{"id":8109,"date":"2013-02-26T03:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=8109"},"modified":"2013-02-28T11:29:48","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T19:29:48","slug":"use-homemade-card-games-to-inspire-your-writing-by-wyatt-bessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/26\/use-homemade-card-games-to-inspire-your-writing-by-wyatt-bessing\/","title":{"rendered":"Use Homemade Card Games to Inspire Your Writing by Wyatt Bessing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Viola<\/a><\/b>Welcome back to another one of Writer\u2019s Fun Zone\u2019s monthly columnists: Wyatt Bessing. A writing coach and teacher, author, Wyatt Bessing shares his fun take on games, play, and how they help our writing. Enjoy this month\u2019s post on using cards to inspire your writing. Have you used cards to inspire your writing? Please comment below on your experience.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Get Inspired, Get Writing!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Feeling overwhelmed and uninspired recently, I created this game to help myself break through writer\u2019s block with a little imaginative chaos. \u00a0In this card game using characters, situations, and settings from your writing, you draw and read the cards as you would a Tarot reading. <\/b>Or you can play any number of card games, all the while developing new writing ideas!<\/p>\n

To create the game, all you need is 104 index cards, or you can go all out and visit a site such as artscow.com<\/a>, which will provide a template and ship to you professional-looking, customized playing cards that you design.<\/p>\n

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  1. Split your 104 cards into two equal piles.<\/li>\n
  2. Brainstorm 52 characters from your own stories, works-in-progress, or favorite published fiction. (Just be sure to rename any published characters before using them in your own writing, and make their new story your own.)<\/li>\n
  3. Make a list of these characters\u2019 names, then rank them two through ace, and assign them the four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs). I made mine fantastic; earthy creatures into diamonds, my tough primitive types into clubs; romantics into hearts; and my sophisticated heroes into spades. Use any kind of system that makes sense to you.<\/li>\n
  4. On each index card, beneath the suit and rank you\u2019ve assigned, draw a picture of each character. A quick sketch is fine, or even a simple symbol or word, just something to remind you of this character. Beneath the picture, write what that character most wants in life, and what they most treasure.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/b> \"b19nature_landscapes245\"Now, here\u2019s the fun part.<\/b><\/p>\n

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    1. Using your other deck of 52 cards, you\u2019re going to create the obstacles these characters face. \u00a0These come in the form of setting and plot. Recall some of your favorite plot twists from famous literature, or use conflict from your own writing:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n