Fast Start for NaNoWriMo - Day 8 - Your Antagonist

[ladyseishou]

I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.
- Stephen King



Today we'll take a closer look at our antagonist by laying out virtual (or if you own a deck, real) Tarot cards to discover new insights into our antagonist...

We're going to get in touch with our subconscious and work with images rather than words today using Tarot cards. No special reading abilities or esoteric knowledge required, promise!

The idea here is to work with a set of questions about our character, drawing a card for each question and selecting something from the image on the card as our answer. Care to give it a try?

Here's my list of questions adapted from Using Tarot Spreads to Create Characters by Heather Grove:

1. What does my character really want?
   
2. What does my character look like?
   
3. What is the key to my character's strength?
   
4. What is the key to my character's weakness?
   
5. What is my character's relationship with his family?
   
6. What is my character's relationship with his friends or co-workers?
   
7. Who are my character's enemies?
   
8. What happened in my character's past that shaped his or her current personality?
   
9. What is my character's hope/outcome for the future?
   

Now for the fun part: if you own a deck of Tarot cards feel free to use your own. Shuffle the deck and deal out nine cards in three rows of three cards.

If you don't have a Tarot deck, try this site and select a deck that appeals to you or reminds you of your story or genre. Also, it's best to pick a deck with images that appeal to you - if unsure, go with The 1910 Deck by Pamela Colman Smith (third row, second from the right).

After choosing your deck, you'll be taken to a separate page where you'll be prompted to provide a question (or the name of your character) - I went with: tell me about my antagonist. Then click on the "View Reading" button.

These are the cards I got (reading from top to bottom and left to right):

• What does my character really want? Card: The Magician. So it seems that my antagonist also wants to be the best wizard ever.
  
  
• What does my character look like? Card: The Lovers. So I'm going to assume that my antagonist is quite the lady's man and is very good looking. His height could be something that he teases my protagonist about.
  
  
• What is the key to my character's strength? Card: Page of Swords - so my man is good with a sword... hmmm, I'm going to assume instead that he's proficient in the use of magical tools as I feel that walking around modern day Chicago with a sword would be awkward (but not impossible). I'm going to guess then that my protagonist is better with spells.
  
  
• What is the key to my character's weakness? Card: The Hierophant. So we might have an adversarial relationship with his teacher (or his master is not a very good teacher).
  
  
• What is my character's relationship with his family? Card: The Ten of Cups. This card shows a happy family standing under a rainbow. So I'll go with the idea that my antagonist comes from a wealthy family that has freely given him opportunity and abundant material goods. Perhaps too much was given to him...
  
  
• What is my character's relationship with his friends or co-workers? Card: The Six of Coins reversed (upside down). The card in this position looks as if money is falling out of the man's pockets so it may be that my character owes his friends money, a lot of money...
  
  
• Who are my character's enemies? Card: The Ace of Swords reversed. I think that I'll read this as a character that is the opposite of a Master of Magical Tools or in this story, the Master of Magical Spells - my protagonist?
  
  
• What happened in my character's past that shaped his or her current personality? Card: the Two of Swords, a blindfolded woman sitting with two swords drawn and raised as if to warn the viewer away: my character's mother who despite outward appearances, rejects her son which in turn causes him to seek situations that will win her approval - he must be the best at everything he does.
  
  
• What is my character's hope/outcome for the future? Card: Temperance. After a series of confrontations with my protagonist, my antagonist in the end learns temperance or modesty and the will to control his need for excess.
  
  Wow, the story almost writes itself. The key here is to work with the images, selecting all or part of what is pictured on the card as a way to answer the question, letting your subconscious do the work for you.
  
  Questions? Cool results? Tell us about it!
  
  
  Tomorrow we'll roll some dice and see what Lady Luck has in store for our story's "helper" characters. Until then, keep writing!

Comments

[way2dawn]

The antagonist for my story is Kadaj. For my deck, I used the Rider-Waite.

