To discover and present your theme in an artistically pleasing, intellectually intriguing, and emotionally tantalizing way, you must know what your theme is and how to argue both sides of the issue.  Any novel is an argument (not necessarily a fight, but at the very least an argument), and the subject of that argument is the theme of the novel.    

A theme is a philosophical statement about Life.  Astrology delineates the pattern that a particular life follows -- the lessons taught by challenges.  

Human lives have a pattern.  Certain kinds of things interest us at age 7, and other things at age 14, 21, and 28.  People over 30 have a totally different outlook on Life.  

Astrologically, this cycle is depicted as the Saturn Cycle.  Saturn completes one orbit every 28 or so years.  Every 7 years, Saturn makes an "aspect" (a specific angle, or division of the 360 degree circle) with the place it occupied at birth.  Each time it makes one of these angles, the person will face a certain type of challenge.  

You don't have to "believe in" astrology to use it in plotting a novel.  By studying the basics of astrology, you can use it to locate the moments during your Main Protagonist's lifetime when he/she will be pummeled by "story-making" events, when at the same time they are emotionally and psychologically "open" (simultaneous transits of Jupiter, the planet of Philosophy) to learning and changing.  

Or perhaps you have a story of self-sacrifice to tell.  Neptune, the Planet of Romance, transiting one of 4 points of a birth chart, or the natal Sun position, can signify a time of blissful love - the kind of love that leads to marriage for self-sacrifice (to "give yourself" to another person)  -- waking up a few years later to regret the impulse, or not understand why it happened.  

A novel of divorce structured around a "mistake" made under the influence of Neptune would carry an added dimension of realism.  

To use the knowledge of the effect of these transits on people, a writer does not need to cast the birth chart of the character.  I've used astrology routinely for most of my writing career, and never done a birthchart for a character, except for a movie script which was designed to illustrate astrological principles.

The novelist needs only to understand the characteristic patterns of the transits, and what usually happens concurrently at a certain age.  

Jupiter, for example, orbits once about every 12 years.  A person who is 24 years old is undergoing their second Jupiter-return, and is three years past the 3rd quartering of Saturn -- 4 years from their first Saturn-return. That will be true of everyone, regardless of their natal chart (everyone on Earth, that is).  

The age of 24 has a certain character for everyone -- but no two people are alike.  If you say your character is 24, but that character does not have the signature typical of 24, your readers won't believe the character is real.  If a character has nothing BUT that signature, your readers won't believe the character is real.  

There are many ways to learn the "signatures" of Age.  You can achieve an equally effective result with the study of any school of psychology, or just by sitting at your grandfather's feet and listening to his stories.  I was introduced to the tool of astrology for characterization and plotting by my writing mentor, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and found it quick and easy to learn to use.  

Since these life-patterns are so common, most people know and recognize them as valid and real, even if they only recognize them subconsciously.  Thus if your characters are living through the life-pattern experiences characteristic of a certain age-group, modified by certain individualistic additions which are also well-known and recognized but can occur at any age -- then your characters will seem like real people to your readers.  

Thus adding astrology (or any study of psychology) to your arsenal of characterizing and plotting tools to create plot-character integration -- (so that the events in the story are happening TO the main characters; the events impact the inner psyche of your characters in a recognizable and therefore realistic way) -- can make your fantasy stories in your artificially crafted worlds seem REAL.  

For more on plot-character integration see the WorldCrafters Guild Writing Workshop.    

We are looking for instructors and courses that will be helpful to writers at all stages of their careers.  If you have an idea or wish to volunteer, see the Teacher's Agreement, and then email us at simegen@simegen.com -- we have a special need for those who can build web pages.  

This Page Was Last Updated   01/14/03 12:00 AM EST (USA)