Writing by the Numbers with the Minor Arcana: Juggling the Deuces

There's an impossible or unsustainable balance. It's holding for now, but it's precarious and fragile. A character can try to sustain it but it will drain them and they'll end up going nowhere.

Choice. Balance. Can two opposites be true? Duality. Polarity.

It's time for the Terrible Twos. Actually they aren't terrible at all but they do ask us to make some choices. If you're horrible at making a choice raise your hand. Me! It's me! Every time my husband asks me what I want for dinner or where I want to go for dinner, I cringe.

Two of Cups - a union of opposites. Two people from two different lives make a choice to meet and love. Romance readers swoon!
This Might Hurt Tarot Deck by Isabella Rotman

Two of Wands - do I follow my passion which will force me to leave my comfort zone or do I stay in my comfort zone and do my best to survive the sameness.
Tarot of Mystical Moments by Catrin Welz-Stein

Two of Swords - conflicting ideas, a mental battle that keeps us stuck.
Dark Wood Tarot by Sasha Graham with art by Abigail Larson

Two of Pentacles - so many ways to proceed, but I'm going to stay here and try to juggle these two paths while the ship rocks me back an forth. Where's the gain in this precarious balance.
The Ultimate RPG Tarot Deck by Jef Aldrich and Jon Taylor
Yes, the Wheel of Fortune is a D20.

The Twos of the Minor Arcana represent choice, an effort to maintain balance between two choices, or an improbable union of opposites.

I had the hardest time choosing the decks for this. Then I thought why don’t I just use one deck. But I love the art in all the decks so I went back and forth and back and forth until I decided I needed two pictures. (Appropriate.) I loved every card in the This Might Hurt Tarot Deck so you get two pictures for the Twos! Hopefully this won’t be a trend for all of the Minor Arcana!

Character Work

Our characters are always making choices. And the choices they make have consequences. Here's the thing, they may spend just as much time resisting the choice as they do taking action after the choice is made. They have to choose to enter the story.

The scene in The Day of the Jackal when the character, Nuria (Úrsula Corberó), forces The Jackal (Eddie Redmayne) to repeat 'I kill people for money' over and over again is a brilliant Two of Cups moment. They love each other and they are at opposites here. How will they move forward? Will he kill her? Will she leave him?

I'm going out on a limb here: I believe every scene needs to offer or force our characters to make a difficult choice. Hello, my romance readers. Do we let go and love or do we run? Every choice needs to have consequences and those consequences need to raise the stakes like we're climbing a very wobbly staircase. If I take the next step, will I fall? Is it too late to go back?

Here's another example that needs a bit of an intro. I hated Gone Girl because I didn't want to spend any more time with either of the main characters. They deserved each other. End of story. If you loved it, no shade. There's a book for everyone, right. That's the wonderful thing about books.

Anyway, the point is every choice Nick Dunne made was absolutely worse than the last choice he made. He dug his grave deeper and deeper and deeper one choice at a time. Ugh! It was unbearable! Gillian Flynn is unquestionably a master of the unreliable narrator trope. Master! It's not her fault unreliable narrators trigger me.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is another example. Every choice Rachel makes drives her forward to her next horrible choice which is worse than the previous horrible choice and the horrible choice before that and so it goes until all the horrible choices land her in a pile of danger.

Ponderations for characters:

• What choices does my character avoid?

• Why are they avoiding that choice?
  
  What choice will force my character to enter the story?

• What is the worst choice my character can make that will land them in a big pile of poo, and an even bigger pile of poo?

• What opposite is my character attracted to?

Writing and The Writer

I have two stories that have been taking up space in my brain for a long long time. If I pick one, will I lose the other one? I love them both. I can't decide. (Two of Wands)

What writing software is the best writing software for me? Obsessing over this question is my favorite form of procrastination. (Two of Pentacles)

I have so many conflicting story ideas, I don't know how to begin. I'm gonna go play video games. (Two of Swords)

Is there such a thing as a gothic cozy mystery? How about a cozy dark fantasy? (Two of Cups)

• What choices keep you stalled or stuck?

• What opposites are you equally attracted to? How could you incorporate both and make them play nice? Or make them play naughty? Naughty's good too.

I could go on and on, but I choose to stop here. Please share your thoughts on how you want to play with the deuces. I would love to know how these ideas show up in your story.