Reading as writing

Tarot is one of the oldest writing prompts we have. Three images, in order, are already the skeleton of a story: a situation, a pressure, a change.

1. Draw three cards and keep them in order.
2. For each card, write down something you see: a figure, an object, a gesture, an organism.
3. Give each detail a job in the text: who is here, what presses on them, what changes.
4. Write a seed sentence: Because ___ wanted ___, they tried ___; but ___.
5. Write half a page to a page, a poem, or a scene. Follow the images if a plot won’t come.

You do not have to name the cards in your text. The best tarot stories hide their cards: two envelopes stand in for crossed swords, a burst water main for the Tower, a map with a small star drawn on it for the Star.