KMilliron
How to Write Media-Based Spreads
It was suggested I write a guide on my spread-writing process, and shortly after I had several PMs along those same lines. Most of my spreads are based on lyrics, but I've done book and movies spreads as well, so I'm going to attempt to make this guide applicable to as many media forms as possible
It was suggested I write a guide on my spread-writing process, and shortly after I had several PMs along those same lines. Most of my spreads are based on lyrics, but I've done book and movies spreads as well, so I'm going to attempt to make this guide applicable to as many media forms as possible
Overview
spcrThis world has been around a long time. How long? Longer than you. While original ideas are hard to come by, don't be discouraged. One thing I try hard to do is find similarities between everything I do in life. The similarity between learning tarot, and writing your own spreads is an idea that can be applied almost anywhere. Learning tarot, most people read books, then after familiarizing themselves with ideas presented by others, they start to let their own ideas and intuition take over. With this spread technique, we will be analyzing an idea provided by somebody else, and then applying our own ideas. One of the best ways I learn is by learning theory, and then practicing it.
Steps
spcr1. Choose your inspiration
spcr2. Analyze the meaning of the inspiration and the goal of your spread
spcr3. Assign positions
spcr4. Optimizing your spread
1. Choose your inspiration
spcrIf you don't want to write media-based spreads, this step could still apply. Your "inspiration" would simply be the situation you need a spread for, but for the purpose of this guide I will be working with media.
spcrIt's no secret that I'm a music lover, and lyrics spreads are the ones I get the most queries on, so let's work with that. Think on your situation right now, and decide on one thing that is most pressing right now, and choose some medium that relates to this. If you can't think of anything specific, just choose a song, picture, book, movie, et c that you really like and really speaks to you. I'm opening iTunes and scrolling through some music until I find something that speaks to me. Should you need to, scroll through your DVDs or your library.
spcrI have chosen "Hearts All Gone" by Blink-182. This is a song about illusions and hidden motives, so this song can be widely applicable.
2. Analyze the meaning of the inspiration and the goal of your spread
spcrHearts All Gone is a fairly new song, so it would be hard for me to find any already existing interpretations of the song, but I don't mind making my own. If you have any trouble interpreting your source, here are some links to help you out.
Song Meanings- A site based on lyrics, with interpretations submitted by users at the bottom of the page.
Sparknotes- For book analyzation. If you want to base your spread on characters, you can find character lists. There are also important quotes, and summaries for quote-based or story-based spreads.
Internet Movie Database- Basic movie information. You can try Wikipedia but some of the summaries get rather drawn out.
spcrSo now I've got a basic analysis of "Hearts All Gone." It's about what looked like a promising relationship only to find out it was based on lies and the other person had different motives for what they've done. Knowing this, I want to create a smaller simple spread regarding intentions.
3. Assigning positions
spcrGo through your analysis, and find the key points. In my case it's a relationship (2 people) with deception and a coping mechanism. I can easily make this a four card spread.
Card 1- The Querant
Card 2- The Offender
Card 3- Deception
Card 4- Coping
spcrSimple enough, but someone just looking at that without reading the rest of this would have no clue what I'm talking about, so let's add some position descriptions. If possible, try adding some quotes so that others can better see how your positions relate to the song. The same positions will be used below, but with added details.
Card 1- The Querant
"Take off the gloves. We fell in love by the side of the road"
----Questioner and their position in the relationship
Card 2- The Offender
"Your smoking tongue is the end of us all"
----The other half of this relationship, and how they really are. Not how the questioner viewed them before or after the betrayal, but how the cards unbiasedly see them.
Card 3- Deception
"But you only care about fame and fortune. Watching others tortured"
----What was the offending act?
Card 4- Coping
"Blackjack and architect, let's drink ourselves to death. The crimes of everyone passed down from father to son"
----How to BEST cope with this. This would be an advice card of sorts.
spcrMuch more information, just by adding a couple of lines. Now this, yes, could be the final product, but lets look at what else we could do.
4. Optimizing your spread
spcrI like to think the above product would work just fine as is, but there are still some things we can work with. I'm just going to post some questions that we could use to "proof-read" a spread.
spcr1. Is this spread useful?
spcr2. Is it specific enough that I could use without guessing what each position would represent in my current situation? Is it vague enough for others to apply to their situation?
spcr3. Would someone be able to use with spread without any other background information on {insert inspiration here}?
spcr4. Is this a spread I could see myself recommending to others?
Hopefully this would be enough information to get you started. Search the forum for examples. I believe GlassOwl has some media-based spreads you could check out, and for lyrics based spreads, MissJo and Kreative-Dragon both have some wonderful examples out here. Feel free to post questions, and I'll see what I can do to get to them. If this generates enough questions I may end up adding an FAQ to the bottom of this guide. Have at it ^-^
Communication isn't my strong suit so I was worried that this may not have been easy to follow.