May 2023: Tarot Cards for Writing Inspiration

After April showers (and snowstorms and flooding and tornados), Spring has finally arrived! Unfortunately for you, you can’t take the time out to stop and smell the flowers just yet…not with that horde of ravenous zombies hot on your trail. RUN!

Deck: The Zombie Tarot by Stacey Graham (illustrated by Paul Kepple): https://www.quirkbooks.com/book/the-zombie-tarot/

Read on to get some ideas on how your characters will navigate the zombie apocalypse…

Character: Page of Hazards. You know how you have those halcyon days where you think you’ve got that adulting thing down…finally? Then you encounter that young whippersnapper that was pretty much born with those enviable life skills…you know, they made all the right investments, or pursued just the right career path, and are now a twenty-year-old multimillionaire as a result. They seem to have a magical gift for not only being prescient, but somehow manage to bring all the disparate factors together to achieve that maximum success…all in the time it took you to find your car keys that morning. Go ahead and let your other characters feel that envy, as long as they stick close to the Page when society begins to fall apart.

 

Setting: Four of Hazards. If your characters managed to prove their usefulness to the Page of Hazards, they’ll be well set up during this period of societal transition, as the Page of Hazards has already cornered the market on post-apocalyptic housing for their valued workers. Just have your supporting characters remember who’s really in charge…and don’t let them be fooled by the main character’s youthful appearance, which doesn’t indicate a lack of experience and knowledge. (Or power and influence.)

 

Theme/Development: Ten of Hazards. Even with the protection of the character symbolized by the Page of Hazards, the post-apocalyptic world is not as cut and dried as an efficiently dispatched zombie horde. It would be prudent for your supporting characters to keep their guard up once they enter into the compound, and be wary of not only the other residents, but their family members as well. Borrow a “page” from the Page of Hazards’ book and view all resources as finite in this new world, and make sure they get their first pick.

 

Conflict/Climax: Justice. Likewise, the concept of justice may not be as clear cut in the aftermath of the apocalypse. What difficult decisions will both the main character and the supporting characters have to make during this time? Will there be sacrifices that have to be made? Or will things quickly revert to how they were before the apocalypse…for better or for worse? Will the Page of Hazards be as successful as they were in a more structured society? Who will eventually rise to power in this new world? (Just make sure the companion pets survive!)