Five of Wands
A fantasy drabble
Each summer, the palace hosts an extravagant tournament.
This year’s is the most renowned on offer. Even distant desert citizens have heard of it - the prize? Their heart’s desire...
This year brings five hopefuls. Purple longs to reclaim his farmstead; Yellow is better at running it.
Pink wants to find love. (Why not? Everyone else has.)
Orange lacks direction. A mentor would show her the way.
Green lost everything to a fire. He just wants to have fun.
In the end, however, it’s a dead heat.
Turns out, it almost always is. People rarely duel for what they truly need.
Thanks for reading…
…and a big welcome to explorers old and new 🔥
This story is, technically, last week’s offering. I’m only learning what each card actually is as I go, so I didn’t know - until last Saturday - that the Five of Wands is a card of conflict, pressure, and personality struggles.
So I drafted a tale of petty arguments, clashing sticks, and a stalemate cliffhanger. Then, the Elephant in the room happened…
I decided that we’ve had enough drama for now.
I rewrote this drabble. I added a key part of characterisation, instead: Want vs Need.
If you can get a hold on these when writing, you’ve got enough internal struggle to make a character arc.
Your protagonist, say, starts with following their Want. As the story unfolds, they should grow towards their Need: the lesson they have to learn.
For me, the most interesting part of this concept is that the Want isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are five examples above - but what do these characters Need?
Purple needs to accept defeat and move towards building something new for himself.
Yellow needs to learn humility and tact.
Orange needs to find her place in the world herself… or start thinking differently (directionless? No: the world is her oyster!).
Pink needs to learn patience, to enjoy the journey of life.
Green needs to stop running from his pain, and face it.
Next Time:
A story prompted by a random word
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