Random Notes: THE GENTLE ART OF PLOTSING
... or how to plot a book when you are not a plotter with a bit help from the Tarot cards!
Twelve months ago I was at the Terror Australis Writers Retreat in Tasmania, with a new Scrivener project open, looking out over the lovely Huon River, wondering what on earth I was going to write for the fifth Harriet Gordon mystery.
You see the problem is I am what they call a ‘pantser’ (I write books by the seat of my pants). I don’t plot because I like to be surprised… but I have to start somewhere and in recent years, faced with contractual deadlines, I have had to discipline myself to the gentle art of ‘plotsing’… plotting for pantsers.
One of the techniques I use to kick the muse in the pants and get us both moving is the use of Tarot cards (or as my fellow Tasmanian writers retreat participants came to call it… Alison’s Woo Woo).
There are books written on this subject but I like to keep it simple so I generally stick to a Character layout (first and second image) and, in the case of AGONY IN AMETHYST, I experimented with a plotting layout (third image). I don’t suggest trying to read my handwriting… even I can’t decipher what I wrote!
It is rather fun to sit here 12 months later and look at these notes and compare what the cards suggested with how the book turned out. Of course, if you haven’t read it yet, I am not going to give any spoilers, but it has proved rather accurate. For example the character spread for C1 (who turned out to be Lady Cunningham) tells me she is a vain woman, possibly deceitful and manipulative with secrets…
I know very well that the original thoughts I might have for a book are often abandoned along the way (for example Amethyst was originally supposed to involve a Scout camp on a remote island) so how much the ultimate plot is driven by the Tarot cards is debateable… but in this case ‘Alison’s Woo Woo’ seems to have had a considerable influence.
And so AGONY IN AMETHYST is now out in the world and early reviews warm my heart.
Print and ebooks are available from all good online stores (and if you are in Australia, the print books are stocked by the fabulous Jeffreys Book Store). Audio is in production and should be available before Christmas.
And if you are interested in Tarot as a plotting technique, I recommend:
Tarot for Writers by Corrinne Kenner
Tarot for Fiction Writers by Haley Dziuk
Until next time
Alison xxx
