(Tarot Prompts for Writers)
Keep the image and meaning of Justice in mind as you develop a story. But go beyond the card — don’t stress about any aspects you “should” include. The card is just a tool to prompt ideas. You can take it anywhere. Write a righteous tale.
First line prompts
- I should have known I’d never escape her.
- The golden bowls gleamed in perfect balance for a moment before one slowly slipped downward, and my heart sank with it.
- The chair didn’t suit her at all — too large, too hard, too unforgiving.
Continue the scene for another 500 words, in any direction you wish to take it. Change to third or first person or switch genders as you see fit. Make this an opening to a longer work or a complete flash fiction.
Setting Prompt
Your story opens in a courtroom.
Ponder the meaning of Justice, but go beyond the card itself to imagine a place where judgments are handed down. This setting can look like the open-air court in my tarot card — tarot-lovers with another deck can use their image to inspire their setting — but it doesn’t have to resemble any card. Imagine whatever courtroom excites you.
Consider the time and place. Is it here and now? A small claims court or a global war-crimes tribunal? A makeshift court in a basement overseen by a gang leader? Maybe this is a court on a spaceship or another planet, or maybe it’s a courtroom scene in a high-school play. A kangaroo court with actual kangaroos presiding?
Think about the time. What time of day — dawn, noon, the witching hour? What time of year — is it spring, winter, a summer storm? What year — past, future, some otherworld outside of time?
Think about the place. What country? What planet? What culture? Outdoors or indoors? Is it crowded and cramped or airy and open? What can you see, feel, smell and hear here?
Someone stands before a figure of justice. Describe the world that has brought them together.
Planners can do a setting sketch — time and place, five senses, maybe a map, and notes on what might happen here.
Pantsers can write a paragraph or three, as Justice and the judged size each other up.
Character Prompt
Your protagonist makes decisions all day. She follows a wealth of wisdom, rules, and guidelines to make them. She has obligations to her society to make them well, for the good of all.
How did she land this position? How does she feel about it? Does she ever regret her decisions? Does she ever tire of the endless judgments or grow furious at the foolish actions that bring people to her court?
Think about Justice and the ways that others might see her, and create a conflicted character who’s about to make the most difficult decision of her life. This one is personal in some way. No matter what she decides, she’ll lose.
Consider the character’s exterior (species/gender/age/abilities) and interior (temperament/interests/beliefs/fears). Think about her history — what other paths did she turn away from? Does she have a family? Is she stuck in this job? Is she the only justice or is she one of many? Does she love her power? What does she think of those she judges? Does she long to wield her sword?
Now show that character to your reader.
Planners can write a character sketch and a diary entry about her latest case.
Pantsers can write a scene of the character thinking, speaking, and acting as she weighs the facts before her.
Happy writing!
Images on this page are by the following artists: Banner (and top box), left to right: Marseilles deck engraved by Nicolas Conver; Dragon Tarot illustrated by Roger and Linda Garland; Tarot Balbi by Domenico Balbi; Druid Craft deck illustrated by Will Worthington; Radiant Rider-Waite deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith; Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti (also shown in the box below).
Catherine Austen 