#plot spread

[windvexer]

Theme and Action: a tarot method for brainstorming plots, setting, and characters

I find a lot of story brainstorming spreads to be clunky and rigid, so I did a little experimenting and came up with a method I like a lot. I haven't done a ton of testing yet but I thought I'd share what I have.

Basically, it's a two card draw from a deck split into majors and minors. Each draw always has one major card (theme) and one minor card (action).

When you have a question, like:

What are some ideas for the next scene?

Why would that character behave that way?

What's the defining characteristic of this vampire clan?

What do the people in this society fear most?

Why is this scene dragging?

What does this character need to feel more real?

You would draw one major card and one minor card!

Themes and Action; what it's about vs how it manifests

We could call these cards a bunch of different things depending on exactly how the question is framed, but Themes and Action are good enough.

Basically, the major arcana card gives subtext or context, and the minor arcana card provides specific incidents. Like this!:

"In my vampire setting, what is the most important thing in vampire culture?"

Theme: Death

Action: 10/Pentacles

Interpretation: (Theme) The most important thing in vampire culture is the process of dying and the equalizer of death itself. (Action) This has resulted in cultural rituals where death is treated as a sacred adoption or initiation into a new family/estate.

(I really drew this test spread and it really was death lol)

We can swap out the Action card to see a different outcome:

Theme: Death

Action: 5/Swords

Interpretation: (Theme) the most important thing in vampire culture is the process of dying and the equalizer of death itself. (Action) the horror of death and loss has never been overcome in this society, and it must be dealt with as an individual - because vampires process the pain of their own deaths by taking it out on each other.

Here's a different example. In an urban fantasy book where a witch solves ghost mysteries, pacing is dragging and we need our next scene to be exciting. But despite a foot chase after a suspected ghost poacher, the scene doesn't feel fast paced or exciting. The question is, "how do we spice this up?"

Theme: Hermit

Action: King of Cups

Interpretation: (Theme) instead of a crowded street, the character will be isolated and without normal support. (Action) she'll be trapped in a closed space with the story's main villain, who most closely connects with the King of Cups

Another swap, this time switching out the theme card:

Theme: Empress

Action: King of Cups

Interpretation: (Theme) the scene feels boring because it's action without development. Show the main character's personal development and give her a 'level up' moment. (Action) have the ghost poacher lead her to a premature showdown with the main villain, whom she faces bravely for the first time.

This is already long so I'm not going to go on and on with examples but so far I've found this method to be pretty versatile.

Try interpreting Theme and Action as literally as you can within the context of the story!

If you're writing a story about a flower princess who sleeps on a dewdrop in the mystical Gnarlwood Forest, the Sun card will mean one thing.

If you're writing a story about vampires, the Sun card probably means something very different.

Major arcanas can be literary themes, like the moon representing deceit within society, but they can also be literal; in a werewolf story, the Moon card might represent the celestial body that controls the lives of certain people.

The most important thing for me is to avoid interpreting the cards in a general self-help sense.

The cheerful villagers of prosperous Splitsky Castle are waiting for you to invent a festival so a mysterious stranger can come to town and get the plot going.

The question is, "what kind of festival gives me the right setup to pull off the plot point I want?"

The theme card is the Magician, so ideas for the festival could be:

A festival honoring magic users (if they exist in your setting)

A festival honoring the resourcefulness of the villagers

A festival of stage magic and trickery

The action card is the 6/Cups.

Probably, the festival is not about healing your inner child with Jungian shadow work. More contextual ideas might include:

A festival where children are chosen to be trained in magic

A festival celebrating teaching the next generation important skills

A festival meant to delight and entertain children with stage magic

Developing related factions or foils

Draw a major arcana card to identify a certain Theme, maybe along the lines of:

What do they hold to be sacred?

What do they not care about, or hate?

What is their most cherished virtue?

What is the defining feature of leadership?

When they sing about home, what is in their songs?

This theme will be the same for both entities.

Draw different minor arcana cards to show how each entity expresses that theme.

Conversely, work in the opposite direction: keep the minor arcana card for both entities, and swap out the theme card.

