(Tarot Prompts for Writers)
Keep the image and meaning of The Fool 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. Be brave, like the Fool.
First line prompts
- I was off the path before I knew it.
- The road lay behind him in the darkness.
- The earth was soft and damp from the day’s rain.
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
Tarot-lovers with another preferred deck can use that to inspire their setting prompt — maybe a bright clifftop, or a grassy meadow — but I like the feel of this dark landscape…
Your story opens in the dark, in a rural environment, off-road. There are dangers here, and few comforts.
Remember the meaning of the Fool, but go beyond the card itself to imagine this world off the path.
Consider the time and place. Is it here and now? Or medieval days? A post-apocalyptic future? Is this Spring, Winter, or a summer heatwave? Is dawn about to break on an alien planet? Or is this the edge of an anthill in your back yard? A virtual world? An afterlife? There are no limits to your fictional setting — anywhere off the path will work. (And think about the setting on the path, too, the world left behind.)
An outsider wanders this way. Or perhaps it’s someone returning home from a long journey? Describe the world that awaits them.
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 a character enters this setting and stirs up the dirt.
Character Prompt
Your protagonist is a journeyer, traveling on their own. They’re an innocent whose eyes will soon be opened, a beginner about to realize how much they have to learn.
Think about the Fool and the ways that others see them, and create a character close to your heart — whom you can’t wait to put through an ordeal. This Fool’s gonna wise up soon.
Consider the character’s exterior (species/gender/age/abilities) and interior (temperament/interests/beliefs/fears). Think about their history — what brought them to this place? What are they hoping to find? What do they expect, and what do others expect of them?
Now show that character to your reader.
Planners can write a character sketch and a diary entry about hopes and dreams, what they’re heading toward and what they’re leaving behind.
Pantsers can write a scene of the character thinking, speaking, and acting as they move farther off the path.
Object Prompt
A grab and go bag.
This object can look like the Fool’s sack-on-a-stick — but it doesn’t have to! Imagine any grab-and-go bag. Let your vision loose.
What does it look like, feel like, smell like? What’s inside it?
Who prepared it? When? For whom? Who holds it now? Was it a gift? A discovery? A theft? Does it trigger memories or ideas? Emotions? Fear? Yearning?
Where are they taking it? Why is it important? Does it cause or solve a problem? Maybe it doesn’t contain what’s needed?
Write a scene where characters lose or find or fight over this grab-and-go bag.
POV Prompt
Tell the story of a journey from the point of view of someone left behind.
How do they discover the truth of what happened to the fools who went on the journey? Do they regret not going along? Or do they feel blessed to stay behind?
Write an opening paragraph where someone is looking back on the journey they didn’t take. Suggest outcomes by the emotion in your narrative voice.
Thematic Prompts
- A journey begins.
- A fool struts onto the stage.
- Someone swims into the deep end, unprepared.
Freewrite for five minutes on any of these themes. Wax poetic. Be brave.
Happy writing!
Images on this page are by the following artists:
Banner, left to right: Marseilles deck engraved by Nicolas Conver; Dragon Tarot illustrated by Roger and Linda Garland: Tarot Balbi by Domenico Balbi; Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti; Radiant Rider-Waite deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith; Druid Craft deck illustrated by Will Worthington.
Catherine Austen 