LET FATE TAKE A HAND

Games of chance

Introducing an element of chance, injects new life into our characters, our plot – and us.

Scrabble

• 1.Play a 15-minute game, either by yourself or with a friend. At the end of that time, write a story using every word you have made.
• 2.Or instead of recording the scores, record each word. Use them in the order in which they appeared.
• 3.Alternatively, use only the nouns or only the verbs which appeared. Make each the focus of a stage in your plot. Suppose the verbs you made were:

  plan

  pack

  doubt

  arrange

  saw

  spend

A sample plot outline could read:

• Emily plans to surprise her husband Tim with a party on their anniversary.
• She tells him to keep that day free. ‘I doubt I shall be here,’ he says.
• He starts to spend a lot of time away from home and seems preoccupied.
• A friend tells Emily that she saw Tim coming out of a hotel with his secretary.
• Devastated, Emily cancels the party and packs her case to leave.
• Tim has been planning to celebrate their anniversary with a second honeymoon. His secretary has been helping him to arrange it.

Boggle, Lexicon, Jitters and other word games such as Target Words, found in various newspapers and magazines – can be used in the same way.

Snakes and Ladders

Throw the dice and move a counter accordingly. Whatever number you land on, take a dictionary or choose a book at random and open it at that page. Close your eyes and point to a word. Use it in your opening sentence. Continue in this way for each sentence. If you go up a ladder, let something positive occur in your character’s life. If you go down a snake, introduce an obstacle or misfortune. The story ends after a set number of throws, or when you reach the last square.

• If you have a Monopoly set, use the ‘Chance’ and ‘Community Chest’ cards when you encounter a ladder or a snake.
• Draw a tarot card if you land on a snake, a ladder or any number divisible by five (or other number of your choice).

Any dice and counter board game can be adapted in this way. Or you can invent your own board game to suit your plot production needs.

Dice

• 1.Use a pair of dice and a dictionary. Devise your own word finding rules. For example, the first throw gives you a page number, the second tells you where it comes on that page (1st, 2nd, etc.) Or choose a word at random and throw the dice count forward that number of words and use the word you land on. Throw again to find the next word and so on. Use the words as in the games described above.
• 2.Use a single die and tarot cards. Shuffle the cards and select 30 unseen. Deal face down into six adjacent piles of five. Throw the die. The number thrown indicates the number of the pile from which to choose the first card. Throw and choose six times. Each card reveals the next stage of the plot.
• 3.Dice are traditionally used for divination and insight. The meanings attributed to their scores can also be used in story-making (see next section).

Checklist

Use games of chance:

• to write a whole story
• to give your plot an unexpected twist
• to reveal new aspects of your characters
• when you are stuck.

Predictive and ‘inner wisdom’ techniques

The techniques described are ancient systems for attuning ourselves to archetypal energies and experiences, hence the term ‘inner wisdom’. They are used for divination, personal insight and guidance and – as I have already said – must be treated with care and respect. Approached in this way, they can also give insight into our characters and their stories.

Tarot spreads

The patterns in which the cards are laid are known as spreads. Many different spreads are described in the books and leaflets which accompany tarot packs. We can use these spreads to ask questions about our own lives and about the lives of our characters. The answers can also be read as an unfolding story. ‘The Flying Bird’ spread (Figure 5) works particularly well with the Osho Zen Tarot, which depicts concepts rather than characters. A recent Flying Bird spread read:

• 1.Here and Now: Turning inwards
• 2.Resistance/fear: Participation
• 3.Response to the fear: Stress
• 4.Inner support: Healing
• 5.External support: Innocence
• 6.Relaxation/acceptance: Experiencing
• 7.New awareness: Inner voice

It gave rise to this story outline:

A woman in her forties has always wanted to dance (1) but is afraid of making a fool of herself (2). She finally psychs herself up to join a dance class, but when she gets there she feels unable to go in (3). A little girl (5) watching at the door tells her she longs to be in there dancing. The woman remembers feeling like that when she was young, and this gives here the courage she needs (4). Dancing at last, she feels positively euphoric (6).

Later she tells the tutor how hard it was for her to take that first step. The tutor says ‘I know – I saw you talking to yourself out there’ (7).

The I Ching

This ancient Chinese system involves asking a question, throwing three coins six times to obtain a hexagram, and interpreting this by consulting the I Ching – or Book of Changes (available in numerous editions, translations and interpretations). The answers are rich in metaphor. For example, from Hexagram 59 HUAN: Clear what is blocking the light. Call a glass of water a pond if you like, but do not drown in it or from Hexagram 64 WEI CHI: A decisive new move but not if you behave like the centipede who, looking at his moving feet and analysing their order of movement, ends up on his back waving his thousand legs in the air. The most useful answers result from sincere and well-formed questions. The answer to such questions, can reveal new aspects of a character, or change the plot dramatically. Many of the hexagrams offer a whole plot in themselves.

Runes

Norse in origin, each rune-stone bears an ancient alphabetical symbol. Bought sets include an accompanying booklet which gives the meaning of these. There are also many books on the subject available separately. Stones can be used singly or in spreads. As with the I Ching, answers can be interpreted in many ways. (The word riddle – raedel in Old English, comes from the Germanic raedan or ‘reading’.) Some examples of runic food for thought are: from 1 THE SELF: Not a time to focus on results look inside for the enemy of your progress and from 5 TERMINATION/NEW BEGINNINGS: In deep water become a diver.

Dice

Dice, traditionally three, can also be used as tools of divination and inner wisdom. There are many systems, some very complicated. For use in creating plots it is enough to know the basic meaning traditionally attributed to each score. These are:

3. A wish unexpectedly fulfilled.	4. Disappointment.
5. A stranger brings joy.	6. Loss – may bring spiritual gain.
7. Gossip causes unhappiness.	8. Ill-considered action may cause injustice.
9. Success, forgiveness, reunion.	10. Domestic contentment. Promotion.
11. Someone is ill.	12. A letter demands an answer.
13. Long-term sorrow.	14. A stranger becomes a close friend.
15. Temptation to make unjust deal.	16. A pleasant and profitable journey.
17. Foreigner gives good advice.	18. Excellent omen – promotion, profit, joy.

Dominoes

To help carry your plot forward, draw up to three dominoes (tradition says that more makes the dominoes tired!) Meanings are given as follows:

6/6: All round success.	6/5: Good works.	6/4: Litigation.
6/3: Short profitable voyage.	6/2: A useful gift.	6/1: Ending of an old trouble.
6/0: Be alert to treachery.	5/5: A good move.	5/4: Profit. Avoid speculation.
5/3: A helpful visitor.	5/2: Child-birth.	5/1: New love, sad ending.
5/0: Comfort a friend.	4/4: Stranger's party.	4/3: Disappointment. Courage.
4/2: A swindler is about.	4/1: Debts to be paid.	4/0: Attempt reconciliation.
3/3: A rival in love.	3/2: Do not tempt fate.	3/1: Surprising and useful news.
3/0:	Jealousy causes trouble.	2/2: Happy marriage.	2/1: Loss of money or property.
2/0:	New relationship. Joy.	1/1: Act now.	1/0: Useful visit from stranger.
0/0:	Bad omen. Loss, unhappiness.

Checklist

Inner wisdom techniques:

• put us in touch with what we know deep down
• enable us to understand ourselves and our character
• supply interesting plots
• offer new perspectives.

There are also workbooks and computer programs for generating plots. Tom Sawyer and A.D. Weingarten’s Plots Unlimited comes in both versions, and there is now an upgraded version of the software called Storybase. (See Useful addresses and websites.)

• Mix and match all these approaches.