Finding Action cards when you know the Theme

Holding the deck so that it's facing you, thumb through the cards until you find the major arcana card that describes your theme. The most recent minor arcana card that was on top of it, even if separated by other majors, is the action card.

Reversals

I tend to read both cards as upright and reversed, and just apply whatever meanings are most relevant. In my experiments using reversals ended up being too finicky and specific, and limited my creativity.

Complex Concepts and Plots

For a complex reading, like plotting an entire novel or building an entire character, I have found more utility in doing many pair readings rather than doing one large spread with many pairs.

My tests so far have suggested that the most creative freedom is found in asking specific questions, like "what is this character's driving motivation," and "what is her quirky hobby," and "what makes her put up with her annoying best friend," rather than trying to build a giant spread that includes all of these things at once.

As a caveat, in plot spreads, I will sometimes put pairs down without returning them to the deck, and then connect Theme/Action pairs with single action cards to suggest events that connect the dots.

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Today on plot bunnies on crack…

I just had this weird idea that instead of going the route he did in Under the Red Hood, maybe Jason decides to go for something less violent but not subtle:

He puts up missing posters of himself around the city with a picture of him when he was fifteen and an “aged up” photo of what he currently looks like.

Bruce, understandably upset, focuses on trying to find where the flyers originated, and Jason, purposely making it worse, allows himself to be caught on CCTV a few times to allow for identification by Babs with her software, but not stick around long enough for Bruce to get to him.

Jason is thoroughly enjoying watching Bruce suffer while trying to find him

[phoenixcatch7]

It's always funny to me when in an lu fic the chain is offered bananas and don't accept them. Like, you're offering these high energy adventures free food?? Fruit they'll have never even heard of before??? A ridiculously expensive imported good at best?? AND it boosts your attack?

Not ONE of these idiots would ever turn down something new and interesting to eat at least once. They'd be all over those bananas and immediately get dubbed yiga and I'm honestly surprised no one has used it in a fic yet 🤭

[t00thpasteface]

quordle and i were spitballing about mulcahy getting caught by hollister with his tent door locked(!!) and having to come up with an excuse about why he was having alone time with the chief surgeon... i said it has the vibe of a teenage boy sneaking into his girlfriend's room even though her dad wants to kill him for being a sleaze

[my-coven-is-claudia]

after sleeping on the latest anniversary special i think i’m at peace with the whole bi-generation thing because it does something i don’t think it would’ve been able to do if it was executed in any other way. it allows the show to move the fuck on.

nuwho began with this mysterious sense that something bad happened. that this man, this alien, is filled with guilt and pain from something terrible. that theme of a horrible anguish being thinly veiled under a witty, dorky shield has been consistent throughout every incarnation of the doctor since. it’s a brilliant piece of characterisation but the doctor always being weighed down by this insurmountable grief i think was always going to hold the show back eventually. tragedy is inherent to doctor who but when does it become hard to believe that the main character is somehow able to continue on after everything they’ve gone through. what effect would this have on the audience, especially long-term fans? letting go of past companions and doctors is something that doctor who fans are notoriously bad at and i just wonder if it would become too much for the show to handle at some point. but now it won’t anymore.

bi-generation allows the doctor to heal from everything they’ve gone through whilst still being able to barrel into the next adventure. there’s a million theories on where 14 will end up but i think what matters the most is that the doctor is finally happy. not in a temporary, tenuous state of thrill that will only last until the start of the next episode, but truly happy. unlike in previous versions of this story where the doctor gets an impossible happy ending which we never get to see onscreen (e.g. tentoo settling down with rose) we are actually going to witness 15 be joyful and alive, no longer held down by what’s come before. a fresh start almost. not to say that the time war or the flux were so horrific that the doctor never could’ve gotten over them but i don’t think the doctor healing would’ve been believable without him literally splitting in two, allowing him time to breathe and slow down as 14 whilst untethering him from the past and allowing him to fully spread his wings as 15. it’s not a perfect conclusion to this era (and discussions on whether bi-generation undermined ncuti’s entrance and role as THE doctor are completely valid) but i’m ultimately glad it happened

[deathsmallcaps]

Captain America: Brave New World (CABNW) analysis

This movie is all about themes of rehabilitation, hope, and not allowing your past to define your future.

