The Two Card Deal

The simplest deal to perform is the Two Card Deal. Simply draw one card from the concrete deck and one from the abstract deck.

Consider the cards, the images on the cards, and spring off from that footing. In many cases, the abstract card will add a quality to the nature of the concrete card. In others, they will seem completely unrelated.

For my Two Card Deal Tales, I have been taking that combination as setting the tone and subject of the tale. But in practice it is more of a hint than a hard and fast rule.

For example, with a draw of Raven and Fearlessness, the haiku about how fearless all Corvids act emerged naturally. Thinking more broadly about Ravens naturally led to the references to the mythic Trickster Trope, the pun on “crow” was almost inevitable, and the dark image of the collective noun “murder” always fits nicely with the bird’s dark plumage.

As you work with these cards yourself, things to think about include the obvious: each word, each image. But don’t stop there. Think about the available meanings of each word. Consider homonyms and synonyms. Consider the contexts where the two words each fit, and imagine ways to bridge those contexts to relate the words.

In my work on the two card deal tales, I’ve found that added an external constraint can break the logjam. Using the constraint of a rigid poetic form is one example. Haiku (or their longer relatives Tonka) are a good example. Since Haiku traditionally express the relationship between two ideas, they are a remarkably good fit for the two card deal exercise.

Whatever approach you take, it is important to remember that the goal is to unlock your creative side. There are no rules, really, and no wrong answers. So cut the deck, take a card, and create!