Deal a Story: A Brain Storming Card Game

Sue Viders
Robert D. Reed Publishers (2008)
No ISBN
Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (3/09)

Sue Viders has created a game that can help any writer suffering from writer’s block or who just wants to strengthen plot or characterization. “Deal a Story” is a card collection that allows a writer to build a story from the ground up using cards to present ideas. The idea is very simple, but the variety of the cards allows for, as the box says, “1,000,001 story ideas.”

The game is played/the storyline created simply by picking one card from each group: Hero, Heroine, Villain, Plot, Genre and Flaw (you actually pick three Flaw cards—so the hero, heroine, and villain will all have a flaw). You’ll have a story just with those few cards. There are sixteen cards in each category so you can always come up with different ideas each time you draw from the decks. The Hero, Heroine, and Villain cards each describe a different example of this character. For example, a heroine might be “the darling” with a description of this character-type, the villain might be “an assassin,” and so on. The plot cards also each focus on one type of plot such as the Underdog plot where the protagonist is at a disadvantage and must overcome the odds. The genre cards define a genre and then give examples; the card for comedy means you must consider your hero, heroine, and villain and plot in a comedy situation; examples are provided of comedies from books, movies and television. Finally, the Flaw cards provide several different takes on the individual flaw. The flaw might be obsession, and then obsession might be “winning at all costs, perfection, getting ahead, collecting objects, killing, or love” or it might inspire the writer to think of another type of obsession.

These card choices alone should be enough to create a sustainable plot, but Sue Viders knows writers can get writer’s block or just feel the need to spice up the plot, so she also provided a group of “Wild Cards” to use sparingly for such moments. Again, each wild card has several options. For example, the protagonist finds out that something happened to someone he or she loves, he has a threatening disease, he is special in some way (“a clone, a shape shifter, immortal”) or has been betrayed—each of these possibilities also has sub-possibilities under it. Such wild cards allow twists in the plot to help the writer make the story more exciting.

Any writer can benefit from using “Deal a Story” by Sue Viders. Even just pulling one card from the right category could help an author already well into his story but needing to spice it up; even sitting and reading through all the cards will inspire a desperate author. Writing classes and students first attempting creative writing will definitely benefit from these cards, but as a seasoned writer, I now also know where to go when my story needs help.

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