Sam is redefining the mantle of the shield, and reclaiming his independence. Since reaching adulthood, he has worked as part of the military, or in a major team, and always besides super powered people (not that he was the only regular human in the Avengers, but you know). And now Sam gets to herald a new age of modern values of rehabilitation.

Steve was also a man of hope, but he (as a white man) fought the Other: fascists and aliens. AKA, unredeemables (in the short term) and nonhumans. He was from WWII; while the full truth of the matter is that the USA did not join the war out of altruism and a wish to save oppressed peoples, I personally feel glad that the USA was able to help out in those matters. I feel our part in the war was justified when it came to stopping multiple genocides. Many people also feel this way, and hold WWII up as this bastion of ‘justified’ wars. Many feel it’s okay that Americans went to Germany and Japan and started killing people, because they were doing it first.

Same thing with alien invasion storylines. I love Steve, but the only person he is MCU-canonically pursuing rehabilitation for is Bucky. He has different values as both a survivor of WWII, a witness to the explosive growth of fascism in the early 1900s, and a white man. Sure, Steve grew up disabled and Irish(-American) in the early 1900s, but he was also a blue eyed blond haired American man who shows no trace of an Irish identity on screen. Steve is a hopeful, principled and angry man.

Meanwhile, Sam grew up being othered as a Black child and then man, joined a war that was never justifiable (never confirmed what war he was in but no war the USA has perpetuated in the 2000s, if not even earlier, has been justifiable), and then continually had to be an examplar wherever he went. Except for possibly War Machine (I’m not sure where he fits in), Sam was the ONLY Avenger of Color. Ever. (And the only one from a more rural area)

And yet Sam always chooses hope and kindness. He has it rough - as the only Avenger of Color, he had to always choose others needs over his own. He and Isaiah Bradley (another person restored by Sam’s rehabilitative justice <3) discuss the weight of that. Bradley points out time and time again that Sam doesn’t owe the world his kindness, his willingness to be a hero, his health and well-being. After all, Bradley got fucked over for doing the right thing, a Steve-type thing, in a Black body. But Sam decides to push on anyway.

I’m not saying Sam isn’t angry. He deserves to feel angry, he has as much right to the emotion as any other human being. But every single goddamn time he can, he chooses to be kind. He chooses to believe that people can find worth again. And that takes a strength of will that is frankly insane. PLUS he does it without a consistently optimized body.

And he chooses to be kind to Ross, of all people. Ross, who is clearly trying to be a changed man in the events of the film - but still a man who imprisons innocents and whose first instinct is to pick fights with nations who own nuclear weapons.

But Sam still reaches out to him. Still helps Ross meet Betty while Ross is in prison. Is the better man, every goddamn time.

Hell, they even represent what changes Sam could herald for the fate of the United States, and even the world, visually. In Ross’s panic as the Red Hulk, he destroys the White House*, a symbol built by slave labor. And under Sam’s tenure as Captain America, it will be rebuilt - along with what a hopefully better United States of America.

I love Sam Wilson, and I am SO excited to see his future as Captain America.

*and possibly also the Washington Memorial? I know he goes by but the detail slipped my mind. It also was built with slave labor. Some might quibble and try to claim that the obelisk was built by skilled stonemasons, but many many many enslaved people were extremely skilled laborers. So there is a huge chance that the stonemasons were enslaved. And even if they used completely white/free Black stonemasons, the quarried stone was mined by enslaved people. So yes, it was built by slave labor.

(Also I think it’s cool that Sam’s getting his own villains like Serpent and Leila Taylor made an appearance? She was basically his only canon love interest EVER**, and she hasn’t appeared since the 1970s. I think it’s still possible that he might be given a male LI or they just never pursue that angle of the character, but at least she and Sam have a relationship built on at least some respect and personal chemistry. Unlike Steven and Sharon.

