Teneice Durrant, creator of Tarot with Ten, will use various tarot and oracle decks to provide monthly readings for writers, with exercises on using imagery and intuition as prompts. June’s prompt concerns a story’s climax.
Climax as conflict resolution
We are halfway through the year and the development of our stories by using tarot as writing prompts. In terms of characters, we’ve covered the protagonist, love interest, and antagonist. In terms of plot, we looked at inciting incidentsand rising action, both of which build tension that propels a narrative toward its climax.
The climax is the point at which all of the protagonist’s plans, schemes, and relationships resolve in a monumental scene. In some stories, it is the last-minute rush to stop someone from getting on a plane so that they can confess their love. In others, it is the epic battle scene where the protagonist-hero defeats the villain with a sword through the chest. Maybe it's that final chess match in the tournament where the main character overcomes their mental block and beats the old school grandmaster. Whatever the story, this is where the conflict is resolved and the questions are answered.
To develop the climax for your story, I am going to pull cards for three main questions:
What happens between the main character and their love interest or best friend?
How do the MC and the antagonist resolve their conflict?
How does the MC change after these events?
Hopefully, no matter how your story has progressed, these prompts will help you resolve your character’s issues.
Seven of Pentacles
As always, these images are from the Rider Waite tarot deck, via Pixabay (Creative Commons license), and you can flip through all cards from this reading here:
What happens between the main character and their love interest or best friend?
The Seven of Pentacles is a card of stopping and taking a look at how much time and effort you’ve invested in a project. As one of my favorite tarot readers says, the Seven of Pentacles asks, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” Are you getting a good return on your investment? Usually, the answer is no. This card usually indicates that you are wasting your time and efforts on something or someone that isn’t going to be worth it in the end. It might be time to cut your losses and invest in something that’s going to sustain you.
Two of Pentacles
How do the MC and antagonist resolve their problem?
The Two of Pentacles is a card of precarious balancing. The man is juggling two coins in front of a choppy sea. However, the infinity sign is wound between the two pentacles indicating that once he gets the hang of it, he will be able to juggle indefinitely. This imagery indicates that the protagonist and antagonist have entered into a partnership of sorts, one where they are completely aware of the consequences of falling out of balance.
Emperor
How does the MC change after these events?
The Emperor indicates a level of self-mastery and confidence that only comes from having gone through the battle and emerged victorious. The Emperor is battle tested and has muscle memory for the fight. This is also the card of Aries, the Ram, so you might find insights into your protagonist's character by looking up the characteristics of this sign. The most striking thing to me is that the Emperor is alone on the throne and looking to the past. The lesson might be: Be wary of letting your MC slip back into the memories of his glory days, like a middle-aged manager reliving the high school football homecoming game.
A writing exercise
Think of a time you resolved a conflict with another person that one or both of you had previously thought to be impossible to resolve. What was the tipping point? Begin a short piece of writing at that exact moment when both of you realized you could, in fact, mend the fence and move on.
Writing in detail about a previous conflict that you resolved might help get you in the mindset of resolving your main character’s primary conflict.
I hope this week’s reading got your gears turning on how to deliver a climax that resolves the major conflicts we’ve developed so far. Next month we will be talking about the resolution and how to use tarot to end your story.
Until then, here’s how to find me outside of the Center:
Podcast anchor.fm/tarotwithten
YouTube Tarot with Ten
What did you think of this tarot reading and the cards as visual prompts for story development? Share with us in the comments, and contact us if you’re interested in working one-on-one with Teneice in writing with tarot.
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