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Posted at 12:00 AM in Books, Tarot for Writers, Writers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tarot and writing seem to go perfectly together. Corrine Kenner's new book, Tarot for Writers shows us techniques to help us all leverage our love of Tarot to help us become better writers... or to take a stab a writing. This book is very timely. Tarot and writing seem to be at the forefront of everyone's minds lately as well as in the news. Just this past year, the new National Poet Laurate, Kay Ryan, mentioned that she used a deck of Tarot cards to learn to write poetry. Many Tarot readers I know focus their talents on assisting writers who have creative blocks, or are looking for insight or inspiration for a writing project. The use of Tarot has expanded past its historical uses as a tool of fortunetelling into a tool of self-help, therapy and now creative inspiration. This book very comprehensive, as are all Corrine Kenner's books. It is not only for Tarot readers who write, but also for writers who have never used Tarot before and wish to explore it as a tool of creative inspiration. In the first section, Tarot 101, she provides a brief lesson on Tarot meanings, how to read the cards, classic spreads and examples of readings. If that weren't enough, she also provides writing exercises with the spreads to get the reader started writing. I can't think of a better way to teach a reader how to journal readings! As if the first section weren't enough to make this book an amazing resource for a Tarot reader, she has embedded throughout the book an unofficial "Creative Writing 101" in which she discusses subplots, characters, storylines, settings and descriptions, and more. She also includes techniques for breaking the dreaded writer's block! The last section of the book is devoted to descriptions and attributes of each Tarot card in a 78-card deck from a writer's perspective, including lists of writing prompts. A glossary of Tarot terms and symbols is located in the back of the book. This is a must have for any Tarotist interested in writing -- from journaling for his or herself to writing a book, or any writer interested in using Tarot as a tool to unlock his or her imagination.
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Posted at 12:00 AM in Books, Corrine Kenner | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 12:00 AM in Books, Corrine Kenner, Tarot for Writers, Tarot Talk | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
In publishing, as in many fields, there are leaders and there are followers. Stephenie Meyer gives birth to legions of the undead. Marley begets Dewey who begets a pet shop in bookstore aisles. Among the authors on this month’s list, there are definite leaders, including J. K. Rowling and the forensic-thriller writer Patricia Cornwell — blame her for all those television shows with whooshing close-ups of scalpels slicing through dead flesh. The rest, well, there is a talking-dog book (going Almondine one better?). And not one, but two novels based in Florida in which tarot cards play a part. A genre in the making?Here are the two books they're talking about:
THE KING OF SWORDS By Nick Stone 560 pages. Harper. $25.99. Nick Stone’s second novel starring Max Mingus opens the morning after election day in 1980. When a body turns up at Primate Park in Miami, Detective Sergeant Mingus and his partner, Joe Liston, are called in to investigate. There’s a tarot card — the King of Swords — in the dead man’s stomach, and it leads the partners to a shadowy Haitian underground. Their boss at the Miami Task Force is looking to close the case — regardless of the truth. Mingus, in his own description, is “a cop who drank too much, slept too little and really couldn’t remember when exactly he’d crossed the line,” but this time he vows to do the right thing. The book is a prequel to Mr. Stone’s “Mr. Clarinet,” which was published last year. THE FORTUNE TELLER’S DAUGHTER By Lila Shaara 436 pages. Ballantine Books. $25. Once a hotshot newspaper reporter, Harry Sterling has retreated to the campus of a small college in Florida to teach and to lick his wounds. (There are many: his brother was murdered by a man who’d been looking to kill Harry; shortly afterward his wife divorced him and took their son to live with her in Orlando; he has a bad relationship with alcohol.) But he can’t resist a good story, and one night he hears one: A local tarot card reader named Madame Dupree claims that the inventor of something called the Ziegart effect (it involves supercooling metals in order to make them conduct electricity better) actually stole the idea. Chasing down the tale, Harry becomes involved with the enigmatic Maggie Roth, who shares a double-wide trailer with Dupree. As the novel progresses, his pursuit of Maggie and the truth about Ziegart converge.
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If you're planning a new story from scratch, tarot cards can offer a theme for your work. I sometimes think of the theme as the moral of the story -- "All that glitters is not gold," for example, or "Be careful what you wish for." To find a theme for your story, simply shuffle your tarot deck and pull a single card. Then look for the message or moral of the card. The Ten of Cups, for example, depicts a happy family in front of a cozy cottage. It might suggest a theme like, "You can go home again."You can find all the tips listed on the Tarot for Writers group website.
For more creative writing tips, visit www.tarotforwriters.com and www.tarotjournaling.com.
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Posted at 12:00 AM in Books, NaNoWriMo, Tarot Groups, Tarot Imagery, Writers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
One of the most basic tools in your PR and marketing portfolio is your press kit. A press kit provides basic biographical information and information about your work, in an easily accessible kit for reviewers and journalists. It makes it easy for people to write about you- always a plus- and it saves work for you, because you can avoid collecting and providing the same information repeatedly- definitely a plus.
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TIP #5: CHARACTER SKETCHES What do you really need to know about a character's background before you can include him in a story? What facts and figures should you have at hand? What details can you use to bring your characters to life? You can start with the basics, of course, like name, age, and place of birth -- but there are other telling details that you should be aware of, too. For example, what kind of music does your character listen to? What does he eat for breakfast? How does he dress for work? As you're planning your story, think about the background knowledge you'd like to have on hand for each of your characters. Then develop a standard "fill in the blank" form that you can use for all of them. You can devise a very simple short form, or a long and comprehensive survey. Later, you can use tarot cards to help fill in some of the blanks.You can find all of the tips listed sequentially on the Tarot for Writers Meetup Group message board.
Posted at 12:00 AM in Books, Corrine Kenner, NaNoWriMo, Tarot Books, Tarot Cards, Tarot Groups, Tarot Imagery, Writers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)