What does my character really want?
Card: Seven of Swords. Shinji and the others interfering with his plans to use the ocean was something unexpected, and it frustrates him greatly.

What does my character look like?
Card: Temperance (reversed). He is very pale in appearance, and his species has genetic similarities to the Angels. His mental state is unstable, and he cannot control his emotions, often lashing out childishly when frustrated or unhappy.

What is the key to my character's strength?
Card: Six of Wands. His confidence in his power and his reassurance that he and his brothers are carrying out Mother's wishes is what keeps him focused on his goal.

What is the key to my character's weakness?
Card: Six of Pentacles. He is spreading himself and his allies too thin, merely going to a different world when his plans are foiled instead of fighting directly. He also fails to notice the darkness slowly and steadily corrupting him.

What is my character's relationship with his family?
Card: Ten of Wands. He devotes himself entirely to his Mother's resurrection, but does not understand that she is merely using him and may not even be capable of caring about him as an individual in her current state.

What is my character's relationship with his friends or co-workers?
Card: The Magician. As the leader, he inspires his brothers and allies to follow his goal.

Who are my character's enemies?
Card: Knight of Wands. Shinji and the others travel to different worlds, fighting him. Some of them are more enthusiastic about this than others, which can sometimes cause misunderstandings for them and opportunities for Kadaj.

What happened in my character's past that shaped his or her current personality?
Card: Three of Swords. Born of Mother before her transformation, imprisonment, and destruction, he feels abandoned by her. His species is viewed by others as abhorrent, viral, and overly dark, and he tries desperately to revive her in order to change this all.

What is my character's hope/outcome for the future?
Card: The World. Once he is able to use the ocean to revive his Mother, he and his brothers will travel with her, spreading her message and their species across all worlds.

[ladyseishou]

Very nice! I like your interpretations!

[yabamena]

I honestly had to block that image in order to be able to read this post. D:

[ladyseishou]

My apologies! It is a rather evil looking clown. I'm glad that you were able to block it out.

On a different note, I like your icon!

[yabamena]

It's all right! Adblock Plus is a godsend. XD

Thanks! I love your icon. I've always been a sucker for Asian art.

[windscreen_viper]

Based on my antagonist, Nevora:

What does my character really want?
Card: two of pentacles. Balance and harmony? So she believes she's acting for the best.

What does my character look like?
Card: The Hanged Man. I was reminded of Odin hanging from a tree to gain knowledge. I'd intended Nevora to be a religious zealot. Maybe she bears some sort of physical symbol of her faith? A ritual tattoo or scar of some sort is quite an interesting possibility. Sacrifice, like Odin hanging, or Jesus being crucified, is such a recurring feature in religion. It could be interesting for my antagonist, Nevora, to belong to an order that all bear hanging scars or something similar.

What is the key to my character's strength?
Card: Seven of pentacles. I couldn't get anything from the image really, so from the description: "This card advises you to step back and evaluate the situation or task before choosing a pathway. It may be a question of biding your time and waiting for an opportunity to present itself." So, patience? Caution?

What is the key to my character's weakness?
Card: Temperance. There seems to be a repeating theme of balance in these cards. So maybe I could introduce two conflicting interests for my antagonist.

What is my character's relationship with his family?
Card: five of swords. Conflict? So maybe a family member could be the source of the inner conflict I was looking for.

What is my character's relationship with his friends or co-workers?
Five of cups. It's a sad, gloomy image and the description mentions loss and disappointment. Maybe the family member used to belong to the same religious order as Nevora, but has now left, or leaves during the novel?

Who are my character's enemies?
Card: judgement. People who disapprove of her actions?

What happened in my character's past that shaped his or her current personality?
IX The Hermit. Her religious upbringing?

What is my character's hope/outcome for the future?
Page of wands reversed. Something magical or spiritual. To resurrect her god?

[ladyseishou]

Your interpretations raise a lot of interesting questions. I hope that the answers might help you develop deeper insights into your character. I like your observation about the Hanging Man and Odin - I have never made that connection before - very cool!