Creating a compelling narrative arc | Entering the dark half of the year
How I celebrated the Autumn Equinox
Happy Wednesday, friends! In this subscriber-exclusive missive, I’ll be sharing my musings on…
📚 Creating a compelling narrative arc
🔮 Entering the dark half of the year
🍂 Celebrating the Autumn Equinox
📷 Bonus: Meet my Business Barbie!
📚 Creating a compelling narrative arc
It doesn’t matter which genre your story falls under; a solid narrative arc is a must-have. It’s just as important as your character arcs. Creating a compelling story arc is the first step to writing a page-turning novel.
My advice: Go back to basics when creating the bones of your story.
To craft a compelling story arc, I like to go back to the basics: the five W’s and that H. This exercise annoyed me to no end back in middle school. But now, I find it surprisingly useful. When you know the who, what, when, where, why and how of your story, you’ve got a pretty good skeleton to build on.
I love to do this with a tarot deck. It gets me out of my head and opens intuitive channels, allowing me to think of ideas I might not have come up with on my own. If you have a tarot deck, I highly recommend trying it.
Here’s a quick rundown of how you can try it. And no, you don’t need to know the meanings of the cards.
Shuffle and pull a card for each (six cards in total). Start by looking at the cards. I mean really look at them. Don’t pick up the guidebook. Don’t start googling. Simply spend a few minutes taking in the imagery.
What do you see? What themes are you noticing? Do you see any correlations in the images? Jot down as much information as you can based on what you see. Write freely and without judgement, letting any and all ideas flow. You can always cut things later.
When you’ve thrown around as many ideas as possible, consider how all of it connects to start forming a plot. What story are you seeing in your cards? You don’t need to know absolute details, but things should be starting to come together. What does the overall theme and scope of your plot look like? By doing this, you’ll have a good foundation to begin working with.
🔮 Entering the dark half of the year
To me, the solstices and the equinoxes mark the beginning of the seasons. I LOVE the cold, dark months of the year. Always have. It wasn’t until I began studying my natal chart that I understood why. I thought it was simply because I was born in January, in the dead of winter. But I’ve learned it has more to do with the planets and their placements in my chart than the month I was born in.
Autumn, and winter especially, are the seasons I thrive in. I love being wrapped up in crocheted shawls and blankets, wearing wool sweaters and seeing snow and frosted windows. But it’s not just the cozy vibes I love… it’s deeper than that.
The phrase “dark half of the year” can have an ominous feeling to it for some people. We live in a world that has shunned darkness in many forms: skin color, nighttime and the unknown to name a few.
I’ve never been a fan of the “Love and Light” or “Good Vibes Only” mantras. To me, they suppress the darker aspects of life. Life consists of both light and shadow. The tarot represents this beautifully. Bad things happen. We experience uncomfortable feelings. Should we run away? Suppress it all with “Good Vibes Only”?
Or do we face it boldly, letting the experiences transform us into our Next Future Selves. We can’t have one without the other. Balance is part of the cosmic order.
“Next Future Self” is term I learned from a self-growth course I’m in called STAR. It’s all about connecting with your future self and letting that version of you guide you toward the future life you’ve been dreaming about. Some would say this sounds like manifestation. But I see it as transmogrification.
Transmogrification is the act of changing into a different form or appearance. This is straight up alchemy. And the dark half of the year is the perfect time for this kind of magick.
This is why I embrace the dark half of the year. I’m drawn to it actually. The veil between worlds begins to thin as we approach Samhain and All Saints Day.
It’s about going within and seeing what lives there. It’s a period of reflection and introspection and isn’t idle time. It’s very active (at least it is for me). And it can be scary, yes, but it’s something we all need to do. And get comfortable doing it on a regular basis. Because again, you can’t have light without the dark.
🍂 Celebrating the Autumn Equinox
Do you do anything to mark the changing of the seasons?
I wanted to share what I did to celebrate the Autumn Equinox — mostly to show you it doesn’t have to be super elaborate or time consuming.
I began the day with my morning ritual like I always do: a water offering to my ancestors and guides, making a pot of tea (for tea magick), lighting a candle, pulling a tarot and/or an oracle card, and doing a little journaling to clear my head.
Later in the day, I made some pumpkin bread. My kids love pumpkin bread more than banana bread, which I make regularly to avoid having to throw out spotty bananas.
Pumpkins are a symbol of the harvest. They are associated with abundance, prosperity and protection. I took my time, stirring my intentions into it when adding the flour and the spices. I posted a reel on my IG if you’d like to take a peek. The smell in the house while it was baking was amazing.
Business-wise, I do my quarterly planning ritual on the solstices and equinoxes. I used to be scared to sit down and do this and would procrastinate and do other things. But now I enjoy putting my CEO hat on and spending a few hours (or the entire day) working on my business instead of in it.
I light candles, pull tarot cards, journal about what’s happening in my life personally and professionally, then look at my numbers and set goals and intentions for the season. Doing this with the smell of pumpkin bread wafting through the house really set the mood.
And that’s it. That’s how I celebrated the Autumn Equinox. Simple, quiet, but potent. This is how I approach all my rituals.
We descended onto the pumpkin bread once it cooled. The wait was torture for my kids. They went into the kitchen every 15 minutes to see if the loaves were cool enough to put the icing on. It was amusing to watch. The bread was delicious. And yes, both loaves are gone, and they are asking me to make more.
📷 Bonus: Meet my Business Barbie!
A dear business friend of mine made me (and several others in our community) a Business Barbie that represents what I do and who I am authentically, both personally and professionally. I am completely smitten with her and haven’t shared her anywhere else. You guys get the first look.
Meet Storycraft Barbie! Isn’t she a hottie?! I love her.
Storycraft is the magick of stitching a good story together, and that’s exactly who I am and what I help aspiring authors do.
Until next time…
Yours in magick and mysticism,
Lakeisha xo