“Writing is not life. But it can lead you to life.”
Bevan Atkinson, author of the charming Tarot Mysteries series, uses that quote from Stephen King one of her greatest inspirations as an author.
Atkinson’s most recent, The Hierophant Card (Electra Enterprises of San Francisco), checks off all the boxes for the definition of a tight, cozy mystery — and a few more. It has a fast-paced plot, an intriguing Tarot card-reading protagonist/narrator, and some lovely use of language reminding us that style counts as much as form when considering the pleasures of the written word. (Read our full review here.)
The author recently provided further insight into her writing life and how Tarot cards played such a unique role.
Q: Why the fascination with Tarot card reading?
A: When I was 20 years old and new to San Francisco, my then-boyfriend invited me to go with him to the Mystic Eye Occult Supply Store, a San Francisco landmark at the time, so he could have a tarot card reading. When he emerged from the curtained room, he told me he wanted to buy me a reading. I steeled my nerves and sat down across from Mala, who immediately said, “You’re going to read tarot cards.” I couldn’t imagine that happening, but I remember listening to the rest of the reading with interest. I don’t remember all these years later anything else that she said.
After the reading, I went back to my apartment and my roommate had a tarot deck and a book on how to read them. And that was that. I started studying tarot in a major way. The cards, and what I learned and continue to learn from them, help me navigate the world literally every day of my life.
Q: There are mysteries and then there are cozy mysteries. Why do you choose this genre to write in? Have you ever delved into — or thought about — writing in other genres?
A: I don’t personally like reading about buckets of blood and torture and cruelty and stolen nukes and child abuse. I admit I didn’t realize my stories fell into the “cozy” sub-genre until the marketing whizzes told me. I’m just happy to be writing them. As for other genres or “literary” fiction, I have sixteen more books to write in this series before I finish the “Major Arcana” of the tarot deck. So the Great American Novel will have to wait.
Q: Your characters truly come to life and the reader has such a great feel for them in The Hierophant Card. Are they inspired by people you know? I’m guessing Xana was inspired by you!
A: I did originally, as many first-time authors do, base Xana on some of my own experiences. We both read tarot cards and we both live in San Francisco, and we both hate the smell of patchouli oil. As the books have evolved, I’ve watched her get braver and more competent as time goes along.
Because each story is built around the meaning of the title card, the characters have to experience the positives and negatives of that card’s interpretations. I don’t necessarily spell that out for the reader, though. I let them take from the story what they need or want, just the way the tarot provides you with what you need or want when you use it. Six books later, Xana is her own person. Plus pets.
Q: Do you map out the entire plot in advance, or are you developing and/or switching gears as you go?
A: A little of both. I do a lot of research on the title card initially, and the story stands up and says hello from that preliminary work. The first couple of books I just started writing, and I kept a document with notes about plot elements and character stuff that I wanted to be sure to include. By the third book I realized I had to do a better planning job and I set up a plot board. I map out the story now by typing out the plot steps and tacking them to the board by main and subplot sequences. I refer to the board and cross out the plot element once I’ve written it. But the characters take over, the way every fiction writer tells you they will if you’re lucky enough, and sometimes I add or kill story elements based on what the characters demand. It’s an ongoing negotiation.
Q: What writers have inspired you?
A: Stephen King’s book On Writing was one of the most inspiring I’ve read. I continue to (mis)quote his line, “Writing is not life, but it can lead you to life.”
I named my protagonist “Bard” because I like Shakespeare. So there’s a Shakespeare quote in every book.
And of course, I’m grateful to the wonderful Sue Grafton. From her I learned to write in both first- and third-person in order to open up the story. I learned that you can write your protagonist in a semi-permanent eternal present and have her remain an indeterminate age. I learned that having other characters describe Kinsey was a more compelling way of getting to know her than letting Kinsey tell you about herself.
Q: What would you hope readers come away with in reading The Hierophant Card?
A: First and always foremost, that they didn’t waste their time and money. That they were entertained if not edified by the work.
I always hope that readers take away some of the metaphysical horsepower that the undergirding of the tarot builds into the story. In The Hierophant Card, that undergirding deals with human connection, and truth-seeking, and how damaging to our shared humanity it is to harm others mentally and physically through lies and physical or psychological abuse.
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About Bevan Atkinson:
Bevan Atkinson has been a writer since receiving the Prose Award at Winchester-Thurston School in Pittsburgh, PA. She is a long-time Tarot reader, and after venturing briefly into fiction writing with a children’s book and an original screenplay, she began The Tarot Mysteries series in 2006 with The Fool Card, introducing its witty heroine, Xana Bard, to the world. Ms. Atkinson’s aim is to complete a 22-book series based on the Major Arcana of the Tarot, doing for the Tarot what Sue Grafton did for the alphabet. As an homage to Ms. Grafton, in the series, one of Xana’s dogs is named Kinsey.