Personally I’m more of a fan of Samsteve or even SamJoaquin than SamBucky, but that’s just mostly because while he’s grown on me in the last few years, I’m not really a Bucky fan. Samsteve probably won’t happen because of the stupid time travel thing (though who’s to say they didn’t at least have a fling? Plz?) but SamJoaquin could happen! I wasn’t sold on Joaquin right away - his sunny personality was tripping my betrayal alarms in my movie expectations brain - but I am glad to be wrong. I’m excited to see him as Falcon again once he heals up!

**There was a werewolf princess lady? But she literally never came back. Which disappoints me because I thought she was funny (I read her issue) and really unique. She was human but had a device to specifically control werewolves? And they do exist in the MCU, thanks to Werewolf by Night…

I LOVED the dogfight scene. Great body work on Anthony Mackie’s part, interesting background, awesome moves (cutting through a plane with a wing? Punching and pulling a pilot out of their plane and letting the rest of it just fall?? Sam and Joaquin together???) and fucking BOMBSURFING

[emiplayzmc]

Okay so like

Glisten was a DHMIS OC before Dandy's World was a thing, right?

HC'ing that Glisten's 'teacher' role would've been something along the lines of friendship / fitting in for the gang? Something similar to a mix of the Love episode from the webseries and Jobs and Family from the TV show (Having a community of people who care about you + fitting into an environment or mold or dynamic) - a whole bunch of Yada Yada about 'this stuff makes you likeable and this stuff doesn't!!!' and 'look at all of MY friends, aren't I popular, isn't it fun being liked by people?? Don't you want to fit in with us??'

I'm uh. NOT REALLY GOOD WITH GORE PLACEMENT SO IDK WHERE IT WOULD FIT INTO THE EPISODE IF IT WOULD EXIST?? There's almost always some gore element to the episodes- But yeah basically he is the epitome of toxic friendships / being toxic to yourself by forcing yourself into a little perfect box so that others like you. And then a lot of his Oh Shoot™️ moment that most Teachers seem to have would be breaking down from that 'perfect little box' in front of the main cast.

Anywayyyys. Red Guy is unintentionally the most popular of the bunch, Duck is constantly peeved that people aren't 'respecting' him by being his friend and is trying to steal Red's thunder, and Yellow is just. Barely even trying to fit in the whole time, he mainly wants to do his own thing.

And then that probably gets him sucked into seeing Glisten's REALLY BAD Oh Shoot™️ mental break moment from questioning why and how Yellow is still perfectly happy doing his own thing and just liking his own little group of the ✨️Three Of Us✨️ instead of a huge group of 'friends,' and then questioning why he himself is even doing all of that acting for a group of people in the first place (maybe in the episode his group of 'friends' are the ones who get attached to Red and ditch him? As a show and tell for how these types of people are just. Awful. And they latch onto Red because he's the latest thing that's caught their eyes and Glisten is old news. Just a dusty mirror. And for the rest of the episode after this happens, he's trying to get himself back to being the star of the show and potentially attempting to recruit Yellow to help him do it).

Anyways there's some brainrot for all of us fine Dandy's World / Don't Hug Me I'm Scared fans on this fine Thursday the 12th, because I have been thinking about this non-stop since I found out about this fact.

^ Art from Qwel about what Glisten would've looked like in DHMIS. Put him with the butterfly and the lamp in the Skittles Squad /lh /silly. Would've loved to know what he would've been as a teacher if he'd have stayed on the DHMIS OC route.

[raayllum]

me staring at myself in the mirror like "we already got a hostage exchange last season where callum helped the villain and did dark magic in order to save rayla (as predicted) AND we got the irony of him literally freeing rayla while symbolically chaining himself, they're not going to do all that TWICE" to try and talk myself out of straightforward CHET

only for the demons in my ear to whisper "but what if she gets hurt in the possession fight and he still needs to save her, and/or the cube and his love for rayla makes him take a risk with the quasar diamonds just for the sake of her family and her ultimate happiness" and well. Now we're talking

[hyohaehyuk]

thejamlore: jacob & sam on dreamstat, term created by jacob:

S: i speak to jacob every day, non-stop, all the time J: there's a place that me and sam used to eat in prague, we'd talk about the show, so i was always looking forward to [dreamstat]

video: IWTV S2 🩸 BTS (i dont know what is the original source. maybe is a content from amc+ u need to pay to watch) 

[denieatsart]

Summer and his dad , from a rp on discord ! Summer's always been quite adventurous .

