted to show you a Mystical Cats draw, but went with this one just because. This one surprised me because a voice came out of my device to guide me. Apps allow all kinds of customisation, such as choosing the cloths the cards draw onto. Most tarot apps come with a number of inbuilt spreads also. For this three card spread I went with the past, present and future 3 card reading, letting the past be Card 1 (how the villain appears externally), Card 2 being the present (how s/he really is) and Card 3 as the future – what they want.

Quick Interpretations

Card 1 -How the Antagonist appears on the outside.

• Deck 1 (Steampunk) – Three of Bees: in this deck, the bees represent the air element, signifying thoughts. Three has a perspective of creativity. Quick interpretation – my villain shows to the world that s/he is a creative thinker.
• Deck 2 (Rider-Waite) – Knight of Cups: Graceful, higher graces, arrival, approach. This doesn’t sound like a villain at all, but…combined with the above, this person is certainly looking like a very secure and welcomed (trickster) outwardly.
• Deck 3 (Rosetta Tarot – App) – Knight of Cups: Already had this card above.

Card 2 – How this character is actually, on the inside.

• Deck 1 (Steampunk) – Inverted Fool: The fool’s element is also air (thinking). Normally this card means following a dream, yet innocently – leaping into the unknown. But reversed, it means the fool leaps before he looks. This doesn’t sit well for me, as a primary villain, so I reversed the reversal. The butterfly speaks to me of a profane vanity and flittiness, but I’m not yet ready to fully insert this into my character.
• Deck 2 (Rider-Waite) – Justice: Equity, Rightness, Executive. Say what?! This sounds more like a dangerous motivation form. A foolish justice seeker? Hmmm…
• Deck 3 (Rosetta Tarot app) – Two of Swords / Peace: the two of swords shows a dualistic mind, only temporarily balancing peace against the inherent element of tension. My villain currently has a balance of thought and emotion inside. S/he’s very calm about his rightousness, perhaps?

Card 3 – Hidden motivation / Ulterior Motive

• Deck 1 (Steampunk) – The Emporer: Whoa. I pulled the most authorative archetype of them all. This person represents dominion, strength, organisation, and advice. For a villain, as a motive? Does this mean my villain wants power which s/he believes is ultimately for the world’s good? Whoa again.
• Deck 2 (Rider-Waite) – Six of Pentacles – this card shows a merchant distributing coins to the needy. It can mean gifts, or gratification, although another meaning which speaks to me for a villain is attention and prosperity. So my villain under creation is seeking to be accepted as a powerful authority who weighs out and gifts to those he considers more needy. Or something like that?
• Deck 3 (Rosetta Tarot app) – Nine of Cups / Happiness: this card is known as the wish card, which seems right for what my villain really wants. So he’s heading for satisfaction and will be immensely grateful. He has faith that the universe will answer him. Obviously he’s seriously warped, or doesn’t realise he’s actually the bad guy in all of this.

Final thoughts from looking at three decks – some of this works, some doesn’t. It certainly works to make a much more interesting villain, but requires further development.

One Question – Who’s My Narrator?

Note that I currently have two narrotors, telling the same story in different structures. One’s a teen, the other an adult. As I’m working on a YA, I’m mindful that most in the genre are written in first person, from the Young Adult’s perspective, but that is causing me issues, as there is a lot going on in any teen’s life which is simply too large to involve in the main story, and can misdirect the narrative. On the other hand, the adult narrator isn’t as much fun. Both have different witnesses of the story also. At the moment I know I have a major problem in narration.

Here’s my final sample. I drew from four decks this time, just one card.

1. Card from Steampunk Deck : Eight of Moths : element of fire – this is a card of travel, communication and great news. Journey, action, speed, business.
2. Card from Rider-Waite Deck: Five of Cups: a card of loss, but only three (cups) have been lost, two remain, it’s a card of inheritance, transmission but not living up to expectations.
3. Card from Mystical Cats app: Six of Sea : Dignity and maturity are valuable qualities, but we must always keep the ability to play. Youthfulness of spirit keeps life joyful. The card goes on about innocent happiness. It’s also a card which distracted me from purpose – as a lifetime cat keeper, I know full well that cats just don’t go swimming in packs like that.
4. Card from Housewives Tarot app: Ten of Pentacles: wealth, achievement, family. The card image speaks of a priceless family heirloom, passed down through generations or accumulated through hard work or business sense, this should be shared.

Final thoughts on the one card draw for a narrator. I don’t have any. The cards drawn above seem to indicate I go with both the youthful point of view, and that of the adult inheritor. I have more to think over on this issue. But at least I have some card samples to use for the header image for this post.