DRAW A CARD OF EACH SUIT

The Nine of Clubs ventured and strode

So merrily down journey's road

The Ace of Spades wins out the race

Rabbit's haste with athlete's grace

The Ten of Diamonds in repose

Their sand clock turns as time by goes

The Ten of Hearts is duty bound

To return again what they have found

Jacob was venturing home from a distant county fair. He was beaming with pride, having won the foot race held each year during the fair. He reminisced about being lifted on to the shoulders of the cheering crowd as he felt the medal now hanging around his neck. He couldn’t wait to get home to show his family, but home was still a day’s travel away. He was walking on the road that passed by the high woods. 

Lost in his triumph, he wasn’t paying attention to the road he walked on. As he strode on the beaten dirt road he kicked something. His initial reaction was to assume he had kicked a stone. But the thing he kicked did not sound like a stone when it bounced on the dirt ahead of him. He looked down to see it was quite shiny. He stopped and inspected the object. It was round and shiny. He picked it up and found it was a pocket watch. A lovely watch that pleasantly ticked away. It was well worn, but in good condition.

Jacob turned it over in his hand. He first thought what luck he had, finding a beautiful pocket watch to add to the things he had won on his journey to the fair. But his conscience dismissed the idea of keeping the watch. It clearly belonged to someone, someone who would certainly be distraught at losing it. He opened the watch to find an inscription on the inside of the cover.

We need a new character...

DRAW A SPADE

The Four of Spades do fabricate

Beaver's dam do crafters make

The inscription said: “Property of Benjamin Beaver, Crescent Pond, High Wood.” Jacob felt it was his duty to return this watch to its owner. But Jacob was told never to go into the high wood alone and to never linger. His grandmother had often told him stories of animals within the woods being magical. He also wanted to be home as soon as possible to show his family his medal. Maybe he could just leave the watch where he found it. For certain this Benjamin fellow will realize it is missing and retrace his steps to the point in the road, finding it where Jacob left it. But what if someone else finds it and decides to keep it for themselves, Jacob would feel at fault. 

Jacob pondered what he should do while looking closely at the watch. The wind blew around him, breaking his concentration, and pushing a cloud of loose leaves into the woods where there was an opening in the trees. Jacob noticed a not-so-beaten path leading into the woods where the gust had blown the leaves. He then made the decision to return Benjamin Beaver’s watch to him. He left the road and began into the high wood, following the almost invisible path...

THE TALES OF THE DRAW METHOD

To start a story, draw a card from each suit. These four cards form the initial inspiration for the story. They provide ideas for setting, characters, items, story arcs and more. 

Start telling the tale. Build on the initial influx of ideas to build a narrative. Set the scene, identify the characters, give them a task, and see where it goes.

Draw further cards. As you reach junctures in a story, feel free to draw subsequent cards from the deck and use them as inspiration for new twists and turns in the story.

Go on and on. Don’t feel obligated to bring a story to a definite end. Leaving a tale open to continuation gives the storyteller the option to pick it right back up where they left off, bedtime after bedtime.

THE PURPOSE

The purpose of this method is to provide a random series of story elements to inject into your storytelling using an ordinary deck of playing cards. The fifty two suited cards plus the two jokers each represent unique story elements that, when drawn, can inspire the storyteller to progress the narrative in a new and unexpected direction. Granted, storytelling aids already exist. Decks of cards containing story ideas can be bought and there are even dice that serve a similar purpose. This method is meant to stand out because it requires no special materials and nothing needs to be purchased. It is not uncommon for people to have a deck of playing cards in their homes. With that deck already in hand, a storyteller has a tool they can use to bring new and exciting twists to the stories they tell to their kids and loved ones. 

This storytelling method is targeted at the sort of stories told to sleepy children at bedtime. This method will not help you build out your narrative in three acts or carry you through the cycle of the hero’s journey. This is not to say children can’t appreciate fully fleshed out stories, but children are just as entertained by adventures following new and exciting ideas as they are by stories where future betrayals are properly foreshadowed. It is still up to the storyteller to structure their stories. This method can inject bright new ideas into an adventure, taking places it might not have gone without outside inspiration.

THE STORY ELEMENTS

A number of story elements were identified as beneficial to generating a complete narrative. These include setting, mood, characters, animals, objects, abstract themes, story arcs, and narrative actions. Individual cards in the deck are designated to represent various elements that when drawn, give the storyteller creative inspiration to add a new aspect to their story in order to drive it forward. 

THE CARD ROLES

The natural grouping for these different types of story elements is the card suit. Each suit represents two sets of related story element aspects. The Clubs represent both story locations and moods. The Spades (and Jokers) represent both character roles and animals. The Diamonds represent both items and abstract ideas. The Hearts represent both story arcs and narrative actions.

Each individual card represents two unique, but related elements. By representing two elements, it gives the storyteller more flexibility to creatively apply one or both to their current narrative. For example, the Four of Clubs represents the story setting of The Forest and the story mood of Darkness. The image of the deep, dark woods is commonly known and having a single card represent both ideas allows the storyteller a choice in how the card is applied. They may choose to use the idea of a forest in the story. Or they may choose to incorporate a narrative element related to darkness. They could even apply both to the story. Furthermore, the storyteller should not feel restricted to the explicit elements of the card. A forest doesn’t have to be a specific tree-filled area. It could be an underwater kelp field. It could be a large monument made of an endless array of stone columns. It could be a mysterious scrapyard. Anything that evokes the imagery and emotion of a forest. 

So how does a storyteller know what each card represents? This was a difficult question to answer. Minus the artwork on the face cards and jokers, there isn’t much to a playing card that evokes a story element. To address this, a series of mnemonic devices were devised for the cards. A tiny poem for each card, to remember what it represents. These little poems are presented on THE CARDS page. Feel free to use that page as a reference.

THE DRAW METHOD

To start a story a storyteller needs a setting, characters, items, and story arcs. Drawing a card from each suit can provide inspiration for all those things. The storyteller doesn’t have to incorporate every story element represented by the cards drawn, but they should challenge themselves to bring in new ideas. As a story progresses, there are opportunities to send the story in new directions or fill in narrative holes. Drawing additional cards during the story can help inspire the growth of the story. 

CHILD PARTICIPATION

When telling stories to children, engagement is key. An easy path to engagement when telling a story is to make the story their own. This can be as simple as making them a character in the tale. This can be allowing them to name characters and places. This can be having them make choices for the characters when they reach a fork in the road. With the draw method, having the child draw the cards is a fun way to incorporate them into the storytelling.

Involving the child in the storytelling can progress as they become comfortable with participating. Invite the child to decide on the description of various story aspects. For example, if a sword card is drawn, ask the child to describe the sword. You can assist the child with questions that provide clear contrasting choices. For example, is the sword long or short? Is it gold and covered in jewels or old and rusty? This makes the story aspect theirs.

Participation should not be required. The temperament of a child is mercurial. Day to day and minute to minute the desire of a child to participate may ebb and flow. The storyteller should be prepared to take full control of the narrative if the child’s desire to participate flags. Likewise, the storyteller should happily hand over the reins to a child fully motivated to drive the story forward. Early in a story, it is likely that a child’s uncertainty about the narrative and lack of confidence in themselves may cause them to be apprehensive about participating. Use the simpler engagement methods like drawing cards and naming aspects to help the child become comfortable with helping tell the story. As they become more comfortable and engaged, relinquish more control to the child.

One of the ultimate goals of this storytelling technique is to have your child tell their own stories, relying on the deck as needed to move the story forward and add interesting aspects.