OCs and au by me Wings of Fire by Tui T Sutherland

@starswirly @petrockenthusiast [ hi Pebble you keep getting sneak peeks before i post them on discord /silly ] and ,,, idk if anyone else in the rp has tumblr SOBBING

[sonik-kun]

"Jiang Cheng would have been involved in the attack on the Burial Mounds even without the death of sister"

For context, this all takes place AFTER JZX was killed. From JC's pov that was all 100% WWX's fault (bear in mind, WWX does have some culpability with his death. He lost control because of his unrestrained resentment for JZX. Sooo).

Was JC not supposed to do anything? Just sit there and twiddle his thumbs? Object to the siege entirely, perhaps? How do you think that would have looked to the rest of the CW? It would have been very suspicious if he didn't take part in eliminating a potential threat to the CW. Especially when said threat was once a part of his sect and KILLED his brother in law. Wouldn't they think it is strange that he refused to take part and get revenge on behalf of his sister??

If he did object or refused to take part, the rest of the CW would have grown even more suspicious of him. And the Jiang sect would have had a huuuuuuge target on their backs next. Especially giving how power hungry the Jins were becoming.

It was a very difficult situation he was put in. Not one he could easily talk his way out of. We've seen him try to numerous times even before things escalated to vouch for WWX and even once for the Wen siblings. And we all saw how that went down. Do you seriously think he could talk his way out of this one? After a sect heir had been slaughtered by his former SiC? Come on now.

All of this is why we see JC desparing so much because he is watching his brother spiral and spiral, and all he can do is watch on helplessly, for it is beyond his power to save him.

WWX kept so much from JC. He sided with the sect that almost wiped out his own and then goes on to inadvertently kill his brother in law. How do you think that must have looked to JC? How JC must have felt?? Let's be real here and look at things from his pov. Because I feel as though some of yall are failing to do so.

To JC, WWX had become unhinged and out of control. But even after the death of JZX, JC still seemed to desperately hold onto hope for his brother. He exclaims when he's holding his dying sister in his arms, "I thought you said you could control it?!"

That says to me that JC had faith in his brother that he could fix all this up until JYL was caught up in it all.

If you look at things from JC's pov, you'll see how bad things looked for WWX. How culpable he appeared throughout it all. And when you take that into consideration and realise that JC doesn't have all the information we as the reader are privileged to have, we can easily see why he came to such a conclusion.

It was either WWX or the lives of hundreds in his sect. JC chose to protect the many. And that doesn't make him a terrible person. Nor does it make him a terrible brother. He did all he could for WWX. But to him, WWX had made his bed, and so he should lay in it.

[theodosiani]

Ghilan'nain, abundantly aware of her own mortality in the face of her archdemon's death, decides to endeavor into an experiment. She and Elgar'nan have their eyes upon Rook and the others, have witnessed the fragment of Mythal within the crossroads. Heard of Solas' actions in absorbing the one gamboling about Thedas, playing with mortals. It was an idea, of course she didn't want to die to accomplish it, but she is more creative than Mythal in such ways.

She experiments briefly on prisoners and followers, learning how to rip a soul apart but keep the body alive, then the mind, the power couldn't quite be salvaged. Yes, a fraction exists and can be strengthened to a degree but never to it's former glory. At least not working on the shortened timeframe with which she is faced.

Had she more time she is convinced she could do it, split herself in twain and stay glorious. Had she the resources of their golden age perhaps she could even do so on her accelerated timescale. Alas, instead she has the blight and her da'fen. Not the perfect vessel, she would have preferred to create one from scratch, but time is of the essence. Besides, if she dies this way it means in some small way she will enjoy seeing the sorrow stretch across Fen'harel's face when he is reunited with sweet little Sulhan'harel and senses her lurking in the girl's very marrow.

