I spent most of yesterday and today being lazy; writing and reading rather than tidying up my room. Last night I started on an idea I had for a short story/novella. It's going to be a parallel to Red String, but it's written from the point of view of Sue's cousin, Heung-Ling. It's basically her own story of finding love.
To help with developing the characters and story, I brought out my old tarot card deck and used it in conjunction Tarot for Writers by to help develop aspects of my characters. Unfortunately my deck lacks much of the imagery that much of the Rider-Waite based decks have and I don't feel a connection with it either, so I'll have to find another one. I have my petite Lenormand deck, but that follows a different format. Perhaps I can design my own Tarot deck one day.
Anyway, for Heung-Ling I drew the Page of Cups; which tells me that she is a dreamer, and an artist suited to literary pursuits. She is kind, sympathetic, romantic, gentle and imaginative; and sometimes unlucky in love. When I looked up the meaning for this card, I thought it represented myself in a way, as I am a writer and have so far been unlucky in love in that I have not been able to find it. I think that this similarity will make it easy for me to write from Heung-Ling's point of view.
For Heung-Ling's love interest, a Chinese dragon I'm calling Bing-Hui, I had to draw several cards as some aspects of each card didn't seem to fit with the image I have of him in my mind. First, was the Six of Cups, from which I extracted that he tends to live in the past. Next was the Ace of Cups; he sometimes forgets how to feel. And finally the Three of Wands; he is wealthy and powerful, and that he someone that is difficult to analyse, whether it is his thoughts or emotions. The card also suggests that he owns a trading; and is associated with air, fire and water; which, along with its' association with wealth and power, I thought was fitting because Chinese dragons are heavily affiliated with water and the sky, and in some cases can breathe fire like their Western cousins. It's going to be a challenge writing about him, but it is something that I am looking forward to.
I've started to use the Snowflake Method of outlining the story. So far I've got the bare bones of the story, and I worked out most of my main character's personalities, thanks to the Tarot.
Anyway, onto other things. I also sent a mini-bio I'd been working upon J's direction at the last meeting I attended. She replied back today saying that it was well written but could do with a bit of polish. She also said that she wanted to use mine as an example for the group of how to write one. Both things were nice to hear.
I went to bed pretty late, and got up at about 11 o'clock. I really didn't want to get out of my nice warm bed.
Dad took the day off from work and spent most of the day at his physiotherapist's, being "beaten up". After lunch, we cracked open the box of Godiva chocolates. The one I had was delicious, I think it was a hazelnut praline truffle, though I can't be entirely sure. It was rich, but at the same time it was light. If I had been given that box a few years ago, I would have devoured the contents within a day or two.
That's really all I have to say for now. Nothing else of note.
