The Tarot Tent: Five tarot-informed workshops for writers

Unlock your story through tarot...

The Tarot Tent is a series of 5 pre-recorded workshop sessions designed to empower writers to use the tarot as a story-telling tool. Read on to learn more…

Recordings are available to full-access members of The Shuffle.

For as long as I have been a writer, I have used art and images to spark the stories I tell. At age ten, I entered - and won - a competition held by a local art museum. The Writers’ Eyes prompted young writers to write a piece inspired by a work of art on display. I chose an obscure Parisian scene, and the rest is my personal history.

It was my first paid writing gig, and I’ve been doing the job in some way, shape, or form ever since.

In my teen and college years, photographs, dreams, album covers and fan-art ignited my imagination. I wrote incessantly: poems, plays, short stories, fan fiction, journal entries spilled over from a tap of visual inspiration. I went on to study the symbolic power of images and objects on stage for my Masters’ degree in London, and even once I started my first “desk-job” as a listicle-machine, I was most compelled by stories with visual leads: striking travel photos, beautiful designs, even relatable memes became the scaffolding off which my writing hung.

All of this to say that while the tarot came into my life by surprise, it managed to fit into my creative practice seamlessly: here was another opportunity to transform images into words. To sweeten the deal, the tarot offered the added benefit of having its own story logic built in.

Writing with the tarot as my go-to tool changed my life. I’m a published author, full-time freelance writer, and I’ve helped hundreds of writers get inspired by the tarot in their own work. My clients have produced plays at fringe festivals, published novels, memoirs and poetry collections, won agent representation, and of course, started Substacks.

In October 2023, I hosted a workshop series introducing methods for using the tarot in your writing practice - aimed at writers participating in National Novel Writing Month. We explored using tarot to craft deep and compelling characters, plot out the action of your story, and overcome writers block. Then we put our learnings in to practice by writing tarot-inspired ghost stories.

More recently, I unlocked those recordings from my archives and brought them to Substack, alongside some exclusive new introductions and bonus material!) for THE TAROT TENT, a five-part virtual summer camp for writers who want to awaken some magic in your practice.

Here’s what to expect:

Note: all material is pre-recorded; there is no live component to THE TAROT TENT.

🧙‍♀️Develop Compelling Characters with the Tarot

I'll walk you through how to use the tarot as a character development tool. Through discussion and writing exercises we'll cover:

• How the tarot can help you create compelling characters

• How to read a tarot spread for your characters

• How to have a conversation with your characters via the tarot

• How to use tarot cards to explore the relationships between your characters

🧚‍♀️ Outline Your Novel with the Tarot

I'll walk you through how to use the tarot to plot out your novel or memoir. Through discussion and writing exercises we'll cover:

• Three methods of plotting your whole novel using the tarot

• How to outline specific scenes and/or arcs with the tarot

• How to solve plot holes with the tarot

🪄 Dissolve Writers' Block with the Tarot

I'll walk you through how the tarot can help you confront and dissolve your writers' block. Through discussion and writing exercises we'll cover:

• How to generate ideas with the tarot when you're stuck

• How to use tarot to reconnect with the core elements of your story when you've lost the plot

• How to use the tarot as a creative self-care tool while navigating block

👻 78 Degrees of Spooky: Write a Ghost Story with the Tarot

In this generative campfire-tale-themed workshop, you're going to write a ghost story using the tarot.

Following a brief discussion about how the tarot can help us generate stories, I'll give you a series of tarot-informed prompts and invite you to outline your story. You'll then get some focused writing time to develop your idea into a story.

So, pack your bags, your s’mores gear, and of course, your tarot decks. We’re going camping, writers, and we’re coming back inspired.

And hey… while you’re at it, why not invite a friend to come along with you?