She's already grafted a bit of her own flesh into the girl, isolated carefully with her magic within the fine limb. It will make for a smoother latch, Ghilan'nain hypothesizes this is the reason for the witch of the wilds' many daughters. Perfect donors, so to speak their flesh ready to absorb the power and their lives molded to make them worthy.

She cannot make little Sulhan'harel worthy, but she has thought all along that the child shows promise. She could have made a fine evanuris of the arts, no match for June and his creations or Sylaise and her architecture but they had always lacked a creature of music. Perhaps she was insufficient for the role now, but Ghilan'nain firmly believes she could have molded her, guided her to a place alongside herself and Elgar'nan. Lesser of course, but still beside them, a family.

Ghilan'nain removes a splinter of herself, she is not so arrogant as to believe she can get away with finishing rebuilding their new empire at half strength. No, not with sweet Razikale so violently taken from her, the time to enthrall another dragon, to raise an archdemon is not possible. So instead she takes the smallest fraction of her power, or herself and slips it into Sulhan'harel.

The girl barely fights her, knowing her place and succumbing so well. It is a shame that Solas got to her first, she would have made a fine priestess. So loyal and full of devotion wasted on shemlen lost beyond the wretched veil and Fen'harel. She does not question when Ghilan'nain pushes the idol into her hands, a fragment of her own creativity and love. It will take well to Sulhan'harel's demeanor, she thinks that giving the girl much else will crack her mind and she'll be useless then.

Sweet, gentle Suhlan'harel now her little locket, no matter how the dread wolf leads his merry band of fools he will not be rid of her. Not unless he has the drive to murder his own daughter--She has not quite decided whether she believes he won't but the pain it will bring him if he does? Well, she will watch it through young, green eyes.

[thrpr0phetuseek]

[The ghost finds himself idly wandering along a cliff edge, hearing the gentle rush of the Lethe far below as he hums his song under his breath. He murmurs the lyrics to himself with each slow step, his eyes remaining on the rock below him.] "This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms..." [Polites lightly brushes his hair out of his face, pushing his glasses back up onto his nose from where they'd been falling as he takes another step.] "Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from th-" [CRACK.] [He pauses in his tracks, looking around as his eyes narrow.] "No matter th...?" [CRACK.] [He realizes what's happening a moment too late as his eyes go wide, the rock crumbling beneath his feet as he lets out a short yell. He grabs onto the edge as the chunks of rock fall into the Lethe with loud splashes, struggling to keep a steady hold on the edge.] "No, no no no-" [His breath comes out in panicked gasps as he tries to pull himself up, his hand nearly slipping as he yelps slightly.] "TIR! SOMEONE- HELP!-" - @op3n-arms

[ the prophet, who had idly been dancing in faint memory of their past life lived, froze on the scream of a familiar voice. In quick realization, they make a staggering bolt, stumbling across the isle, searching best they could in hope for their friend ]

“POLITES! Gods, where—!”

[ at the sound of another crack, they stop, cautiously stabbing down with their staff before making swift effort of reaching a hand down the cliff, feeling around before brushing against another hand as familiar as their own ]

“Oh— thank the gods— Polites, come on!”

[vinlynce]

part 1 of however many Canary in a Coal Mine info posts!!! This one is mainly focusing on mechanical stuff and design notes with some misc musing

[theproblemcallednight]

hello jjk fandom. i have come from the wild lands of the bsd fandom.

i've come a bit late, but with precious goods.

while u all were crying over gojo, i have done research and revieved him

you see, bram from bsd gained his lowerr half while gojo lost his. but bram gained his lower half bc a sword was pulled out of him. and i stuck that sword into gojo (id in alt from @/zukkaoru so ty to them :D)

so here u are.

never stop believing

never give up

its never gojover

[waspgrave]

As a big fan of spoilers, talk about spoilers all you want. Even spoil yourself for the entire game if you’d like!! but holy shit people need to start posting those achievement pics under readmores bc sometimes spoiler tags don’t work!! Your excitement for theorizing spoiled the endings for some people !