I came to the VFS Screenwriting program with a short story titled "Omer & the Zobop" published in Solaris No.133, Summer 2000.

Zobop are 'the assistants of a bokor--an evil sorcerer--who have sold themselves to the bokor for material riches. They follow his bidding in all things, often kidnapping victims chosen by the bokor.'

I more or less knew my characters, since I had 2 of them: Voodo shaman - took me years to put "Voodoo" and "shaman" together. Then "Voodoo Priest" vs "White Priest." Very binary.

I also had money shots I didn't want to part with, and I learned through many, many readings and rehearsals and edits that my characters were supposed to grow up, learn something, be in relation with each other.

Like, when Glen and Jacquarel meet for the first time, don't spend 5 pages on how they beat up each other. They're supposed to do more.

After all, if I let Jacquarel kill Glen on page 20, well, my script got a problem. Actually, Jacquarel does kill Glen early in the first act. Kachou resuccitates him 2 pages later.

As you can see, I was kind of lost. What the heck is a character?

At the same time, I had been using Tarot decks for about 9 years, since when a girlfriend - I can't remember her name - gave me my first Rider deck.

That's why I still remember her.

The deck, the initiation.

And her freckles.

I believe she turned born again Christian. Last time we spoke was 10 years ago. She had joined a parish. She prayed every day. She was happy.

Back to the decks.

The Osho Zen I got through another gift. So far, I've given at least 2 dozen of them to friends and perfect strangers. I discovered Osho years later and he's still my Master.

The New Orleans Voodoo deck I had to wrap my head around.

Even though I'm from Haiti, my family is upper class Catholic.

In other words, White. Internalized oppression as they say. Everything I'd learned about Voodoo was baaaaaad. And here I was yakking about Voodoo sorcerers and zombies etc.

Somehow, Zorba the Buddha and Ougoun Feraille got together. One deck would dictate a scene. Or another card would ask for its own scene.

See, Tarot is universal. A page, a princess, a queen, a king. Death. Change. Love. Wisdom. Ancestors. Karma.

If you know anyone else who uses the Tarot as a scriptwriting device, please tell me. Kind of lonely out here.

Then Whale showed up.

I 'd gone to see whales in Tadussac, Quebec.

I'd seen them in the Georgia Straight.

Mine showed up one LSD night in Trout Lake.

He's been with me ever since.

He's a bitter old bugger for sure. He lost his mermaid. You know that whales are companions to mermaids. And mermaids are in every culture.

So Mermaid showed up. Her name is Kachou. She's strong. She's yummy.

And then I discovered the Internet. There were dot.coms growing everywhere. Remember?

Tarot decks. Mermaids. Whales. Internet.

The rest is history.